With a swipe of the smartphone, loyalty punch cards becoming obsolete | Star Tribune

With a swipe of the smartphone, loyalty punch cards becoming obsolete | Star Tribune:



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The days of the “buy-10-get-one-free” loyalty punch card are as numbered as the paper punch itself.

Mom-and-pop restaurants, convenience stores and pet groomers are joining national programs that equip them with an iPad at the register where a customer either swipes a loyalty card or waves a smartphone to record the purchase and any reward. National programs such as Belly, ­SpotOn, Perkville and FiveStars use cloud and mobile technology to enable retailers to offer programs that reward the customer faster and with more creativity than a punch card.

“Within five to 10 years, we’ll move away from punch cards and key fobs and even apps and go to smartphones,” said Rik Reppe, director of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ customer experiencepractice in Minneapolis.

D. Brian’s, which has six fast-casual restaurants in Minneapolis and suburbs, switched to the Belly system recently. The company manages loyalty for 7,000 merchants in 20 U.S. markets with 2.5 million users. Customers use a key fob, card or smartphone at the register to get a free beverage, chips or a buy-one-get-one entree.

“Two years ago, we had a buy-an-entree-get-a-coffee punch card, but it seemed so 1980s and dated,” said Paul Fournier, vice president of D. Brian’s. “The customer always fumbled for it at the register, or they couldn’t find it at all.”

The Belly program is free for customers, who get access to nearly 200 small businesses in the Twin Cities and many more nationally. Businesses pay $79 to $149 a month for the service, but they don’t have to run the program themselves.

Anita Birmingham of Minneapolis uses her Belly card by waving her smartphone in front of an iPad to get a free cup of coffee every two weeks. “It’s a good savings,” she said. “I like being able to use my ­smartphone instead of looking for a card.”

Many consumers collect reward cards like playing cards, thumbing through more than a dozen in their wallet or purse. The average consumer has 18 cards but only uses eight actively, according to the market research firm Colloquy in Cincinnati.

Rob Wilson of Minneapolis has 15 cards but mostly uses his cards from SuperAmerica, Game Stop, Mystic Lake and a couple of restaurants. “I don’t use the ones with rotten rewards,” he said. “It’s not worth it to me if I have to wait a long time.”

The number of loyalty memberships in the U.S. has more than doubled from 973 million in 2000 to 2.09 billion in 2011, according to Colloquy. But signing up for a loyalty program doesn’t mean consumers are actively using it.

Consumers want to be rewarded faster, said Hal Stinchfield, founder and CEO of Promotional Marketing Insights in Orono. “If I eat out at a place maybe once every two weeks, you can’t make me wait six months before I get a reward. That’s ridiculous.”

Many consumers are perfectly content with accrue, accrue, accrue, but millennials and those behind them are intensely loyal for shorter periods of time. If they’re not rewarded quickly, they lose interest.

Reward programs have to be front-loaded to give rewards sooner, said Marcin Michalek, customer service engagement manager at Caribou Coffee. “Otherwise, the customer loses interest and goes elsewhere.”

The days when a 23-year-old was flying once a year and would accumulate enough frequent flier miles for a free trip when she was 38 are over. “The rewards have to be realistically attainable,” Reppe said. “Now airlines are giving customers smaller rewards such as a free drink, free movie, or priority seating instead of making them wait 15 years for a free ride.”

Stinchfield said that newer smartphone technology won’t help a stingy program. And not everyone thinks the smartphone will be embraced as the new loyalty device. It has the potential to know a lot more about its users than an online card, causing some consumers to fear being overmarketed.

Paula Berge of Woodbury said her smartphone pinged when she was in a Walgreens recently because she’s a Walgreens Balance Rewards member. She wasn’t impressed by the text. “It was the same deal they had on a sign in the store. I was hoping for something I didn’t already know about,” she said.

Michalek said Caribou is taking steps to be careful about non-reward e-mails or texts so customers don’t feel bombarded. “We let guests pick their level of engagement.”

But sometimes technology itself is a deterrent. Wilson, 21, has had trouble using his smartphone to collect loyalty points at some businesses. “Either the app won’t open or the scanning doesn’t work. I prefer the card,” he said.

Experts say smartphone-based loyalty programs will work out the kinks and offer a lot more than an online card or punch card and offer customized rewards faster. With a mobile loyalty program a merchant can shift the incentive to a new product that needs traction and buzz, Reppe said. “A smartphone lets a business make the leap from ‘come on in and buy anything’ to ‘buy this specific thing because we sent you a reward.’ ”

Caribou is working now to switch to a smartphone app, Michalek said. “Our guests want to get away from a plastic card. They lose it and then they don’t like calling out their phone number to access their account.”

