While 50,000 reward codes per month get mailed to our Eden Valley scanning center, it’s still less than 5%…
Did you know that fewer than five percent of all codes are mailed in? (95% are entered online.) Even that small percentage, however, keeps our Eden Valley process team busy scanning more than 50,000 codes per month.
During a visit to the BI fulfillment and telemarketing facility, we routinely saw packages containing 200 to 900 codes being submitted with the new pre-populated mailing labels operators print directly from their Foodservice Rewards accounts.
Hormel’s corporate purchasing department says “the process was so easy for our plant locations to reorder and make use of the labels by applying them to the products that we are now in our fifth year…”
“Our Foodservice Group started this program in August of 2002.
We provided Hormel item numbers, specifications, descriptions and ship to addresses to setup online ordering. I was given an access ID, password and a brief training session with customer service at BI.
As requirements were received by the purchasing department, I entered each order online and BI then worked with their production facility to produce and ship labels.
Initially, the contract for this program was to be in place for one or two years. This program was so well accepted by our foodservice customers and the process was so easy for our plant locations to reorder and make use of the labels by applying them to the products that we are now in our fifth year and have added additional products and ship to locations to the website.
The customer service support from BI Worldwide has been fantastic. We have had very few problems, and can always depend on a quick response from BI personnel. They have also provided help in expediting shipments when necessary.
This is a very user-friendly program and we have had great success in promoting our various foodservice products since implementing this rewards program.”
Kathy Hines
Corporate Purchasing Assistant, Hormel Foods, Austin
Booth traffic was steady and operator feedback to Foodservice Rewards was positive at NACUFS…
This week’s NACUFS show was marked by steady traffic of operators visiting Sponsors’ booths asking “what’s new”?
Even without much FSR signage at sponsors’ booths (exceptions being Kraft, Basic American and Barber foods) awareness of and participation in Foodservice Rewards was very high and bonus point gift cards where a hit.
Opinions of operators echoed those of Corey Wilkinson, Dining Services Cash Operations Manager, at Haverford College, who pulled me aside to say how he liked the new website – especially the ease of navigation and the new rewards selection which he had trouble accessing before the redesign.
When asked “what can we be doing to improve the program?” C&U operators’ number one request was for reward code scanners. (Here’s a fact sheet describing how to order them. BI fulfills scanners directly to operators with your supplied inserts so we can track activity and avoid sending duplicates.)
The second most common request was for more program sponsors. Yeah, we’re working on that!
Thanks to advancements in scanning hardware, we are ready to roll out plug-and-play scanners…
Thanks to the new website design and advancements in scanning hardware, we are ready to roll out plug-and-play scanners. This fact sheet details specs, logo requirements, pricing and ordering instructions.
This scanner model incorporates two key innovations:
1) A USB connection preprogrammed to work with the multi-code entry page at foodservicerewards.com. Previous models requiring an additional software download + installation failed user testing.
2) We are programming the website to track scanned codes vs. keyed codes, allowing us to evaluate usage patterns for future program enhancements.
N.B: While this scanner can be used back-of-house detached from its tether, we are not yet promoting that fact nor have we enabled bulk deposits beyond the 10 found on the multi-code entry page.
The idea of converting to packing tape with the FSR logo flops at the Sponsor meeting…
Unfortunately for Sponsors who have requested shipments of the new Foodservice Rewards® logo’d packing tape before Xmas, it has been so popular that we are temporarily out of stock.
“no major issues to report, just some expected minor learning curves with the new procedure” according to the Supervisor of Unilever Foodsolutions’ Bradley Woods plant when discussing reward code labeling…
Automated labeling of Unilever’s products is proceeding with “no major issues to report, just some expected minor learning curves with the new procedure” according to Ray Smith, Supervisor of their Bradley Woods facility.
Should your supply chain managers ever have questions about the labeling process, here are several helpful fact sheets: Labeling Scenarios, Label Specifications, Roll Sizes and Order Processing.
In addition, these fact sheets describe available Label Applicator Consulting and common Manual Label Applicator Models.
“On my very first week with your program of finding these codes I put in over 425 coupons and earned 5700 points in one 24 Hour Period…”
The Horseshoe Casino in Bossier, LA, asks “Who holds the record? On my very first week with your program of finding these codes I put in over 425 coupons and earned 5700 points in one 24 Hour Period. Thanks for letting us have fun with this program and keep it going forever.” Perhaps that’s why their tagline is Where we have winners like never before.
“You don’t track invoices, so it’s easier to earn rewards than with other redemption offers” according to Chef Michial Neal of Lynchburg College…
“You don’t track invoices with Foodservice Rewards,” says Chef Michial Neal of Lynchburg College, “so it’s easier to earn rewards than with other redemption offers.”
Operators enter Reward Codes individually or in groups of ten. They also mail them in – we’ve made it easy, allowing members to print a personalized mailing label with one click. Bar code scanners are also becoming an increasingly popular method of code entry.
We’re considering providing scanners automatically to operators who’ve entered their thousandth code. Comments?
Operators submit reward codes at three times the rate they do for rebates and coupons…
Every now and then I hear the objection: “It’s too hard to collect reward codes – operators won’t take the time.” However, operators submit three times as many reward codes as they do rebates (6.9% vs. 2%) and are now claiming over 1/2 a million cases a month – via the web!
Still, we could do better. That’s why we are testing an enhanced mail-in option for group feeders – it’s Rick Francis at Bunge’s idea, following the Netflix model: Just as each DVD is sent to you with a postage paid return envelope, we’ll process operator’s mailed-in codes and immediately send them another post-paid collection envelope.
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