Radiant Systems
The BEC Client Survey Results Winners
September 19, 2011 | 
Author Last month, Radiant Systems contracted with a 3rd party to send out a comprehensive survey to BEC clients. BEC would like to thank all our customer’s who participated in completing the questionnaire. Congratulations to the following customer’s whose entries won the drawing for $100 gift cards.
Mike Izard – Jason’s Deli
Kevin Pogue – Qdoba #584
Mario Reid – Mangia Bevi – Epicurean Culinary Group
James Corothers – Moose Creek Cookhouse
Posted in 
Get Recognized and Rewarded for your Elite Sales Performance!
Be recognized! We are pleased to announce that 2011 President’s Club winners will receive a free incentive trip for two to the luxurious Caribe Hilton San Juan in Puerto Rico February 23rd – 26th!
The President’s Club program is designed to recognize the top sales champions and reward them for exceeding specific sales goals and performing at an elite level. To be eligible, sales reps must sell 30 keys (new sites or subscription sales) and meet their Sales Certification requirements for 2011.
To learn more about the President’s Club, or if you have any questions about the number of keys you have currently sold, or whether you have met your Sales Certification requirements, please email Kathy Meader or call 770-576-6953.
NCR completes acquisition of Radiant Systems
Combination advances NCR’s strategy to move into fast growth, high-margin adjacencies and establishes leadership in hospitality and specialty retail
Duluth, Ga. – NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Radiant Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: RADS) through a merger, with Radiant becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of NCR.
“This acquisition is another demonstration of NCR’s strategy to expand into high-margin adjacencies and new industry segments, and is a major milestone towards the realization of our long-term business goals,” said NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti. “Combining NCR’s global footprint and services capabilities with Radiant’s advanced software and strong channel partner network will create a superior portfolio of multi-channel solutions and bring new value to customers, while accelerating long-term growth.”
Prior to the merger, NCR acquired approximately 87 percent of Radiant’s outstanding shares (including all shares subject to guarantees of delivery) in connection with its previously announced tender offer. NCR also exercised its option to purchase additional shares of Radiant common stock that resulted in NCR owning one share more than 90 percent of the outstanding shares of Radiant, in order for NCR to perform a “short form” merger under Georgia law.
The aggregate value of the transaction totaled approximately $1.2 billion, excluding costs associated with the repayment of Radiant’s outstanding debt and fees related to the transaction. With the completion of the acquisition, Radiant’s common stock ceased to trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market following market close today and will be delisted.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Atlas Strategic Advisors, LLC acted as financial advisors and Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC provided legal advice to NCR. Jefferies & Company, Inc. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. acted as financial advisors and DLA Piper LLP (US) provided legal advice to Radiant
Have you ever had to fire someone for stealing?
Have you ever had to fire someone for stealing? That could be a loaded question. If you’re a restaurant operator, you’ve probably had to let people go for taking advantage of the business on more than one occasion, and you’ve probably wondered about many other employees. Or maybe you had a pretty good sense something wrong was happening, but you had no concrete proof. You have to walk a fine line – you don’t want people to walk all over you because you’re too trusting, but you don’t want to assume every server is out to get you, either.
You may be familiar with these 4 common server scams:
- Comp after close – The server re-opens the check & comps some or all of the items, putting the cash in his pocket.
- Comp after print – After the table pays the printed amount on the receipt with cash, the server comps some or all of the items, keeping the difference.
- Over tipping – Putting in an amount that is higher than was written on the receipt.
- Transfer/wagon wheel – Self-service items are entered in when the first table orders them, and then they are transferred between guest checks instead of being rung in each time. The server pockets the cash for the item on each table.
Unfortunately, these scams are only a few of the ways employees have found to steal from restaurants. As an operator, you know it may be happening. You want to believe that your employees are trustworthy, but you have to aware of these scams that have become too common in the restaurant industry.
Is there a common scam we may have missed? Which self-service items do you think get taken advantage of the most?
Read about how Aloha Restaurant Guard helps you identify servers who may be involved in these scams and many more.