With smartphones and apps, there will be more offers and more rewards, which has the potential to be good for businesses and consumers. Businesses want to break the long-term accrual process too. They want loyalty programs that are stickier, where people use up the rewards more quickly, according to Reppe.

While many businesses feel pressure to offer a loyalty program, Reppe said every business shouldn’t feel obligated to have one. “Three out of five companies that have intense customer loyalty have no ­loyalty program,” he said. “A loyalty program can be extremely powerful, but you often get greater loyalty just delivering an awesome ­customer ­experience.”

84 Businesses Honored as 'Best for the Environment' For Creating the Most Positive Environmental Impact

84 Businesses Honored as 'Best for the Environment' For Creating the Most Positive Environmental Impact 



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WAYNE, Pa., Apr. 22 /CSRwire/ - Today, 84 companies worldwide were recognized for creating the most positive environmental impact by the nonprofit B Lab with the release of the third annual ‘B Corp Best for the Environment’ list. The ‘B Corp Best for the Environment’ list honors businesses that earned an environmental impact score in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment, a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of a company's impact on its workers, community, and the environment. Honorees were recognized among micro, small and mid-sized businesses.

Highlighted companies include outdoor retailers Patagonia and GoLite, home and personal care companies Method and Seventh Generation, employee-owned, craft brewery New Belgium Brewery and the 20-year-old waste reduction and management company, WasteZero.

The ‘Best for the Environment’ companies come from over 30 different industries such as financial services, consulting, apparel and personal care. 36% operate in the service sector, 33% in wholesale/retail and 25% in manufacturing. A quarter of honorees are based outside the US, with 13% companies operating in emerging markets including Brazil, Colombia and Chile. (Full list of honorees below and atbestfortheworld.bcorporation.net.)

“It’s great to see so many diverse companies on this year’s ‘Best for the Environment” list,” says B Lab co founder, Jay Coen Gilbert. “With representatives from 30 different industries, it shows that all companies can compete to be the best of the best at creating a positive impact.”

Each honored company is a Certified B Corporation. They use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems and have met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today there are over 990 certified B Corporations, across 60 industries and 32 countries, unified by one common goal: to redefine success in business.

B Lab released the “Best for the World” list (overall impact) in March and will release separate lists recognizing the companies ‘Best for the Community’ (community impact), and ‘Best for Workers’ (employee impact) throughout 2014.

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B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business so that all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.

B Lab drives this systemic change through a number of interrelated initiative: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing legislation to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing (20 states have already passed benefit corporation legislation); 3) developing B Analytics, a customizable platform for investors to benchmark and report the impact of their global private equity portfolios; and 4) providing free, powerful tools for businesses to measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance (more than 16,000 businesses use B Lab’s free B Impact Assessment).

For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.

Executives from all B Corps available for comment. For more information contact Katie Kerr at katie@bcorporation.net, (610) 293-0299. 

2014 ‘Best For the Environment’ Honorees

11 Midsize Businesses Honorees (50+ Employees)

GoLite (Boulder, CO) – GoLite is the premier global manufacturer of high performance, responsible apparel and equipment designed specifically for outdoor athletes.

Method Products, PBC (CA) – Method is the pioneer of premium environmentally-conscious and design-driven home care, fabric care and personal care products. 

Namaste Solar (CO) – Namasté Solar is an employee-owned cooperative that designs, installs, and maintains solar electric systems for homes, businesses, non-profits, and government entities.

New Belgium Brewing Co, Inc. (CO) – New Belgium Brewing, maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a wide variety of award-winning beers, is the third-largest craft brewer in the country.

Patagonia, Inc. (CA) – Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. 

Positive Energy Solar (NM) – Positive Energy Solar is local, employee owned, and the only solar company in New Mexico that is a certified B Corp. 

Seventh Generation (VT) – Seventh Generation is a leading brand of green household and personal care products. The company remains an independent, privately-held company distributing products to natural food stores, supermarkets, mass merchants, and online retailers across the United States and Canada.

Solberg Manufacturing, Inc. (IL) – Solberg manufactures standard and custom filtration, separation, & silencing products that protect machinery, the surrounding environment, and the workplace.

Sungevity (CA) – Sungevity is the nation’s fastest growing residential solar company that designs, installs, and finances residential solar electric systems.

WasteZero, Inc. (NC) – WasteZero partners with more than 800 towns and cities around the country to reduce the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) that is landfilled and burned.

West Paw Design (MT) – West Paw Design is a US manufacturer of eco-friendly and high-quality products for dogs and cats.

