August 22, 2005 -So when you think about adding a new technology or program that changes the methods of accounting you might want to pass until you see the technology widely adopted by others in the industry first. Right? Well if you read on you may want to put down that sauté pan and pick up the phone and jump on this program for your restaurant.    

Rewards have become common place for consumers, but used in a limited fashion in the business world. A Portland based company called Zevez, is changing that with a combination of software and services so businesses can get something back every time they pay a bill. Zevez delivers software that fits into a customers' accounts payable program. So paying by card looks and feels to the accounting team as if they are paying by check.

The software is simple, affordable and built to handle the volume of business payments. Zevez also serves up a Redemption Center to make it easy for their customers to use rewards. By paying business invoices with reward-rich credit cards, carefully researched and integrated by Zevez, small and medium-sized private companies are adding $10,000 to $50,000 in cash or travel related rewards to their bottom line.

We needed an accurate example to use for the restaurant industry and the team at the Best Little Roadhouse was very happy to share their information and the benefits they have achieved. We traveled south to Salem to meet with the owner of The Best Little Roadhouse, Ralph Matt and talk about Zevez and the RewardWorks program and how it applies to the restaurant industry.

First some background on The Best Little Roadhouse. Rewards programs are based on revenues channeled through the program and we needed to understand the operation and the revenues segments to see how the program would translate to other restaurants.

The Roadhouse opened in June of 2003 and seats 170 patron inside and 125 on the covered patio. The hours of operation are 11:00AM to 11:00PM Sunday through Thursday and 11:00AM to 12:00AM Friday and Saturday. Yearly sales are around three million dollars.

The fare at the Best Little Roadhouse is Standard Steakhouse / Roadhouse with lunch business accounting for 30% and 70%% dinner. Annual revenues range from $2.9M to $3.1M. The entertainment or golf element of the operation accounts for 6%. Food 73% and beverage 21%.

Roadhouse owner Ralph Matt and his family were vacationing with friend Colin Giddings (owner of Gladstone Suzuki). Colin told Ralph of Zevez and how it is being applied to auto dealers around the country and earning millions of reward points. After vacation Ralph contacted Zevez to find out the value of the program for his restaurant. According to Ralph “The folks at Zevez were very professional and very well-informed regarding the processes we use to process invoices and pay our bills. They spent sufficient time with us to really understand our business.

Zevez conducted an extensive analysis of our payables and contacted each vendor to communicate the program application and make certain the program would be applicable. It did not take a long time to receive a detailed report that explained the benefits. This was done without our restaurant investing a dollar for the report. Once we reviewed the data it was very easy to make the decision. We then invested around $1,000 to set up the program, load the software and populate our desired information within the RewardsWorks Program. Based on our current business level we will realize over $50,000 dollars in rewards value this year.

With the program you have the option to receive cash, or use points for airline tickets and hotel rooms. Our program provides incentives for our team members that work hard to do their very best for our customers. The RewardsWorks Program provides great incentives that much greater in value than we could otherwise afford. Additionally, we use the rewards too attend educational conferences and other business related events.”

With $3,000,000 in sales The Best Little Roadhouse added $50,000 in reward values. The opportunity is real, tangible and large —even restaurants paying some invoices on credit cards will see a big impact. This is tool every restaurant should have in their kitchen.

We also spoke to Jeff Jandera at Izzy’s Franchise Systems who also is putting Zevez and the RewardWorks program to good use. According to Jeff, ”It is a very useful and simple program that is easy to manage. Because we have many locations and we offer franchise support in terms of television advertising we spend a great deal of money on advertising efforts. We have been pleasantly surprised that all of those expenditures have been converted to rewards. Our total rewards program is currently processing 13,000 per month in restaurant related vendors and suppliers and 42,000 per month in advertising related expenditures. While it might be possible to execute rewards without the software and support, the real issue is time, cost and efficiency. Zevez and RewardWorks are doing something we can not do for ourselves.”

You can contact Zevez by telephone at 800-609-3839 or visit the website at www.zevez.com

Soure:Salmon Creek Public Relations