Monthly Archives: May 2018

Newton, MA – Paytronix Systems, Inc., an innovator in mobile loyalty and online ordering applications, mobile payment, and digital communication tools, and Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, with growing legions of fans nationwide, announces the launch of Bruster’s new Sweet Rewards customer loyalty program, across most of its 200 franchised shops in 20 states.

The new Sweet Rewards loyalty program provides customers with two easy ways to join by either downloading the Bruster’s App or registering online at BrustersSweetRewards.com. Guests receive a $3 reward just for joining, earn 1 point for every $1 spent and at 50 points will earn a $5 reward, plus more exclusive offers for members. The App, supported by iPhone and Android smartphones, also allows customers to track progress, browse the menu, share on social media and find nearby locations.

“Bruster’s goal is always to have our franchisees be successful from the day they open their doors. Our new Sweet Rewards loyalty program is an important marketing initiative to aid in their success,” said Jim Sahene, Chief Executive Officer, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream. “We invested in the Paytronix-powered rewards program because we believe it is the best platform for enabling franchisee and consumer adoption. Our entire team is excited to be working with Paytronix to grow our business through real-time consumer insights direct from our growing fan base.”

For close to 30 years, Bruster’s has worked to develop its franchise operations largely by protecting the integrity of its brand, developing brand enthusiasts and helping individual store owners drive sales. Bruster’s leaders wanted to move from a long-time eClub to a more modern, full-scale loyalty program that would enable its franchisees to take advantage of data analytics and mobile technology to uncover opportunities for increasing revenue.

Bruster’s turned to Paytronix as its loyalty program partner and worked closely with their team to develop a strategy to migrate legacy eClub members to its new program.

Prior to the program launch, Bruster’s had invested in new NCR Silver POS systems and scanners in each location. The new technology integration enables store personnel to instantaneously scan the mobile Bruster’s app or identify a customer through phone number look-up on the POS system.

“By teaming up with Paytronix, Bruster’s can be more strategic about how it influences buying decisions through relevant customer engagement,” said Jennifer Brinker, Vice President of Marketing, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream. “The Paytronix program will not only provide critical consumer data to market to our customers’ individual desires and needs, but it is easy and fast for franchisees to implement, as well as for our guests to participate in and become lifelong fans.”

“Bruster’s Real Ice Cream has made a strategic investment that will aid individual franchisees as they compete in their markets,” said Michelle Tempesta, head of marketing, Paytronix Systems, Inc. “From program design to implementation to the program rollout to all of its stores, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream has capitalized on the ability of the Paytronix Rewards platform to deliver a sophisticated data-driven loyalty program that will scale with Bruster’s unique business.”

MINNEAPOLIS, MN

Great Clips, Inc. is proud to be named the Official Hair Salon of the NHL® as part of a partnership with the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2018 Stanley Cup® Playoffs. The partnership centers around a campaign, aptly named the LegendHairy Greats of the NHL. The socially-shareable campaign features an online poll where fans can vote for their favorite “hockey hair” styles from some of the sport’s most notable players including: Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks), Cal Clutterbuck (New York Islanders), Jamie Benn (Dallas Stars), James Neal (Vegas Golden Nights), Chris Thorburn (St. Louis Blues), and many more.

The “LegendHairy Greats of the NHL” campaign will run through the duration of the Stanley Cup® Playoffs through the Stanley Cup® Final in June. “Head-to-Head Matchups” between players as well as individual players’ hairstyle evolutions will be displayed in campaign materials so fans can vote on their favorite hairstyles. Participants of the campaign are encouraged to use #HockeyHair to share their voting results and to encourage others to submit their own votes at NHL.com. Great Clips salons across the United States and Canada will support the campaign and encourage their current customer base to participate through in-salon signage as well as messaging through its Great Clips Online Check-in App, redirecting mobile users to the voting URL. The “LegendHairy Greats of the NHL” will also be promoted on live broadcast during the Stanley Cup® Playoffs, in person at venues hosting the Stanley Cup® Playoffs, and on the NHL’s social media channels.

In addition, Great Clips will soon announce a lineup of Great Clips ambassadors who will help spread the word of the “LegendHairy Greats of the NHL” campaign.