25 Small Businesses Honorees (10-49 Employees)

Acorn Sign Graphics (VA) – Acorn Sign Graphics designs and fabricates custom architectural signage and graphics. From award-winning design to sustainable sign and graphic solutions, eco-friendly sign manufacturing to long-lasting installations, Acorn Sign Graphics delivers comprehensive sign services to meet the needs of clients worldwide.

Advanced Home Energy (CA) – Advanced Home Energy partners with homeowners who are interested in going green and offer a wide range of home energy efficiency solutions.

Alchemy Goods (WA) – Alchemy Goods strives to turn useless stuff like blown-out inner tubes, old seatbelts and advertising banners into useful products like bags and wallets.

Brightworks (OR) – Brightworks provides comprehensive sustainability planning and facilitation services, helping their clients increase asset value, reduce operating costs, manage risk and enhance their brand, while helping address pressing global ecological challenges.

Britec Ltda. (Santiago, Chile) – Britec LTDA., has a factory of solar collectors in Chile in the Colina 1 Prison.

Bullfrog Power (Toronto, ON) – Bullfrog Power’s mission is to provide Canadians with easy and practical 100% renewable energy solutions for their homes, businesses and transportation that empower them to create a sustainable world for future generations.

ChicoBag Company (CA) – ChicoBag advocates for waste reduction and designs a collection of high-quality, long-lasting reusable bags.

Cultiva Empresa (Santiago, Chile) – Cultiva Empresa has developed several reforestation projects in Santiago, totaling 40.5 hectares reforested.

Degraf Ltda. (Santiago, Chile) – DEGRAF is a family business that began operations in 1982 with the objective to recycle waste from the printing industry.

Emory Knoll Farms (MD) – Emory Knoll Farms is the only nursery in the USA that is dedicated solely to the propagation of plants for the green roof industry.

Green Building Services (OR) – Green Building Services (GBS) provides services and tools to support the design, construction and operation of buildings that are responsible, enduring and healthy.

Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods (HI) – Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods (HLH) plants rare high value endemic koa trees on Hawaii Island. Some trees are planted for investors for eventual harvest, while others—“Legacy Trees”—are planted to permanently reforest the land, sequester carbon, advance science and inspire environmental awareness.

Highland Craftsmen, Inc. (NC) – Highland Craftsmen Inc. designs, manufactures and sells all-natural Bark House® brand architectural elements to building, design and furniture professionals as well as individuals.

Icebox Knitting, LLC (CA) – Icebox Knitting seeks to change the historically detrimental procedures of the textile industry by supporting sustainable practices with emphasis on local sourcing and production in closer proximity of the end consumer.

IceStone (NY) – IceStone® is the world’s safest, most sustainable durable surface. Made from three core ingredients —100% recycled glass, Portland cement, and pigment— IceStone® surfaces are used for everything from kitchen countertops to conference room tables to art installations.

Indigenous Designs Corporation (CA) – Indigenous Designs is a leader in organic and fair trade clothing. Their clothing supports thousands of artisans in the most remote and impoverished regions of the world.

Microgrid Energy, LLC (MO) – Microgrid Solar is a solar PV developer and EPC contractor based in St. Louis, MO, offering turnkey solar services for commercial, government, and residential clients.

Natural Systems Utilities (NJ) – Natural Systems Utilities, LLC is an innovative water asset management company that designs, builds, owns, and operates decentralized and distributed water delivery, treatment and reuse infrastructure.

New Leaf Paper (CA) – New Leaf Paper develops office and printing papers with leading environmental specifications and distributes them throughout North America.

Preserve (MA) – Preserve is the leading sustainable consumer goods company and producer of stylish 100% recycled household products.

Solmetric Corporation (CA) – Solmetric Corporation is a test and measurement company that designs and manufactures tools for the solar installation industry.

SunCommon (VT) – SunCommon’s purpose is to dramatically increase solar energy production in Vermont by eliminating the huge upfront costs and replacing them with a monthly payment that is the same or less than what Vermonters are currently paying their utility for electricity.

The Joinery (OR) – With a focus on both design and construction, The Joinery and its artisans endeavor to create furniture that will last for generations.

The Paradigm Project (CO) – The Paradigm Project is a low-profit limited liability company operating in cooperation with The Paradigm Foundation, whose collective mission is to create sustainable economic, social and environmental value within developing world communities.

TotalPET Corp (San Jose, Costa Rica) – TotalPET Corp recycles PET (a type of plastic used to create beverage bottles) to create packaging and prevent the plastic from ending up as waste.

48 Micro-Enterprises Honorees (<10 Employees)

Acción Verde (Bogota, Colombia) – Accion Verde is a Colombian for-profit enterprise that plants trees to promote reforestation in Colombia. 

Alima Cosmetics, Inc. (OR) – Alima Pure™ makes mineral makeup using only the purest cosmetic-grade mineral pigments. 

