TGI Friday’s Steps Up its Rewards Program

April 30, 2024         By: Steven Anderson

While today, we commonly think of Starbucks when we think about companies who are doing rewards right, we often forget about one major trailblazer in the rewards field: TGI Friday’s. This fast-casual chain had been picking up its rewards program since 2008, and recent word out of the company says it’s about to make some very big changes to the popular and successful rewards program.

The new rewards program will be staged in partnership with SessionM, whose platform focuses on improving customer engagement and taking customer data for better analysis throughout its partners’ operations. That alone suggests a good start, but that’s not where this exciting news ends.

One of the biggest changes coming to the rewards program is that it’s going to get a lot more flexible. Where the previous program offered specific point values for specific rewards—a free dessert at 50 points, a free hamburger at 100 and so on—the new program is opening up the options to not just be about food, but also about “real-time rewards experiences.” Plus, users will be able to earn rewards for more than just coming in and eating; such things as visiting TGI Friday’s Facebook page or following the company on Twitter may prove a part of things.

It won’t just be better for the customers, reports note, but also for the company. Right now, TGI Friday’s has several databases for its engagement operations. Trying to move customers from one to the other takes some manual input, and that’s input that could be better served elsewhere.

Rewards have been a major part of the mobile payments concept pretty much since it got started. By revamping its rewards program, TGI Friday’s is advancing what it can offer and making the overall package more appealing to potential users. That’s a good plan, because TGI Friday’s has a lot of competitors out there. If you’ve ever found yourself puzzling over where to get dinner on a Friday or Saturday night—or any other night, for that matter—then you already know how tight this market is.

How much impact the changes will have on TGI Friday’s operations is unclear, but it’s a safe bet we’ll find out before too much longer has passed.