Jimmy Baloukas of JayC's RestoBar in Montreal talks about Akela's Maitre'D loyalty program integration
One of the proven ways for a vendor to retain customers and increase their visit rate is through a loyalty program. In today’s post, we look at how JayC’s Resto Bar in Montreal uses Akela's loyalty program with their Maitre'D POS system.
Some background...
In earlier years, a customer would present their vendor loyalty card to be punched or stamped. When the customer received a certain number of punches or stamps, the vendor would give the customer a reward of some sort. This encouraged the customer to return more frequently. Of course, this requires a lot of paper and cannot be tracked easily.
Today, a vendor can use the loyalty features that are part of Maitre'D (or other POS systems). Most of the time, when a person signs up for a vendor's loyalty program, the vendor will give the customer a plastic card with a membership ID encoded on the magnetic strip. When the customer returns, the customer just presents the card to claim or redeem their loyalty points.
This can work well for the customer if the person is a member of just a few programs. There is room for all of the cards in the person's wallet. This can also work well for the vendor if they expect that most of their customers will be members of just a few programs and will have their loyalty card at every visit.
However...most people are members of many loyalty programs, which can lead to wallets overflowing with cards. Realistically, this means that a person won't carry all of the loyalty cards and so there is less of a chance that the person will be carrying the particular merchant's card when visiting the vendor. A merchant might ask, "The person's here in the store, so why is this a problem?" If the person's not building toward a reward, the person is not as invested in the merchant's rewards program, and the person won't feel the same desire to return.
JayC's Resto Bar uses Akela loyalty solution with Maitre'D POS
JayC's Resto Bar uses the Akela multi-vendor loyalty solution, which solves these issues. Akela's loyalty features integrate seamlessly with the Maitre'D POS system as an external provider. When a customer goes to pay their bill at JayC's, the server enters the customer's Akela membership ID (available in the smart phone app as shown in the image). No card is required. If the customer has no smart phone, the short alphanumeric ID can be recorded on a piece of paper or memorized.
Each customer can be a member of many programs, without needing a different card or ID for each vendor.
Jimmy Baloukas, owner of JayC's, says, "Our clients love the program. They feel like they are part of the business." When a customer feels like they are part of the business, there's a greater chance that he or she will return more often. He adds: "I'm sure we are getting return clients because of the points."
For his servers, Jimmy comments: "Our servers like it since it encourages return clientele. We constantly remind servers to tell clients about program. There's also the ease and speed of the loyalty transactions - it takes about 3 seconds for the transaction to go through. These are all important factors, because it's critical to have the full-hearted participation of the servers. During busy meal times, the loyalty transaction adds very minimal overhead, so there's a much greater chance that the servers will include the loyalty transaction.”
As an external loyalty provider, Akela adds functionality beyond what the Maitre'D program offers. JayC's is just beginning to use Akela's birthday bonus special offer, for instance. At the beginning of each month, a limited-time-offer of bonus points redeemable that month only is sent to all JayC's loyalty members with a birthday that month. This encourages members to come in with their family members and friends. A vendor can also tell Akela to offer additional points when people come in at certain (usually off-peak) times during the day.
In summary...
With the Akela loyalty solution, JayC's has a fast, easy-to-use loyalty program that integrates seamlessly with Maitre'D with virtually no overhead. People return more frequently to JayC's. Jimmy's customers can use the same program separately from JayC's at other participating Akela vendors.