Animal Experience International (ON, Canada) – Animal Experience International (AEI) has a mission to help animals around the globe by matching clients with animal-related volunteer opportunities at sanctuaries, wildlife hospitals, animal clinics and conservation projects.

Atayne, LLC (ME) – Atayne makes high-performing outdoor and athletic apparel from 100% recycled materials.

Best Energy (Santiago, Chile) – Best Energy is creating economic value through social and environmental responsibility. They provide solar water heating for social housing through gubernamental subsidies.

BluPlanet Recycling Inc. (AB, Canada) – BluPlanet Recycling Inc. is a Calgary-based multi-family residential and commercial recycling collection service provider. 

Climatesmart Business, Inc. (BC, Canada) – Climate Smart is a social enterprise that trains businesses and provides them with software tools to track and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool Energy, Inc. (CO) – Cool Energy's SolarHeart Engine captures waste heat that an industrial site, commercial process or power generator is already emitting, and turns it into clean and renewable electricity, recycled thermal energy or mechanical energy.

Cultivating Capital (CA) – Cultivating Capital is a business consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners, especially women business owners, go green and market their businesses online.

Ditto Hangers (CA) – Ditto features a growing line of 100% sustainable hangers, signage, POP displays, packaging and accessory displays.

Dolphin Blue, Inc. (TX) – Dolphin Blue is an online retailer of ecologically sustainable products for use in commercial and home offices. 

Eco-Bags Products (NY) – ECOBAGS® is a small, woman-owned business with a history of creating well-constructed, responsibly- & ethically-produced reusable bags of all kinds using natural, recycled, and organic materials.

Ecologic Designs Inc. / Green Guru (CO) – Ecologic Designs works with organizations to manufacture OEM, Private Label and Co-Branded consumer products made from their waste materials or materials they’ve previously reclaimed.

EcoLogic Solutions Inc. (NY) – EcoLogic Solutions Inc.'s purpose is to introduce the safest, effective and cost competitive cleaning products to mass consumers.

Ecoservice (São Paulo, Brazil) – Ecoservice operates with the goal of being a benchmark in sustainable products, systems and services for the building industry.

Ecotrust Forest Management (OR) – Ecotrust Forest Management is a forestland investment management and advisory services company that generates long-term value for both investors and society by facilitating positive environmental outcomes and supporting job creation in rural communities.

Eleek (OR) – Eleek is a sustainable design and manufacturing business specializing in high-style lighting and other decorative building parts.

Energy Opportunities (PA) – Energy Opportunities, Inc. provides technical consulting services on projects relating to energy management, efficiency and conservation, renewable energy systems, and the environmental impacts of human enterprises.

Episencial (CA) – Episencial combines advanced skin care technology with Actively Healthy™ ingredients including probiotics, neem oil, and botanically-sourced essential fatty acids and antioxidants to enhance skin immunity and defend against daily environmental challenges from water, sun and air.

Feronia Forests LLC (MA) – Feronia's mission is to acquire and to sustainably manage natural hardwood forest properties in the U.S. The company generates revenues from timber harvests, conservation easements, carbon offsets, renewable energy and products of the forest.

Honeyman Sustainability Consulting, LLC (CA) – Honeyman Sustainability Consulting, LLC, helps businesses save money, add value to their brand, and cultivate happier and more committed employees—while reducing their impact on the environment.

Incite Directives (Atlanta, GA) – Incite Directives works with businesses and building owners to integrate sustainability into the cultural cloth of their organizations, beginning with facilities and operations.

Just Right Recycling (Abbotsford, BC) – Just Right Recycling is a metal recycling company providing efficient bin services to industry.

Linhardt Design (NY) – Linhardt Design is a New York-based fine and fashion jewelry house that is revolutionizing the industry with its extraordinary designs coupled with socially and environmentally responsible practices.

Luscious Garage (CA) – Luscious Garage specializes in hybrid auto repair and applies the "hybrid" paradigm to everything it does: minimizing environmental impact, promoting advanced technology, and working together with customers to meet their needs.

mas ambiente s.a. (Mendoza, Argentina) – Mas ambiente manufactures eco-friendly soaps made with 100% recycled cooking oil.

Piedmont Biofuels (NC) – Piedmont Biofuels is a community scale biodiesel operation which collects used cooking oil from area food service establishments and converts it into a clean burning renewable fuel. 

Project Repat (MA) – Project Repat upcycles t-shirts into fun and fashionable clothing accessories while creating jobs.

Proyecto Importa (Santiago, Chile) – Proyecto Importa seeks to transform penitentiary labor and social spaces into workshops, which will promote the inclusion of socially vulnerable individuals while developing sustainable products.

