Innovative Solution Awards:

Credit Processing - pcAmerica

Best of the Best - pcAmerica

pcAmerica along with Tasti D-Lite were also recognized for their innovative customer loyalty program.

In addition to rewarding members for their purchases, the TastiRewards program, which began rolling out nationwide in the fall of 2009, allows members to earn points toward free Tasti D-Lite products for spreading the word on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. It is the first "social-friendly" point-of-sale (POS) integrated customer loyalty application. Tasti D-Lite locations use pcAmerica's Restaurant Pro Express software with loyalty processing handled by Mercury Payment Systems.

"The TastiRewards program allows us to acknowledge and reward our customers for their brand loyalty and for spreading the word about Tasti D-Lite with their friends and followers within the most popular social networking communities," says BJ Emerson, social technology officer for Tasti D-Lite.

"One interesting insight we've learned is that TastiRewards members are spending considerably more per transaction than customers not belonging to our loyalty program. We believe this reinforces the power and value of our loyalty program in helping us engage and strengthen our relationship with our customers."

To read more, go to QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) Magazine at:

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=11409

• Restaurants' No Reservation Policy Empowers The List Keeper

This pretty amusing article was published in the Chicago Tribune (Dining Section).

Many restaurants are no longer accepting reservations. It seems that standing in line adds to the prestige of some busy restaurants. When you arrive at one of these restaurants, you are at the mercy of The List Keeper that has the power to tell you that you have a 95 minute wait, seat more important customers before you get your table, or banish you to the bar while you wait.

The Tribune writer called for a reservation at one of these posh restaurants and was abruptly told by The List Keeper that they do not accept reservations.

The writer went to the restaurant with his guest. He rushed inside the restaurant while his guest parked the car. The writer had to make his way to the podium passing through a crowd of patrons waiting for their names to be called. Upon reaching the podium, he was informed that there was a 95 minute wait for a table.

He gave The List Keeper a dejected look. The List Keeper upon scanning the dining area found one table for two that was available right now. The List Keeper said he and his guest could be seated immediately. Is your party available right now? No. My guest is parking the car. Sorry, we don't hold tables for incomplete parties.

The Tribune author quickly stated that he wanted a table for one. The flustered List Keeper agreed to seat him at the table for one (which had two seats). The author was able to get another setting when his guest arrived.

Read the entire article (it's pretty funny) at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/sc-food-0716-dineout-20100716,0,6355824.story

Four years ago, Stacy Snyder, then a 25-year-old teacher in training at Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, Pa., posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed her at a party wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption “Drunken Pirate.” After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was “unprofessional,” and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder’s scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree. Snyder sued, arguing that the university had violated her First Amendment rights by penalizing her for her (perfectly legal) after-hours behavior. But in 2008, a federal district judge rejected the claim, saying that because Snyder was a public employee whose photo didn’t relate to matters of public concern, her “Drunken Pirate” post was not protected speech.