“When most think of hockey, they think of ‘hockey hair,’ making the NHL partnership the perfect place for Great Clips to connect with its target consumers,” says Great Clips, Inc. CEO Steve Hockett. “We wanted to join forces with the NHL to not only highlight some of the best players in the league, but to also have some fun with those legendary hairstyles that the fans have come to know and love. We look forward to the results of our online poll during the most exciting few weeks of the sport.”

“The Stanley Cup Playoffs is the most thrilling and competitive postseason in sports,” said Keith Wachtel, NHL Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President. “Great Clips has conceived a creative, entertaining and inviting concept for the Stanley Cup Playoffs that has increased engagement among our avid fans across multiple platforms while connecting with a broader audience through its tremendous retail footprint of more than 4,300 stores across North America.”

“We are excited about this partnership with Great Clips and the chance to help fans connect with their favourite players during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs,” said Sandra Monteiro, NHLPA Chief of Global Business Strategies. “The players are the face and focus of the NHL and the ability to activate players directly in the “LegendHairy Greats of the NHL” is a great opportunity to continue to profile the players’ unique style and personalities.”

For more information about Great Clips’ sponsorship with The Stanley Cup® Playoffs, visit the Great Clips website and connect with Great Clips on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

DENVER, CO

Spring 2018 marks a celebratory milestone for the Sola Salon Studio’s community across North America. Sola’s community is now 10,000 owners strong – in over 400 locations – across North America!

This milestone was announced at the recent Sola SESSIONS event in Jupiter, Florida where over 250 Sola professionals were in attendance.

The celebration of this milestone included Sola Culture Ambassador, first-ever Sola business owner and Paul Mitchell educator, Kim Bennett Horvath. “The choice I made to be part of Sola 14 years ago provided me the best opportunity for the rest of my career,” noted Horvath.

During the event, a stunned Katie Oakes from Savannah, GA was called on stage as she was officially the 10,000th salon owner. “After I left my last job, I showed up at Sola with my mother, signed a lease and never looked back. It’s been the best thing and my community has been great. Sola gave me the freedom to be my own boss and the space to be myself,” commented Oakes.

Nodding to Sola’s legacy of creating a community of like-minded, independent, creative owners, Kim added “During my 14 years, it’s been amazing to hear and share thousands of different stories. 10,000 owners, each connected through Sola, is something I could not have imagined at the start. Congratulations to all of the Sola 10,000!”

By removing the majority of risk and overhead costs of running a traditional salon, Sola Salon Studios empowers artists ready take full creative and business control of their careers – allowing them doing what they do best in highly-designed, supportive – yet private – workspaces. With state-of-the-art tools including technology like SolaGenius and Sola Pro apps, Sola helps support each business and provide valuable education/product information on demand.

The Sola Tribe: Shared Industry Culture

For pros dreaming of their own business yet worrying about losing the camaraderie of colleagues a sink away, that fear is quickly dissipated through Sola’s attention to creating engaging owners within each locale. Stylist Alex Sylvester, a 2018 Faces of Sola honoree observes, “It opened my eyes to see this huge community that I really had no idea about coming into it. There are many inspiring owners here working to make their careers and brands noticeable. It’s so much fun, having like-minded people ready to make something of themselves surround you every day.”

“I decided to move to Sola because I wanted to surround myself with a community of people with similar ideas and goals. Being here allows me to stay on top of my performance and learn so many new things,” notes nail artist Julie Nguyen.

Minneapolis stylist Mahogany Plautz sums it up nicely, “The community at Sola is very supportive of each other. We interact, communicate and share ideas (and clients) often. If I get someone who comes in and asks me to do something not in my wheelhouse, there are other professionals just steps away I can refer them to. Ours is a big circle of support and inspiration. We celebrate each other.”

HOUSTON, TX

In honor of National Teacher Day on Tuesday, May 8, Überrito locations will celebrate “Above and Beyond Educators“ by offering a free burrito, bowl, salad or nachos during regular store hours. The special promotion is open to all teachers, faculty and staff with a valid school ID, which must be presented to receive the offer. Überrito restaurants will also deliver complimentary catered meals for teachers, faculty and staff at nearby local schools throughout Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-11.

“Teachers go above and beyond every day by educating our kids and showing up for our communities, just like Überrito delivers on its promise to go above and beyond the basic burrito,” said Marcus Jundt, CEO. “All of our teachers, faculty and staff deserve special recognition during Teacher Appreciation Week, and our ‘Above and Beyond Educators’ promotion is one simple way we’re saying thanks with a free meal during this week.”