Rain Water Solutions, Inc. (NC) – RainWater Solutions manufactures and distributes the 65-gallon Moby rain barrel. They also design and install above- and below-ground rainwater harvesting equipment.

Reciclarg S.A. (Mendoza, Argentina) – Reciclarg seeks to generate awareness of the electronic waste cycle. 

REfficient Inc. (Hamilton, ON) – REfficient is an online marketplace where businesses can go shopping in other companies’ surplus inventory. 

Resonate LLC (PA) – Resonate LLC is a strategic sustainability consulting firm that helps companies to enhance brand, profitability and company value by integrating social and environmental factors into their business model and performance measurement.

Rivanna Natural Designs, Inc. (VA) – Rivanna Natural Designs creates awards, plaques, and gifts made from FSC-certified woods, bamboo, recycled glass and other planet-friendly materials. 

Route to Green SPA (Santiago, Chile) – R2G's mission is to make a variety of affordable products and services consistent with the protection of the environment in Chile and Latin America.

Saul Good Gift Co (Vancouver, BC) – Saul Good Gift Co. uses corporate gifts to communicate values around sustainability, local purchasing (to Vancouver, BC), and community engagement to build powerful relationships for its clients.

Seeds Printing (PA) – SEEDS is a green printing company comprised of environmentally conscious, creative professionals with years of experience in the fields of printing, design, marketing, writing and editing, and world-class customer service.

SLOWCOLOR (CA) – SLOWCOLOR is an integrated bottom line high-impact clothing enterprise committed to revitalizing the use of age-old traditions to dramatically reduce the social, environmental and health impacts of textile manufacturing. 

SMART Watering Systems Inc. (Milton, ON) – SMART Watering Systems is a water efficiency consulting firm and a "hands on" irrigation water management company that works with municipalities, parks departments, architects and property managers to reduce potable water use on landscapes.

Solar States (PA) – Solar States develops solar projects on schools, homes, and commercial buildings, as well as connecting Philadelphia students with the green-collar economy through training and jobs.

Spotlight Solar, LLC (NC) – Spotlight Solar makes solar systems that look like sculpture. Their products are intended to complement other environmental investments, like rooftop solar systems, which are usually hidden from the public on flat office building roofs.

Staach (NY) – Staach strives to create the finest modern handcrafted furniture using only sustainable methods and materials.

TerraLocke, Inc. (IL) – TerraLocke is a sustainability consulting firm focusing on local communities.

TerraPass (CA) – TerraPass’ projects help businesses and individuals reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change by generating renewable energy and destroying greenhouse gases (GHGs). 

TheGreenOffice.com (CA) – TheGreenOffice.com is a one-stop online retailer featuring over 34,000 green and conventional office products and a comprehensive range of sustainability services designed to make office greening easy and cost effective.

Waste To Green, LLC (NC) – Waste To Green provides electronic waste/e-waste recycling services to businesses, individuals and Government looking to minimize their carbon footprint through ethical, responsible and secure recycling of their old electronics and IT assets.

Yellow Leaf Hammocks (CA) – Yellow Leaf Hammocks are 100% hand-woven, customizable hammocks that offer customers supreme comfort, strength and durability, along with a commitment to cultivating a sustainable economic opportunity for marginalized ethnic groups like the endangered Mlabri Tribe.

Zero to Go (NY) – Zero to Go provides a removal service in which unwanted items are transferred directly to people in need. Their sustainable removal services address the needs of the community by ensuring useable materials stay local and out of the waste stream.

For more information, please contact:

Katie Kerr Director of PR

Phone: 610 293-0299

Twitter: @BCorporation

Why restaurants need mobile and cloud technology | QSRweb.com

Why restaurants need mobile and cloud technology | QSRweb.com:



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By Larry Abramson,
CEO of Red Book Connect

A restaurant manager is also the Chief Everything Officer. Still, most managers have been stuck with technology that does nothing to make their 80-to-90-hour week more profitable and less stressful.

Instead, they are forced to manage restaurants from prehistoric desktops that sit in a back office and run costly, proprietary software that never pays for itself.

When busy tech, finance and accounting execs are running multinational companies from an iPhone 6,000 miles from headquarters, why are restaurant managers who take at least 22,778 steps per day running their restaurant using technology that can't move? When sales execs can look at the real-time performance of their salespeople across 30 countries, and marketing VPs can use billions of data points to target the right consumers with the right promotions, why do restaurants appear to be stuck in a relative Stone Age?

