In a Crowded Marketplace, How Can a QSR Generate Excitement For a Store Opening?

April 23rd, 2014

New app-free mobile loyalty provider Virtual Next offers fresh approach

pressrelease1Last week, Cincinnati based Burrito chain Currito had a huge around the block line-up for the opening of its newest store in Florence, Kentucky. The reason? Currito was offering the first 50 customers a special loyalty card that entitled them to a free burrito a week for a year. The cards were gone in minutes.

In a crowded QSR landscape where the costs of opening a new outlet are high, it’s harder than ever to get attention. And this initiative not only resulted in strong local awareness, but the story was amplified on social networks with hundreds of fans tweeting about it, lots of shared photos and even a discussion about the Currito giveaway on reddit.

The savvy promotion was the brainchild of Currito co-founder and COO John Lanni. He’d already engaged Virtual Next to build a customized and scalable loyalty program for his fast-food chain. And it was easy for Virtual Next to help Currito bring this promotion to life.

Virtual Next is the world’s first company to enable fast food chains to offer a mobile-based digital card that offers loyalty and payment solutions without the use of additional smartphone apps. The company harnesses existing digital wallet technologies to create a simple-to-use, branded digital card available in the iPhone PassBook and Google Wallet. And the digital cards can be fully integrated with custom-printed loyalty cards, offering QSRs more options to build engagement with their customers.

For Currito, Virtual Next created secure accounts that were imprinted on each of the 50 Currito Gold Cards. Once a customer activates the card, a coupon for the free burrito is automatically uploaded each week. And customers have the option of keeping the real-life card or registering it online and accessing it via their smartphone for convenience and to protect it from being lost or stolen.

“The flexibility of the Virtual Next system and the fact that we don’t need a smartphone app let me offer customers a buzz worthy incentive that attracted out of the park attention for our opening,” says John Lanni.

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“And those customers will keep coming back – and will bring friends and family with them,” says Bijan Shahrokhi, founder and CEO, Virtual Next. “It’s a low-cost, high return program that will live on for a year and generate loyalty and word of mouth.“

“What makes us unique is our app-less platform that lets QSRs create branded loyalty programs that can be physical, mobile or combine both.” Shahrokhi adds.

Virtual Next is a fast and easy way for fast-food chains to develop and execute custom loyalty programs and promos that both excite their customers and turn them into brand ambassadors.

Media Contact

Bijan Shahrokhi, CEO
Phone number: 1 (647) 860-4920
email: bijan@virtualnext.com

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