Radiant Security Systems Webinar Still Available
Chuck Magee from Radiant Systems : Radiant Security Services webinars. We just finished our webinars. But if you missed them , please contact Sherry to schedule one for you.
sherry.harris@becpos.com
Steve Harris – Presidents Club Member
Radiant Systems Announcement
We are excited to announce this month’s President’s Club honoree: Steve Harris
Company: BEC
Years with BEC: 14 years
What drives his success: “The thing that drives my success at BEC is that I still love my job. I’ve been in the restaurant industry most of my life, I love restaurant people and I love the people I work with at BEC. It has been exciting and gratifying to be a part of a company that started off small and has grown to what it is today. I’ve also been very pleased with what Radiant has accomplished with the dealer channel since the acquisition of Aloha. All these things keep me going, but the most important thing that drives my success is that I LOVE TO WIN!”
Radiant Systems President’s Club recognizes our top sales champions by rewarding them for performing at an elite level. To be eligible, sales reps must sell 30 keys (new sites) and be current in their sales certification for 2011. President’s Club members will receive a recognition gift box and a free trip (for two) to an incentive trip to be held in 2012. Be sure to check this space in future editions to see which sales reps have been admitted to President’s Club!
Red Robin on strategy behind loyalty program
By Mark Brandau Restaurant News
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers’ new loyalty program is about more than just building frequency, said chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith.
The Red Royalty program, which the 450-unit chain rolled out in January, will help the chain track registered users’ preferences and purchases in order to understand guests better and determine which incentives can drive repeat business efficiently, she said.
“We’re hoping to drive sales primarily through traffic gains,” Lintonsmith said, “and national TV and Red Royalty are our two biggest and strongest ways to drive that through retention and frequency. Then we’ll have product news from appetizers, desserts and beverages to drive the incremental guest check, but first and foremost, it’s about traffic.”
The loyalty program is part of parent company Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc.’s Project RED plan, which is aimed at driving traffic, improving sales, reducing expenses and improving margins. Red Robin executives discussed the initiative during the company’s earnings conference call on Feb. 18. (EARLIER: Red Robin details its turnaround plan)
Lintonsmith spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News on Monday about how the program was developed and how customers are responding so far.
Red Robin reported a 2-percent increase in guest traffic at stores that tested the loyalty program. Could you elaborate on those results?
That 2-percent lift was in 45 test restaurants, and currently we’re seeing even stronger guest acceptance in the first month: one in three guest checks is getting captured in the Red Royalty system, while only one in 10 were during the pilot program. In the first month, we’ve activated more than 600,000 cards. Based on what we saw in the pilot and in these early weeks, the lift in traffic systemwide could be comparable or greater.
We launched Red Royalty before the nationwide TV campaign for the Prime Chophouse Burger began to enroll new guests or customers coming back for that promotion. The question becomes how you incentivize those guests to register their cards, because that’s how we collect their preferences and get attitudinal info. We offer a free appetizer for registering, and that’s a piece we added after the pilot test.
What led Red Robin to construct a loyalty card program? It’s not too widespread across casual dining.
A couple things led us to develop it, starting in early 2008. We had our first national TV campaign in 2007, and we know that brought a lot of new traffic into the restaurants, but we didn’t know who those guests were. We have a great database, with 2 million guests in our e-club. I have all their e-mail addresses, but we don’t know much about them from an attitudinal or behavioral perspective. We wanted to know what they bought and what they thought about the brand so that we could communicate in a more relevant and targeted way.
Red Robin’s chief executive Steve Carley said during the company’s last earnings call that Red Royalty would be more about loyalty than frequency. What does that mean?
He meant Red Royalty is more than just a punch-card program. It’s not just about getting [guests] to come back more often, but also understanding their preferences so we can send them relevant messages. Once we can segment this database, we can communicate with customers based on their past behavior.
The messaging sometimes has nothing to do with an incentive. The free birthday burger is a big reason why people join our e-club and activate this program, but another big part are our surprise-and-delight offers. We may decide, “Hey, it’s Guacamole Day,” and offer a free or discounted guacamole appetizer or burger with guacamole. That part is about having fun and celebrating some other tidbits of our brand.
If a person comes in four times a year, we can provide her incentives to come back more often with something that is lower-risk, like a free meal if she visits three times in the next 30 days. But if we have a guest who comes in more often but only for a chicken sandwich, we can message that person any time we have news about chicken. And we can get that person to add incremental sales with offers for an appetizer or a signature beverage.
What best practices did you see from other loyalty programs?