The reason is restaurant technology hasn't kept pace with the mobile and cloud computing revolutions that have transformed other industries — until now. Today, the technology is available and the restaurants that thrive in an industry of razor-thin margins will be those that weave mobile and cloud technology into a single operational 'command center' that can power a global franchise or a local restaurant equally well. Indeed, the sum of mobile and cloud technology will be even greater than the individual parts, and companies that learn to use both will gain a competitive edge.

Here's why:

Mobile means better management and higher morale

Desktop software is designed for workers who can stay in one place for long stretches of time. However, the modern restaurant manager is almost always in motion, walking the restaurant floor, talking with customers and stepping in to improve the service experience. In charge of operations, marketing, finance, technology, procurement, human resources, customer service and more, the manager often must pull out of the action or work excessive hours just to accomplish the tasks that are chained to computers and desktop software.

With mobile restaurant software, managers run the show with the smartphone in their pocket or a tablet, and employees become part of this system. No longer do employees have to constantly bug managers for shift swaps, roll their eyes at old coffee-stained training books or send managers on a calling spree when they get sick and can't work. Instead, employees can request a shift swap on their own phone and the manager approves with one click, whenever it's convenient to do so. Training is delivered over a mobile app, allowing workers to complete required certifications and training and gain knowledge at their pace. When someone no-shows or extra help is needed, the manager can hop on his or her mobile phone and notify the team in one touch.

When the average restaurant in America experiences more than 60 percent employee turnover per year, according to the National Restaurant Association, mobile has the power to boost morale and save managers from an average of 15 or more hours per week of recruiting work. Whereas a desktop takes all the clutter of restaurant management and outdated software and concentrates it all in one back office, mobile inverts restaurant software into a portable, birds-eye view of the entire business that allows managers to literally make decisions in stride.

Cloud equals operational efficiency without enterprise-sized IT costs

A few years ago, only the largest food franchises could afford to pay for expensive custom software, datacenters and the IT infrastructure that link together sales, inventory and human resources. For everyone else, desktops and paperwork could eventually produce the types of data, business intelligence and feedback that drive strategy — but only after it was too late to correct costly errors or replicate profitable trends.

With cloud computing, the IT game has changed — a family-owned restaurant can now leverage the same software and global data infrastructure as a Fortune 500 restaurant conglomerate. Where franchises were once hamstrung by IT costs, the cloud has reduced total hardware costs to wireless Internet, a few tablets and mobile apps. Any chain or restaurant, from local to global, can use enterprise-level technology without enterprise prices.

This means that when 200 franchisees log sales of chicken tenders or track their inventory down to the last ketchup packet, the managers see the data and, just as importantly, operational heads at headquarters see the aggregate data, the differences among franchisees and the real-time impact of marketing campaigns and promotions. You don't need a private datacenter to store this information or an IT army to manage the jungle of hardware and networking that would normally make this all possible. From a manager's smartphone to the cloud to the VP of Operation's tablet or PC, the raw data from a restaurant becomes visible and actionable in real time.

Mobile and cloud weds internal efficiency to opportunity

When you combine spaghetti and meatballs, peanut butter and jelly or gin and tonic (pick your poison), the sum is significantly better than the parts. Likewise with mobile and cloud technology, it's the combination that takes a restaurant operation from being efficient to strategic.

Restaurants operate on razor-thin margins, meaning that even a 1 to 2 percent savings is tremendous, especially when multiplied across several locations. Now, on a basic level, the combination of mobile and cloud technologies allow large and small operators to identify problems and resolve them quickly. Why is this location selling eight times more sushi than the other one? Why did customers redeem 1,500 buy-one-get-one-free drink coupons in San Francisco but only 300 in Tampa?

These observations can be reached immediately, so the analysis and response also are immediate. The customers become the new drivers of marketing strategy, inventory management and ultimately sales.

For instance, location-based apps now allow businesses to detect who is nearby, track what they have purchased and extend relevant offers. So take this to a restaurant setting. Let's say Tom Smith visits Super Sandwich twice a month and over a one year period, he has bought the roast beef sandwich 50 percent of the time.

If Super Sandwich manages inventory from a mobile device and stores the data in the cloud, they know exactly how much roast beef is in stock and its shelf life. Tom, of course, has the Super Sandwich app installed on his iPhone because he loves to get a free drink or half-off sandwich every once in a while. When he enters the restaurant, he opens the app to see what deal he can get.

If Super Sandwich is smart, they have detected Tom's mobile activity and have cross-checked his preferences against the inventory data at this Super Sandwich location. And if the location is overstocked with roast beef that is going to expire soon, why not extend a great roast beef deal to Tom? Super Sandwich could send a 2-for-1 mobile coupon for roast beef sandwiches to many people like Tom, use up the available inventory and make Tom very happy.

