Disloyalty Cards Are Back As Businesses Help Businesses
An idea has returned in these turbulent times for small places
Hello, and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! Warm greetings to our new subscribers and I’m happy to see all you loyal readers. CulinaryWoman is your place for stories about the ever changing food and restaurant business. Special thanks to our paid subscribers who keep CW in business. Next month is our fourth anniversary, and there’s no lack of things to bring you.
Our paid subscribers are eligible for our regular giveaways. See below for the latest place that’s offering a treat.
Inviting Customers To Go Elsewhere
During the pandemic, we saw lots of businesses team up to support each other. Bars and coffee shops hosted pop ups. Restaurants invited guest chefs to put on special evenings. Menus included the names of growers. Many of those helping hand ideas have endured beyond the lifting of restrictions.
Now, an idea that pre-dates the pandemic is making a comeback: disloyalty cards. In January, 2014, six indie coffee shops in Washington DC—Blind Dog, The Coffee Bar, Peregrine Espresso, Chinatown Coffee, Filter, and La Mano—collaborated on a joint loyalty card.
The program encouraged customers to buy drinks at each place, where they’d receive a stamp on their card, according to writer Thanh Thuy at MarketingProfs. Once they got stamps from all six coffee shops, they could redeem the card for a free coffee at any of the six.
The promotion was conceived in part to combat the invasion of Starbucks and other big brands with whom the smaller players found it hard to compete. The disloyalty card encouraged people “to visit different neighborhoods, try coffee from different roasters each shop presents on their menus, and meet some awesome coffee professionals," the creators said.
Big brands give it a try
Well, you guessed it: big brands saw how the programs worked, and subsequently came up with their own version. Last September, Peet’s rolled out a disloyalty program for National Coffee Day.
On Sept. 29, for one day only, Peet’s customers could use rewards points Starbucks, Dutch Bros, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Dunkin', Tim Hortons, Better Buzz, Joe and the Juice, Bluestone Lane and The Human Bean.
The points required the use of the Peet’s app, and received one drink at their choice of place. “We know that coffee people can be a bit promiscuous in their hunt for a great cup. So, we wanted to reward them for their loyalty to the drink because, no matter where else you get your coffee, coffee people deserve great coffee," said Jessica Buttimer, VP of Brand Marketing at Peet's.
(Peet’s provided a prize pack to CulinaryWoman not long after we started publishing.)
With that in mind, I was intrigued to see two fresh disloyalty programs appear during the past few weeks.
Hyperion Coffee, a coffee bar and roasting company based in Ypsilanti, Mich., rolled out a disloyalty card with other roasters around Southeastern Michigan. The participants include Craig’s Coffee Company of Detroit, Desert Oasis of Ferndale, Commonwealth Cafe of Birmingham, Ground Control Coffee Roasters of Farmington, and Espresso Elevado of Plymouth.
If you get stamps from each place on your card, you receive a mug bearing the names of all the participants from the place of your choice. (I love the mug.)
Hyperion told me that they had tried the idea a few years ago, focusing only on coffee bars. This time, they wanted to focus on fellow roasters. I’m famiiar with many of the roasters, but not all of them, so I’ve noted a few new ones to visit.
Doing it with dumplings
In Boston, Mei Mei Dumplings, a much-loved local company, is once again spearheading Dumpling Disloyalty. The program began in 2023, and was so popular that it decided to bring it back for May, 2024 to mark AAHPI Month.
Mei Mei’s effort is spread across eastern Massachusetts, from the north shore down to the south shore, and out beyond Interstate 95 towards Framingham.
The campaign features a spiffy totebag, designed by artist Shaina Doesart, that participants can get if they send receipts from eight places.
To participate, customers can purchase dumplings or dumpling-adjacent dishes, such as wontons, momos, and samosas, from participating businesses. Mei Mei asks customers to send photos or screen shots of their receipts to news@meimeidumplings.com.
They’ll receive an e-gift card for their next order of Mei Mei dumplings at the end of May, which they can redeem in June, and the totebag.
Even if you can’t get to all the participants, you can buy Mei Mei dumplings at stores in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and of course, in Massachusetts. Check their Dumpling Locator for information.
Spurring business and building a community
The biggest benefit to disloyalty programs is that they spur business. Aside from Mother’s Day, May can be an iffy month for many small players. Those that rely on college students see them vanish after classes and commencement.
It isn’t quite summer vacation time, and with food prices rising, many people cut back in anticipation of big splurges on their holidays.
The disloyalty cards give people a reason to spend. And they also help to build communities. For instance, many coffee roasters already know and support each other, so they won’t be upset if customers seek out their friends. Around Boston, there are so many great places to eat that smaller ones are often overlooked.
