True Food Kitchen launched its first loyalty program and smartphone app on Wednesday, aiming for personalized rewards and deeper customer engagement, the company said.
The Phoenix-based healthful casual-dining concept’s new loyalty program and app integrates directly into the brand’s new digital ordering platform, created with Olo and launched in February.
The True Insider loyalty platform, developed with Thanx, allows customers to order and pay online, make reservations, manage accounts and earn and redeem rewards at any of True Food Kitchen's 27 locations nationwide.
"True Insider is more than a loyalty platform,” said Christine Barone, True Food Kitchen’s CEO, in a statement, “it's a brand engagement program that will allow True Food Kitchen to provide more personalized, customized, exclusive and even unexpected perks that will make our brand more memorable for our loyal guests.”
Barone said the loyalty platform is also aimed at providing useful information on guests and their preferences.
"The platform will also give rise to some rich data that will help us understand what motivates our guest on an individual level so that we can fine tune our offering and engage with each of them in a more personal and meaningful way,” Barone said.
True Insider is a tiered program based on annual spending, providing incentives to guests as they earn higher status.
“The introductory tier, referred to as Bronze, includes a welcome offer of $10 off a $25 purchase and can be redeemed online or in-store, as well as a free birthday dessert and invitations to special events like cocktail workshops, gardening classes and nutrition seminars, as well as pre-registration to True Food's popular seasonal four-course community dinners,” the company said.
Advanced tiers — Silver after spending $500 and Gold after spending $1,500 — provide members with more rewards, including preview tastings of new seasonal menu changes, lifestyle merchandise from ShopTrueFoodKitchen.com, priority seating and complimentary dishes and beverages.
The company said it would also plan “surprise-and-delight offers” such as chef’s dinners for the most loyal guests.
True Insider also incorporates the brand’s current email marketing.
To mark the platform’s debut, True Food Kitchen will be awarding on June 1 one member with "True Food Kitchen for a Year" and Gold status in the True Insider program. Other users will qualify for 100 $50 gift cards.
To qualify, participants must register, with a credit card, by May 31. The mobile app includes a camera feature that allows guests to take a photo of a card to scan and save all the payment information with bank-level security. The camera feature also allows cash-paying guests the opportunity to upload receipts to earn spending progress and redeem rewards.
The company said that since online ordering was introduced three months ago, more than 30 percent of off-premise sales are now generated through the platform.
True Food Kitchen was founded in 2008 by Fox Restaurant Concepts and health expert Dr. Andrew Weil. It now has units in 12 states.
The concept, which last July drew an equity investment from media mogul Oprah Winfrey, is majority owned by private equity firm Centerbridge Partners L.P.
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