The “Above and Beyond Educators” promotion includes one free entrée (burrito, bowl, salad or nachos) per qualified participant and is valid only on May 8, 2018. Teachers, faculty and staff must present a valid school ID, which includes an identification badge or other formal documentation from a school, college, university or home school program. It cannot be combined with any other offer, promotion or discount. The offer is valid for the teacher, faculty or staff member entrée only.

Überrito currently operates five Houston-area locations and one Phoenix location. The restaurant brand is part of Williston Holding Company, which currently operates and franchises 56 Mexican and American restaurant locations across nine brands: Casa Olé, Monterey’s Little Mexico, Überrito, Tortuga Mexican Kitchen, Crazy Jose’s, Williston Brewing Company, Gramma Sharon’s, J Dub’s Bar & Grill, and Doc Holliday’s Roadhouse.

WALLINGFORD, CT – PRNewswire

Edible International, LLC (Edible) has kicked off May with a nationwide multi-million-dollar, multi-layered advertising campaign, designed to splash across billboards, TV and radio, celebrating the goodness and “ibles” that make up the Edible^® brand. Created by Havas New York, Edible’s advertising agency of record, this Edible is Lovible program will roll out in waves this spring and summer, timed to celebrate new products, holidays like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and those crazy days of summer.

It’s the first comprehensive marketing campaign in more than 18 months, and a bold statement for the award-winning brand to share products that are both gifts and treats.

Representation of this campaign will come to life through various channels beyond the traditional billboards as Edible will share watchible moments across multiple TV commercials, social media, on the radio, and in-store marketing materials. There are multiple versions of the TV commercials- an “Anthem” that captures how guests interact with the Edible^® brand for everyday occasions, and a lovible animated commercial that focuses on giftible products. Rotating variations of the nationwide billboards will celebrate the goodness of Edible’s ibles such as: <3ible, momible, dipible, and more. America will no doubt catch the Edible^® brand excitement.

“For years we’ve been the Mother’s Day go-to for festive and healthy fruit bouquets to celebrate mom. We’re happy to continue on that path but this year, we’re taking it to the next level,” says Tariq Farid, founder and CEO of Edible International, LLC. “This campaign helps us bring our goal of spreading goodness through variations of the ibles we offer as we increase the variety of our treats. We are dipible, shareible, sipible, and so much more. I look forward to sharing that message with this campaign.”

“The objective of our campaign is to re-establish an emotional connection with consumers,” said Steve Thomas, Senior Vice President of Brand Strategy Edible^®. “Our brand is emotional- fruit and chocolate make people happy. We know they celebrate major life events with us, now we want to give them options for smaller, more everyday events. Part of that is treating themselves too- which is why we are resourcing strongly against our smaller, treat products. We want to invite consumers everywhere to be our guest at our stores, try our products and come back often. A great experience awaits!”

Welcoming the first days of warm sunshine, Edible’s on-the-goible is a fun way to celebrate summer with bite-size, chocolate-dipped apple or strawberry fruit cones. Guests will also find that Edible^® products are shareible, offering brightly colored pineapple drip cakes (fresh pineapple dipped in real chocolate and decorated). We’re shareible, helping to celebrate everyday victories with FruitFlowers^® bouquets that come in brightly colored coffee mugs. Edible^® products are even sipible with all-natural fresh fruit smoothies like strawberry pineapple banana and pineapple kale. Edible^®products are both lovible and yumible!

The Edible^® is Lovible campaign began on May 1 with a national billboard campaign and will run throughout the summer.

NASHVILLE, TN 

Chem-Dry, the world’s largest carpet and upholstery cleaning franchise system, has announced a giveaway with Woman’s World, a national weekly consumer magazine. Just in time for spring, the winner of the giveaway will receive a year of free carpet & upholstery cleaning services – a $1,000 value.

The giveaway winner can choose to spend the $1,000 on any of the services Chem-Dry offers: carpet and area rug cleaning, upholstered furniture cleaning, tile and stone cleaning and polishing, pet urine odor removal, stain removal and granite countertop renewal. The winner must be located within 25 miles of a Chem-Dry operator and use the full value of the prize by June 30, 2019.

