Esaa Yamini founded Gourmetmiles in June 2015 in San Antonio to bring big loyalty and data to small restaurants with no extra hardware or cards to collect. Gourmetmiles’ iPhone and Android apps make it easy for restaurant owners to reward their loyal customers while getting vital data to help grow their business.
Restaurants pay a monthly fee to use Gourmetmiles, which integrates with popular Point of Sale (POS) systems such as Lightspeed, jRestaurant, and Flow Menu. When customers buy a meal from the restaurant, Gourmetmiles adds a QR code to the receipt. Using Gourmetmiles’ free iOS or Android app, the customer scans the code to earn “miles.” Each restaurant sets the value of the miles, typically ranging from 2% to 10% of the purchase. At the same time, the restaurant gets valuable data and reviews.
Big data for small restaurants
Gourmetmiles encourages repeat business by allowing customers to earn miles for restaurant credits. Meanwhile, the restaurant owner gets valuable data about customer demographics and purchase patterns, as well as reviews.
Restaurant owners can use the data to send personalized SMS birthday messages, identify problem menu items, and review lots of customer comments. Gourmetmiles analytics are available through an online portal, so restaurateurs can access their data from home, office, or anywhere in between. Everything can be exported to Excel, so owners can use the data however they like.
Yamini, an Army Reserve Officer, stands behind his app with a bold guarantee. If a restaurant doesn’t see increased sales, insight, and customer loyalty, the first three months of service are free. In addition, Gourmetmiles is always free to U.S. veteran-owned businesses.
A delicious partnership
Yamini turned to AnswerConnect because he wanted his partner restaurants to be able to reach a live receptionist 24 hours a day. With AnswerConnect, Yamini says, his customers have increased confidence that Gourmetmiles will take care of issues. Instant email notification of incoming customer messages helps his team respond quickly and efficiently, at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house receptionist.
“AnswerConnect is the perfect solution for small to start-up businesses looking to gain the big business answering service,” he says. “Customers are more receptive to speaking to a live person and it adds credibility to your company.”