The point is that while mobile technology alone can improve management and boost employee morale, and while cloud technology can enhance operational efficiency and cut IT costs, it's the combination of the two that has the potential to connect restaurant operations with targeted marketing and communications and not only leverage operational efficiencies but improve revenue and the customer experience. Instead of hypothesizing that Offer A distributed to Audience B will lead to C percent increase in sales, restaurant chains can suddenly look at historical purchasing patterns and location-based, real-time data to incentivize the most profitable choices. In other words, the shift from Stone Age desktops to mobile and cloud technology is the shift from a guessing game to data-driven strategy that saves money, boost sales and creates happy, loyal customers.

Larry Abramson is CEO of Red Book Connect and also serves on its board of directors.

How to Market to Millennials, Really

How to Market to Millennials, Really 



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Like it or not, millennials matter and will make up a huge portion of your future business. But reaching this often coveted group isn’t as easy as sending out a blast email with a coupon inside or tweeting the current special.

“Millennials don’t like to be sold to and they’ve grown up entertaining and informing themselves instantly with the click of a button,” says Jonathan Sellers, a social media strategist at EMSI Public Relations. “Business owners who want to get their interest need to be creative in their messaging.”

So why should small businesses even care about this group of people born after 1980? According to Chris Rimlinger, senior vice president of marketing at Money Mailer, as a group millennials number over 80 million and have cash to spend. But their buying power doesn’t stop on themselves alone.

“Millennials are also still well connected to their parents,” says Rimlinger. “They are very influential on family purchase decisions – technology, cars, and what to have for dinner.”

Equally as important as the sheer size of this group is the fact that they are still forming brand loyalties and buying habits. Market to them right, and you can have a loyal customer forever. Do it wrong, and they may never purchase your product or service. Ever.

While it’s no secret small businesses are pressed for time, making it close to impossible to launch a huge marketing effort geared toward millennials, there are things you can do to reach this group without letting the primary focus—running your business—fall to the wayside.

Ignore mobile at your own peril

One of the worst things small business owners can do when trying to reach this group of potential customers is to ignore mobile and mobile apps. Millennials grew up with a mobile device attached to their hip and expect the businesses they interact with to support their mobile preference. Because of that, it’s important for small businesses to not only have a Website that is optimized for mobile search but also an app that makes their life easier.

“Up to 90% of the time for millennials is spent in an app versus a browser,” says Lance Brown, vice president of product development at Huzzah Media, the digital and mobile marketing company.  “Whether they are buying a home or looking for a landscaper, an app is the first place they look.”  A local landscaping business may scoff at the notion of having an app, but an inexpensive one that not only makes it easier to learn about the business but provides appointment scheduling, invoicing and can even send out messages about sales will win with millennials.

Test the waters beyond the big three

Everybody knows Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but because of that, they may not be the best places to reach millennials. Yes you want to have a presence on Twitter and Facebook, but you can’t ignore all the new social media sites out there. After all millennials like to be unique, which could be the reason Twitter and Facebook are struggling a bit with growth.

Take We Heart It as one example. The social media site that lets people “heart” images has 25 million users and over 80% are under the age of 25. If small business owners just stick to the top social media sites they miss an opportunity to reach potential customers hanging out in places like this.  Because of that Ranah Edelin, chief executive at We Heart says small business owners have to test out different services to see what makes sense for them.

“It’s a really low cost of entry,” says Edelin. “All of these services of user-generated content are free.” Edelin pointed to one business that started adding images at weHeart to get the word out about their brand and quickly had over 20,000 followers.

Save them money

Small business owners may think it’s only the old or the struggling that want to save money, but millennials also want to get a deal and won’t think twice about scouring the Internet for a coupon or discount code.

“There is a misconception that millennials are only focused on the digital world and not interested in receiving print materials,” says Rimlinger. “The millennial generation is very interested in saving money and searches for coupons.”

Keep in mind that the messaging in any marketing material, whether it’s a print ad, online or a flyer sent in the mail, has to be clear, concise and uncluttered. 

“Millennials have notoriously short attention spans – you’ve only got a few seconds to reach them,” says Rimlinger.

Hopjacks' Jarod Kelly puts sass, science in social media marketing

Hopjacks' Jarod Kelly puts sass, science in social media marketing

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Jarod Kelly, 32, the chief happiness officer for Hopjacks Inc., is savvy with his use of social media to market the Hopjacks family of restaurants. / Katie King/kking@pnj.com

What do the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore, George Clooney’s philosophy of choosing movie roles and WEAR sportscaster Dan Shugart’s mustache have to do with a recipe for social media marketing success?



Plenty in the world of Jarod Kelly, the CHO — chief happiness officer — for Pensacola’s popular Hopjacks family of restaurants, which includes Hopjacks Pizza Kitchen & Taproom, Hopjacks Filling Station, The Tin Cow, and Pot Roast and Pinot.



