New York Fries Meets Customer Needs with New Mobile Loyalty Program
Interview published by Loyalty 360.
New York Fries, a 200-unit, Canadian-based QSR that specializes in french fries and poutine, partnered with Virtual Next, a digital payment and loyalty provider, to launch a mobile loyalty and payment program called “NYF Fry Society.”
The digital payment and loyalty program enables customers to complete transactions using their smartphones without having to download an app. The technology allows customers to pay, earn and redeem rewards and coupons with a scan of their phones. The NYF Fry Society is currently being tested in select New York Fries corporately-owned stores, with plans to launch nationally in the fall.
Warren Price, Executive Vice President for New York Fries, participated in an engaging Q&A with Loyalty360 to discuss the company’s new loyalty program.
What factors prompted the launch of a mobile loyalty and payment program called “NYF Fry Society”?
New York Fries is a youthful brand. Our customers are comfortable in mobile platforms. With only paper gift certificates, no gift card, and no national loyalty program, the opportunities for a mobile loyalty and payment solution were obvious. Hence, the NYF Fry Society.
What makes the program unique and what are your goals for it?
A big part of what is different about the Fry Society solution is that we will skip the plastic card stage and move completely to a virtual card. The same virtual Fry Society account can be used for loyalty, mobile payments, and to send or receive virtual gift cards. With Virtual Next, our solution does not require users to download an app; it is a mobile platform and will work on any web-enabled device. A single scan will record loyalty points and, if the user desires, make cashless payments.
What does Customer Loyalty/Customer Engagement mean to New York Fries?
We are looking to Fry Society to reinforce the NYF brand image; youthful, in touch, fun, high quality. It is important to us that the interface match those attributes. Launching a digital loyalty program also affords us the ability to target our customers directly. Not only can Fry Society members choose what they want their loyalty reward to be, but our “aficionado” members; (those who preload their card and use it for payment) will also receive exclusive rewards and offers available to only them. Success means we will remain top of mind with our customers and bring them back to our counters more frequently.
How do you stay on top of changing technologies?
Our focus has always been on cooking the world’s best fries and poutine; our business needs are simple and staying on top of technology trends was not our mandate. However, the way consumers interact with our brand has changed, and so, we are adapting our business to ensure we meet the needs of our customers. We are now much more open to creating new relationship with suppliers like Virtual Next, who bring us their technical expertise and help us develop a new way to enhance our customer experience.
Link to the interview: http://loyalty360.org/resources/article/new-york-fries-meets-customer-needs-with-new-mobile-loyalty-program