Next time you see a disloyalty program in your area, check it out. You might enjoy a new vibe or flavor.
A New TV Show — And A CulinaryWoman Giveaway
If you watch food television, or you receive Instagram and Facebook ads, you are probably aware of Hedley & Bennett’s stylish aprons. They have appeared everywhere from episodes of Top Chef to The Bear and shows on the Food Network.
Ellen Marie Bennett, the Anglo-Latina founder of Hedley & Bennett, launched her company because the aprons she used in restaurant kitchens simply did not hold up. “To me an apron is a game-day jersey,” she says on her website. “When the loop goes over my head and I cinch the waist straps, I’m suited up and ready for action.”
Now, Ellen is going to become a familiar face. On May 28, Ellen will host Kitchen Glow Up, available on Tastemade, Roku, Google TV, YouTube TV and other channels. Over eight episodes, Ellen will be treating participants to a professional grade kitchen upgrade, with “eye-catching design and pro-chef approved functionality.”
Viewers will receive kitchen organization and design tips, ideas around the kitchen, from how to keep knives sharp (she has her own knife line) to care of cutting boards. She’ll also talk about her favorite gadgets.
You can receive your own smock. Hedley & Bennett is offering this blueberry smock to one paid subscriber of CulinaryWoman. It will be shipped to you from me.
To enter, reply to this message or email me at culinarywoman at gmail dot com. I can’t wait to see a CulinaryWoman reader looking sharp in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, check out Hedley & Bennett’s full line up of aprons and smocks, including some especially pretty ones with Liberty of London fabrics.
Red Lobster And Foxtrot Make Moves
Red Lobster is rumored to be preparing for a bankruptcy filing, as I wrote recently for Food & Wine. Last week, it shocked many diners when it abruptly closed nearly 100 restaurants across the U.S. An even bigger surprise came when a restaurant liquidator posted the contents of 50 restaurants on its website.
The restaurant locations were available lock, stock - and lobsters. Along with all the equipment, one listing even included a tank of live lobsters.
Meanwhile, the parent of Foxtrot and Dom’s markets sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. That form of bankruptcy law allows a company to completely liquidate and void any leases.
Outfox will still owe employees the pay they did not receive when the stores shut without the warning required by state and federal law. A class action lawsuit is in the works to gain that obligation.
The assets were quickly snapped up in a bankruptcy auction by Further Point Enterprises, according to Eater Chicago. Further Point is a private capital fund that owns Athletic Brewing Company, which specializes in zero alcohol beers. However, the assets did not include leases, which raises an intriguing possibility.
There are rumors in Chicago that Foxtrot’s founder, Mike LaVitola, wants to bring some of the upscale gourmet markets back to life. According to Eater and other publications, LaVitola wants to revive 10 locations. But that raises a big question: who would want to do business with him?
LaVitola not only left employees in the lurch, he stranded a number of small companies that did business with Dom’s. Given that track record, it will be caveat emptor for any whom he approaches.
Gordon Ramsey Deals With Losses
Speaking of shaky ground, The Guardian reports that British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey continues to lose money.
Pre-tax losses at his restaurant group tripled to 3.4 million pounds ($4.3 million) due to the expense of opening a Lucky Cat outlet in Manchester, England, a Bread Street Kitchen outlet in the Battersea power station and a Street Pizza outlet in Edinburgh.
Ramsey hired 290 more staff members in 2023, after difficulties during the pandemic. He lost more than 12 million pounds ($15 million) and laid off a similar number of people.
Ramsey isn’t stopping, despite the red ink: The Guardian says he will open five new restaurants within London’s new skyscraper 22 Bishopsgate, including a Lucky Cat and a roof terrace on the 60th floor, making it the city’s highest restaurant.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
I wrote for the Boston Globe about a little-noticed economic development boom: electric vehicle battery plants. I was surprised to learn that investments in EV batteries have reached the $100 billion (with a b) mark in the United States and Canada.
My story focuses on Marshall, Mich., a picturesque town that is getting a vast Ford Motor Company EV battery plant on what was farmland. I also speak with officials at Toyota, which has invested $14 billion in North Carolina to build batteries for hybrids, plug-in hybrids and EVs, once Toyota eventually adds them to its lineup.
I’d love to hear from you and have you follow me on social media. I often post photos and observations from my visits to local food places on my Instagram Stories and I’ve been making Reels, too (it’s amazing how many people watch them)
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
Email: culinarywoman (@) gmail dot com
LinkedIn: Micheline Maynard
Threads and Instagram: (@) michelinemaynard
Etsy shop: City Tips Vintage
I’ll be back tomorrow with Red Beans & Advice, talking about one of my favorite maple syrup farms. There will be a special offer, too. Have a terrific Sunday.