“Chem-Dry is thrilled to work with Woman’s World to provide one of their readers with a year’s worth of our wide range of healthy home cleaning services,” said Bill Zinke, Senior Vice President of Marketing for HRI, parent company of Chem-Dry. “With spring cleaning top of mind and allergies such a challenge for so many people at this time of year, our mission is not only to help make homes cleaner, but eliminate household allergens and make homes healthier as well. We know that our giveaway will accomplish this for one lucky winner and we hope it will inspire all Woman’s World readers to schedule a professional deep cleaning for their carpets and upholstery and provide a healthier home for their family.”

Chem-Dry uses a green-certified solution called The Natural® and a proprietary Hot Carbonating Extraction (HCE) process that provide a deeper, longer-lasting clean, and create healthier homes and workplaces. In a study conducted by an independent lab, Chem-Dry’s HCE cleaning method was found to remove an average of 98 percent of common household allergens from carpets and upholstery and an average of 89 percent of airborne bacteria when a sanitizer was added. As part of the brand’s focus on contributing to overall home health, it now offers over 40 Green-Certified products.

The Year of Free Chem-Dry Healthy Home Carpet & Upholstery Services giveaway runs through May 29, 2018. To enter, visit the Woman’s World giveaway page. Follow Chem-Dry on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to see what the professionals can do to enhance spring cleaning for your home and help minimize the effects of spring allergies.

For more information about Chem-Dry and to find a local operator, visit www.chemdry.com.

Manalapan, NJ – PR.com

Kono USA Co-Founders, Carlo Ruggiero and David Ragosa knew they were on to something when they founded Kono USA back in 2013. The unique take on pizza, the Kono Kones were created around mobility and high-quality ingredients. Founded in Italy and knowing that everyone loves pizza, the Kono USA team made the decision to make their delicious Kono Kone available across the country. They began franchising across the USA in late 2014 and haven’t looked back since. They are adding new franchisees monthly, signing them up for mobile trucks, kiosks and carts.

What makes Kono different is their mobility and delicious flavors. The pizza is eaten like an ice cream cone with a delicious combo of cheese, sauce and toppings in every bite. They are cooked in a proprietary oven and can go from prep to completion in less than 180 seconds. They are baked to perfection with high-quality ingredients and offer a variety of options, including breakfast cones, dessert cones and traditional pizza. There is something for everyone and the best part is you don’t have sauce running down your shirt.

As Kono takes off across the USA, adding to the Kono family is Russell Meyers, from Riverside California. Meyers has signed on to expand into the Orange County area with three mobile food trucks. Follow the OC Kono Trucks via social media as they begin rolling out this spring.

In addition to Orange County California, Kono has now expanded into Marlborough, MA with a brand new location in Solomon Pond Mall. This newly opened location is now offering tasty treats. Conveniently located new the upper entrance by Macy’s. Stop by and get a taste of Italy.

To find a Kono USA near you, follow us on social media, Facebook – Kono USA and Twitter @OfficialKonoUSA.

Giving franchisees options and not having a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach has really allowed us to on-board new locations that suit their individual entrepreneurial needs. It’s an exciting time to be a part of Kono USA.

For more information about Kono USA or to inquire about franchising visit www.konousa.com.

DENVER, CO – PRNewswire

In honor of teachers, faculty and school staff nationwide, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) will be offering a buy-one-get-one (BOGO) on Teacher Appreciation Day, Tuesday, May 8. Eligible educators and school staff can receive a free burrito, burrito bowl, salad or order of tacos with the purchase of another menu item of equal or greater value. The promotion is valid at all U.S. Chipotle locations from 3 p.m. to close.

“Chipotle is passionate about supporting our teachers, who are dedicated to cultivating the minds of the next generation,” said Laurie Schalow, chief communications officer at Chipotle. “This BOGO is just a small way of thanking them for their contributions to classrooms and neighborhoods across the country.”

The BOGO is valid for educators and staff at all levels, including pre-school, elementary, middle and high school, university and homeschooling parents who present valid identification recognizing them as staff or support. It is available for in-restaurant orders only and is not valid for online, mobile, fax or catering. There is a limit of one free entrée item per eligible customer with the purchase of an entrée item of equal or greater value.

Chipotle has long been a champion of education at all levels. The company has offered education benefits to all of its employees to help prepare them for long-term and fulfilling careers since 2015. These benefits include providing employees with up to $5,250 in tuition reimbursement and, through a partnership with Guild Education, the company offers reduced-cost courses and degree programs at a number of colleges and universities. The educational program includes more than 10,000 class and program options and since its inception, nearly 6,000 Chipotle employees have taken advantage of the program.