What started five years ago with a list of contacts and passwords has exploded into more than 20,000 followers on Facebook, and some 3,700 followers who eyeballed more than 30,000 posts on Twitter. Plus, hungry potential customers can check out the eateries on a number of online sites, including Urbanspoon and others.



Then, when the 32-year-old Kelly took over as general manager of the company’s downtown locations, only a handful of locally owned eateries called Palafox Place home. In those days, Twitter was still in diapers in the growing world of social media, and Facebook had yet to establish Business, Place or Brand pages. In fact, Hopjacks had a MySpace page before it hit Facebook with a “Friend Page” that only allowed businesses a 5,000-friend maximum.



“Initially, I was just looking for a way to communicate with our customers all while pushing the resurgence of downtown Pensacola, and its wonderful offerings/happenings, to as many people as I could,” Kelly said. “We were doing different things and they were getting noticed. I adopted the George Clooney movie role philosophy to our postings: ‘One for them (the public). One for me.’ It just snowballed from there.”



Snowball it did. For example, when Facebook transformed the restaurants’ Friend Page into a Business Page, the number of followers nearly doubled, Kelly said, from 5,000 to 9,400.

“Apparently, we had 4,400 people sitting in a hidden queue waiting to be our ‘friend,’ ” Kelly said.

When Kelly talks about Hopjacks, he’s referring to all of owner Joe Abston’s restaurant concerns, eateries that have been at the forefront of what Abston calls “a restaurant renaissance” in the city. While only a few locally owned bars and restaurants dotted downtown a decade ago, now there are more than 30, all competing for dining dollars. Social media is a key part of Hopjacks’ playbook. While the companies’ online approach might seem more like Marx Brothers shtick than strategic thinking, think again. Kelly maintains a rigorous content calendar for each of the restaurants.



“I continually update the content and posting times based on a healthy combination of historical trending and experimental data. At the end of the day, the only goal is establishing and maintaining relationships with our customers.”



Kelly credits the success of Hopjacks’ social media effort to Abston, whom he says has given him the trust and the freedom to push the online envelope. From friendly banter with The Weather Channel’s hurricane-hunting Cantore — who follows Hopjacks on his own Twitter account – to fun with WEAR-TV sportscaster Dan Shugart over his mustache, which by the way has 241 followers of its own on Twitter — all is friendly fodder online.



“I am able to manage each brand with almost zero interference from the guy that signs my paychecks,” Kelly said.



As for Abston, who has an interest in five local eateries, he’s smiling, too. He bestowed the CHO title on Kelly a few years ago over a few beers, a little fun poked at the button-down CEO, CFO, COO titles peppered throughout the business world. Kelly wears a variety of hats for Abston — from social media to HR to quality control for the restaurants. Over time, Kelly has learned how Abston thinks, which translates to a good professional — and personal — friendship.



“Chief happiness officer fit so well because you can’t just say, ‘He’s social media,’ ” Abston said. “He’s a juggler. Every time I open a restaurant I have to tell him, ‘What (responsibility are you losing now, because you can’t handle it all, buddy.’ ”



Social media’s impact on the bottom line is tough to call, Abston said.

“Bottom line is hard to categorize in social media, because it’s something that we consider intangible,” Abston said. “Every now and then, people come through the door and say, ‘We came here because social media drew me in.’ To put a number on it is really not fair to not just the social media aspect. Who’s to say it wasn’t the beer that brought people into Hopjacks, or it wasn’t some referral that brought them into Hopjacks. I look at social media as a very intricate piece of the puzzle. If we had to quantify it, it would drive us batty. But we know when it’s not there.”



He added, “We always joke that we’ve got a 13-year-old who we keep locked in a room and all we feed him are Pop Rocks and Jolt Cola,” Abston said.



Kelly said the companies’ social media goals are basic, transcending bottom line: Common Interest, Brand Recognition, Brand Education and Personalization.



“We treat our customers as real individuals,” Kelly said. “No one wants to be treated as a number or statistic. They want to be treated for the unique persons that they are. Your bank account is not the only way to gauge how your restaurant/bar is doing. Feedback, whether positive or negative, is the only way you can continue to improve professionally and monetarily.”



It’s been almost 20 years since Kelly began his restaurant career washing dishes at an Arby’s in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He’s seen the restaurant business move from traditional advertising and word of mouth to a social media explosion. For the chief happiness officer, it’s a good time.



“Joe has trusted in me and given me enough rope to hang myself quite a few times. Over the past five years, we have learned, taught, laughed, fought, won and lost. But we have had a great time doing it, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, except maybe 50-yard-line Steelers season tickets.”