Restaurateur Daniel Frankel often gets phone calls from Harbour Air’s base manager, asking him to confirm identities of employees trying to validate a company discount offered by the airline.
“I’d be like, “Uh, uh, I think so,’” the president of Daniel Group and Tap & Barrel Restaurants said.
“With 600 staff, it’s pretty hard for me to keep track of everybody who’s being hired.”
Beginning in November, Frankel’s employees will be among the first in B.C. to adopt a standard rewards program for those in the hospitality industry.
No more carrying a paystub around and hitting up certain merchants or restaurants for deals after hearing from a friend of a friend about rumoured discounts on particular days.
Instead, restaurant workers will use a mobile app — the Industry Card — to check out and validate perks offered by employers in real time.
Businesses that have signed up for the program will be able to send their staff off to the Tap & Barrel to grab, for example, a free appetizer. And Tap & Barrel staff would be able to visit other participating restaurants to score some perks at those establishments.
Ian Tostenson, CEO of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservice Association (BCFRA), said a standard rewards program is needed in the industry to cut down on high turnover rates in the midst of labour shortages.
“It sets our industry apart in a sort of employment leadership perspective,” he said, adding the sector traditionally hasn’t marketed itself to those working in the industry.
“We’re going to help them do that. This sort of closes the loop.”
In addition to Tap & Barrel, other participating companies include the Old Spaghetti Factory chain, Hub Restaurants, Bar 1181 and Fresh Bowl.
Tostenson said it’s going to take a little time to ramp up the program but he expects it will grow as more people working in the industry hear about it.
PayWith CEO David Strebinger, whose Vancouver-based company partnered with the BCRFA to develop the Industry Card app, said he was surprised when he couldn’t find evidence of any other mobile rewards programs geared toward the restaurant industry.
It’s a niche market, he said, that’s ripe for the taking.
“I know from being in the industry that having people in the industry, in your (establishment), is one of the best things you can do,” Strebinger said.
“They like to tip very well because they’re in the industry and they understand what the whole industry is all about.”
But he said PayWith would be diligent about verifying users’ credentials.
BCRFA members have to apply for the program before employees can sign up. After that, PayWith will maintain a database it will update monthly to ensure former bartenders or cooks who left the restaurant industry years ago aren’t cashing in on perks.
The app is also geo-synced so users can see what benefits are being offered by participating restaurants in whatever area they happen to be in.
If it’s successful, Tostenson said the Industry Card should grow to include other merchants — not just restaurants and bars — that wish to offer benefits and market to those in the hospitality industry.