We looked at a number of programs outside the restaurant industry, and we were impressed most by grocery [stores] and bookstores. With grocery store programs, it’s very easy to punch in a registered phone number if you don’t have your card, and you get your credits and discounts right then and there for things you’re already buying. When they message customers with direct mail, it’s based on what they typically buy. Bookstores track behavior, so if I buy one kind of book or like one author, they’ll message me and ask if I’ve considered these similar books. It’s very relevant, and I would come back more often because I felt they understand me and are targeting me.
Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article/red-robin-cmo-strategy-behind-loyalty-program#ixzz1LOjSTn9l
John Heyman, CEO of Radiant Systems
What I Have Learned From the Groupon Fad
Andy Heyman, Chief Operating Officer
Radiant Systems
Whether or not Google buys Groupon for $6 billion (currently the deal is off the table) is less interesting to me than what it says about where our retail world is now leaning. In talking with small businesses around the United States, there are some really fascinating things going on with consumer portals. As it turns out, we’ve been to this party before. What I remember from those prior affairs is that the party has a midnight, and there is a lot of cleaning up to do once the clock strikes twelve.
Never mind that if Groupon were a child, he wouldn’t be speaking in full sentences yet because 18-month-olds don’t. Groupon is one of an increasing number of places on the Internet consumers go for a deal of the day. It’s such a good deal (e.g., 50% off dinner tonight), that two things happen. First, the restaurant or retailer loses money on the transaction. Second, the consumer builds a stronger loyalty to Groupon than to the restaurant, placing these portals at odds with what the retailers truly want – loyal customers. The value of Groupon has risen to this enviable level in less than two years – making it worth more than the combination of P.F. Chang’s, Brinker International, Texas Roadhouse and California Pizza Kitchen. Company valuations are one thing, but customer value is quite different.
As we’ve discussed in many internal meetings at Radiant, our opportunity is embedded inside our DNA and it has several levels to it. First, we want to help our customers market to new consumers. Our belief is that the One-and-Done deal is the current wave, and it’s a wave that will break when it hits shore. Second, after we are able to help our customers gain new consumers, we then want to help them build relationships for life. Once we have the e-mail address or cell phone number of a new guest, Radiant can then help our customers with ongoing marketing to them that is relevant to their prior purchases and interests. Third, we can measure the results because of Radiant’s expertise of tracking promotions and transactions tied to them. We believe this type of customer value is sustainable.
Groupon reminds me of some other companies whose valuations have skyrocketed past most of the companies in the industry it serves. Moviefone and OpenTable both had similar reputations of valuations exceeding the value delivered in their respective industries. We know what ultimately happened with Moviefone. We haven’t yet seen the end of the OpenTable and Groupon flicks.
The guiding principle for Radiant today, as it’s always been, is to add value to our customers. The consumer portal and mobility trends (i.e., connect from anywhere) are very important and the Groupon fad has taught us that deals are crucial to consumers and the Internet is more accessible and relevant than ever. Those trends, along with Radiant’s perpetual focus on its customers, will dictate our gameplan.
Why You Should Switch to Plastic Gift Cards
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of emphasizing gift card sales during the holidays and promotion tips, below are reasons why switching from paper gift certificates to plastic gift cards will help your business save time and grow revenues.
- Research shows that businesses using plastic gift cards increase sales an average of 35% over paper certificate programs.
- In addition, customers spend an average of 40% more than the value of the card when using a plastic card versus a paper certificate.
- If running a small business, transitioning from paper to plastic puts your restaurant or store on the same level as major chains with a plastic gift card program in place. Plastic cards certainly look more professional.
- The majority of consumers keep plastic gift cards in their wallets – take advantage of having an advertisement in customers’ hands all the time!
- Reporting and analysis will be much easier. It is simple and fast to track, analyze and process gift cards when the electronic data stored on them can be quickly updated on the point of sale.
- Plastic cards make it easier to engage customers online. Your customers can go online to check their balance, reload their cards and purchase additional gifts, giving them more interaction with your website and your brand.
- Retail stores have seen a reduction in shoplifting when a policy to put refunds without a receipt on a gift card is implemented. This discourages stealing and then asking the cashier for cash back. Many national chains have made this a store policy.
- Save time! Think about the time it takes to look up a paper certificate number and apply the amount to a total. Plastic gift cards drastically cut processing times to increase speed and improve customer service.
Mary Catherine Brutz, Marketing Communications
Radiant Systems
Tags: 