German cocktail bar Sausalitos which has 4 million yearly visitors, 41 restaurants, and 900 employees establishments throughout Germany is rolling out a loyalty reward program with a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. The ERC20 compliant Sausalitos Coin will be offered through the infrastructure of Sausalitos’ new partner qiibee, a plug and play solution for loyalty rewards on the Ethereum network.
Customers who download the app will receive the store cryptocurrency with every purchase by scanning a QR code, and can then exchange the tokens for cash, loyalty tokens from other brands, and eventually other cryptocurrencies as well.
The idea of loyalty rewards through blockchain networks is an intriguing one – in the case of qiibee, brands purchase QBX tokens on crypto exchanges in order to trigger a smart contract which creates loyalty tokens. Sausalito’s and Lattesso are examples of companies working with the program, and their tokens are tied to the value of QBX.
The cocktail bar can choose to promote a particular beverage during happy hour (for example) and reward customers with their bar tokens, as well as asking the beverage brand to purchase the tokens in return.
CCN.com spoke to the CEO of Sausalitos, who explained the reason for the move to blockchain technology.
Sausalitos CEO Christoph Heidt told CCN.com the company was looking for “something innovative” for their customer rewards program.
“It offers many options to us, including the option for our loyal customers to switch into using cryptocurrency, which is very exciting. We just had to find the right, serious partner for it and we found that with Swiss-based loyalty ecosystem qiibee.”
“It will be a mix of options which will provide our customers with the freedom to decide. They can either choose to stay within the Sausalitos world and get free drinks or other offers, or they can use their Sausalitos Coins in the outside world, either with other brands or trade their Sausalitos Coins for cryptocurrency or fiat.”
Gabriele Giancola, Co-founder and CEO of qiibee, also spoke with CCN.com about the new partnership, and talked about the application of blockchain technology in the food services industry.
“Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize many different industries. If we look specifically at the food service industry, blockchain could have a transformative impact. As we can see through qiibee’s partnership with Sausalitos, blockchain technology has huge potential from a marketing and sales perspective in terms of loyalty programs and customer data handling.
Supply chain management (determining the age, quality, origin, and tracking of ingredients for food and drinks) is another area where blockchain can play an influential part, while using cryptocurrency and blockchain to facilitate the payment process. This is particularly useful for multinational companies and will help transform the food service industry.”
While many projects are working on blockchain loyalty rewards programs, the new method of securely and easily transferring what is essentially corporate/store currency in the form of brand tokens is still relatively uncharted territory. With a wide user base across Germany, Sausalitos is in a strong position to trial the system.
The Sausalitos’ rewards program has the potential to reach millions of customers throughout the coming year after the June launch, and it seems that soon the world will find out if blockchain has the power to disrupt the way businesses connect with their customers.
Featured image from Facebook/Sausalitos .