With March Madness about to launch into full swing, you might be dusting off your list of favorite sports bars. In South Florida, there are a lot to choose from, but there is only one that combines good vibes, good food and a decent rewards program – Duffy’s Sport Grill. If you aren’t familiar with the area, Duffy’s is operates a 20 store chain between Melbourne and Plantation on the Southeast Florida coast.  I believe the firm to be privately held and have noticed their expansion in my area through assumption of real estate from Roadhouse Grill as that chain exited locations.

The program is simple to understand, encourages repeat visits and sports an email based communications stream that provides just enough information without being intrusive. They’ve even got a decent Twitter account which seems to be following people back (the exception for many business twits) and posts about more than just their daily special.

The Club MVP program was comfortably explained by well trained staff. Enrollment consisted of completing a simple post card size form while I waited to wrap up our tab.  Name, email address, zip code and birthday were the required data to get started.I wonder if they use the zip code to manage communications – South Florida is a tourist market and maybe they tailor offers for locals and visitors.

The program awards 1 point for every dollar spent and automatically credits $10 to the member card once accumulating 100 points. Points never expire and the 10% back is nothing to sneeze at. Members can earn double points every Tuesday and those who visit 12 times in a 12 month period receive a $25 credit on their birthday.

The communications via email over the first 30 days were on target and well paced:

• After enrolling, I received a Welcome to the Club MVP program message highlighting special offers and links to get more information
• Day 4 – I received “Ways to Save Big at Duffy’s” which informed me of mid-afternoon specials at 40% off
• Day 8 – Since we were nearing the holiday season, I received an email inviting me to ” Book your company’s holiday party and keep the MVP points yourself!”
• Day 18 – Another special was highlighted having to do with Game Day Deals (food and drink specials)
• Day 30 – More Game Day Deals were touted prior to the weekend

Following this first salvo of email, they’ve been judiciously letting me know about seasonal events, gift card specials (buy $100 gift card and earn $20 bonus)  and other special offers 2-3 x per month. I can’t say that they have offered anything of a personalized nature but since they haven’t tried a survey, that stands to reason. I also haven’t noticed any email triggered by a visit or items ordered – something to consider for the future.

One competitor on the local scene is Flanigan’s, renowned to have the best ribs in town. For years the stores in our area have been offering paper based punch cards, which in my opinion are completely worthless. There is a temporary feeling of earning something when you receive the card from the wait staff, but inevitably the card is lost along with the value.

The Flanigan’s chain has fragmented ownership and just recently I saw the group that owns the Quarterdeck (near the beach and Port Everglades) going “Duffy’s style” with a plastic card that allows value to be accumulated.  Let’s see how that one works out.

The lesson learned is simple: just like cash back can be turned from a transparent reward that offers limited leverage into something more powerful with partner offers, a few tweaks to the traditional punch card used by many small – medium businesses can be made to create a loyalty program that matters.