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Paytronix Systems
Happy New Year!
January 2012 | Issue 32
Loyalty Programs | Gift Cards | Comp Programs | Email Solutions
Restaurant Loyalty: A Year in Review
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Whether using Paytronix or a competitor's product, we wanted to say "Congratulations" to all the restaurants out there that launched a loyalty program in 2011. You have joined the ranks of leading industry innovators such as Panera Bread, Red Robin, and Starbucks!

Like Jerry Maguire’s client, Rod Tidwell, in the movie Jerry Maguire, every restaurateur conveys a sentiment like “Show Me the Money” when we’re initially discussing the benefits of a loyalty program. So, we thought we’d recap some of the money driven to restaurants in 2011 by loyalty member visits and spending.

There were a number of restaurant chains reporting successful years in part due to their loyalty programs. Here are three specific instances we thought you would enjoy reading about:

1. Panera Bread’s MyPanera program is driving sales and growth according to multiple earnings articles published in 2011. In a recent article regarding its third-quarter results, Bloomberg Business Week reports:

“Revenue in restaurants open at least one year rose 6 percent at company-owned restaurants. The measure is an important gauge of a  restaurant operator's performance since it excludes sales from stores that open or close during the year. The company said average customer checks rose 3.4 percent, partly because of a 2.5 percent increase in prices for its food.

The company's loyalty program and increased marketing spending are helping drive growth, said Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan in a research note."

Furthermore, in its Q3 earnings report posted on the site seekingalpha.com, William Moreton, Panera's CEO shared that its MyPanera program has grown to more than 8.3 million registered members. 

"The next key investment I’d like to discuss is our loyalty program, which has now seen its membership grow to over 8.3 million registered users. We are very happy with this program’s size and the position it puts us in to understand and communicate with our customers to drive deeper relationships."

 2. Red Robin partially attributes its 12-months of profitability to beefing up its loyalty program. An article published on November 4 in the Wall Street Journal stated:

“Through revamped advertising efforts, cost cutting, beefing up its loyalty program and focusing more on bar business, Carley has lead the company to a full year of profitability.

In the third quarter, Red Robin swung to a profit of $2.1 million, as revenue and margin rose from improving same-store sales, guest traffic and average check, the company reported Thursday.

Shares rose 9.2% to $27.28 in Friday afternoon trading, representing nearly 35% growth over the past year.”

3. Starbucks is taking a slightly different tack with its loyalty program. In 2011 the coffee giant focused on adding extra caffeine to its mobile technology. As a result, it is merging the benefits of a loyalty program with mobile payments and virtual gifts to provide an all-in-one guest benefit package – and it’s working.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, Starbucks Profit Surges on Loyal Sales:

“U.S. same-store sales rose 10% in the fiscal quarter ended October 2… Helping U.S. stores has been a new loyalty program, which allows users to load money on a Starbucks card and use it like a debit card; it is now used in one out of every four purchases. Shares of Starbucks were up 3.1%...”

Here's to driving even more guest spending and visits in 2012 with your loyalty programs!

Magic Stem-Cell Gift Cards
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Like stem cells that can change into any type of cell that is needed in the body, it is now possible to configure the Paytronix system so that cards can switch their card template at time of activation. The switching can occur due to activations from the web, POS, or file upload.

Here is an example of how it can be used:

Costco Cards – many merchants are selling gift cards through Costco.  They may use the same physical cards as their regular gift cards, but they would like to track these cards in a separate template.  With Magic Stem Cell cards, the cards could move from the gift card template to a Costco template at the time they are bulk activated from the merchant website.  We recommend that you set up a special virtual store (name=Costco) for activating these cards and ONLY set the stem cell feature to operate for bulk sales at this store.  

Ask your technical consultant about how you can implement this new feature. 

In This Issue
  • Restaurant Loyalty: A Year in Review
  • Feature Spotlight:
    Magic Stem-Cell Cards
  • Paytronix Personality: 
    Warren Turner
Paytronix Personality:
Warren Turner
WarrenTurner

Warren Turner has a passion for music and a talent for IT. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, Warren has experienced many types of jobs that ultimately led to becoming a Paytronix IT Generalist.

His previous experience includes working as a recording engineer and a live sound engineer. His transition from music technology to network and PC technology began after his employer witnessed Warren's talent and then gave him the oportunity to become more involved with IT. 

When describing how much he enjoys being a part of the IT team, Warren said, “Paytronix is honestly interested in me as a person and as an asset. They also invest in me just as much as I am investing in them.” In his spare time, Warren performs as a Delta Slide Blues Guitarist (a genre from the 1920’s).

Where Are We?
Visit the sales team at:

MURTEC
March 21 - 23, 2012
Las Vegas, NV

Restaurant Leadership Conference
March 25 - 28, 2012
Scottsdale, AZ 
Andrew's
Awesome Image
Andrew
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Paytronix Systems Inc.   |   307 Waverley Oaks Road   |   Waltham   |   MA   |   02452
(617) 649-3300 x5   |   [email protected]