Congratulations to the 2022 Punchh Customer Award Winners

Today Punchh is excited to announce its 2022 Customer Award winners! These six restaurant brands and one C-store brand earned top honors for their ability to create and execute truly rewarding guest experiences that increase loyalty and drive sales. 

Every year Punchh recognizes exceptional customers who excel at using the Punchh Loyalty and Engagement Platform for customized reward program management, omnichannel engagement, digital campaigns, personalized offers, and so much more.  

This year’s winners were selected from Punchh’s customer base of more than 250 global brands, which were evaluated on quantitative and qualitative metrics, innovative usage, and platform adoption.  

The Punchh Customer Awards honor our customers who are the best of the best, who are shaping the future of customer experience, and who have positively influenced their guests with our solutions. We are impressed with not only their platform implementation, but also their collaboration and innovation when it comes to building lasting customer loyalty. Congratulations! 

Introducing the 2022 Punchh Customer Award winners!

Rookie of the Year – Zippy’s

Partnering with Punchh, Zippy’s Restaurants, a cultural institution in Hawaii, successfully launched their new Zipster Rewards program in mid-2022. The loyalty program was launched not only with a new, member-centric sequence of service in stores, but also with a full-throttled integrated marketing approach, including employee training, in-store promotions, print, email, direct mail, digital, radio and TV advertising. 

Partnering with local brand ambassadors, along with the introduction of monthly member-exclusive deals, has established a rhythm of new news that keeps members coming back, earning them an inaugural 25% participation rate and a 45%+ increase in visitation QoQ. 

Digital Innovator – Snooze an A.M. Eatery 

National brand, Snooze an A.M. Eatery, brings Breakfast But Different into the casual dining morning daypart with a creative menu that boasts out-of-the-box breakfast and brunch food and a wide variety of breakfast brews and cocktails. With the MySnooze Bennyfits mobile rewards program, Snooze leverages their app to drive in-person visits with 51% of their members advancing along their customer journey from 2nd to 3rd visits.  

Mobile loyalty guests also enjoy the benefit and convenience of adding themselves to the Snooze waitlist through a strategic Yelp integration. Members’ wait times are then tracked in the app and Snooze delivers a surprise reward to guests who have waited for specific time thresholds as a thank you to their loyal guests. In addition, Silver and Gold tier members can redeem points for priority seating any day of the week, getting them to their breakfast cravings, faster.   

Campaign Hotshot – Tropical Smoothie Cafe, LLC

With more than 1,175 locations and counting, Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a fast-casual brand known for its better-for-you-smoothies and food served with a tropical twist. The Tropic Rewards® loyalty program and app deliver their digital strategy focused on leveraging activations that reward members with targeted offers and promotions. 

In 2022, Tropical Smoothie Cafe optimized current campaigns and created highly segmented new campaigns to drive acquisition, frequency, food trial and retention. During Tropic Fan Fest, their first-ever member appreciation week, members were rewarded with daily offers and Tropical Smoothie Cafe was rewarded with a 46% increase in loyalty transactions with 22% of guests trying a food item for the first time. 

Retention Rockstar – HTeaO 

HTeaO serves up ultra-premium Tea, Water, and related products in a fun and clean environment, expanding to 65 locations in 2022. Their HTeaO loyalty program helped them drive adoption and engagement in these new and different marketplaces while continue growing in existing markets. 

HTeaO strategically launches everything from new cup sizes to new flavors to loyalty members through their branded mobile app. This saves the brand advertising dollars and maintains a lower marketing cost for franchisees, while offering HTeaO a method to track campaign effectiveness. Their creative and timely retention campaigns helped the brand achieve consistently high loyalty sales with 49% growth from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022 and an annual participation rate of 33% in 2022.  

Top International Customer – Joe’s Garage

Being a ‘Regular Joe’ with New Zealand’s Joe’s Garage restaurants is the key to getting top tier rewards for customers, and significant participation growth in the Group’s app. Joe’s Garage has been committed to be being part of the community and celebrating culture through innovative campaigns and creative marketing tactics, earning more than 20% YoY participation rate. 

They show appreciation for their loyal members with offers such as earning a $10 voucher in their Regular Joe app during Māori Language Week for using Te Reo Māori with Joe’s crew. On Gumboot Friday, kiwis are asked to spotlight mental health by putting on their gummies to support I AM HOPE, a Joe’s Garage partner, and through the app, Regular Joes know they’re supporting free counselling for young people in need. Regular Joe’s know they’re the best Joe’s and get rewarded because of it. 

Cstore Champion Award – Casey’s General Stores Inc.  

Casey’s is a convenience retailer with more than 2,500 locations across the heartland. Casey’s Rewards gives guests the ability to earn points on everyday purchases and redeem them for Casey’s Cash, fuel discounts, or a donation to a local school – enabling its 5M+ members to choose how they want to be rewarded. Over 36,000 local schools across Casey’s footprint are able to benefit from members donating their points through Casey’s Cash for Classrooms. 

 In 2022, Casey’s ran their third annual “24 Days of Casey’s Rewards” campaign during the holidays to give free and exclusive offers to participants to unwrap daily in the Casey’s app. Strategic and engaging campaigns like this helped Casey’s achieve 43M redemptions and a 70% QoQ loyalty retention rate in 2022. 

All Star – Taco Bell

Since 2020, the Taco Bell Rewards program has provided its most passionate fans the ability to attend exclusive experiences like Taco Bell Drag Brunch and score early access to favorites like Mexican Pizza. It has also enabled the brand to connect with their fans on a more personal level by providing opportunities to vote for the return of a favorite food and predict who will steal the first base in their Steal a Base Steal a Taco campaign.   

Fans earn points on qualifying purchases made in-store, drive-thru, kiosks, online and the Taco Bell app, giving fans more opportunities to receive rewards and participate in exclusive experiences. The rewards program is an important factor of Taco Bell’s massive and on-going digital growth, where the brand aims to reach 100% digital sales. 

Congratulations to the Punchh Award Winners who encompass the brands, teams, and individuals that go the extra mile, push the boundaries of what’s possible, deliver on the guest experience every day, and build a culture that values customer loyalty. We are so proud to partner with you. 

If you’re interested in remaining at the forefront of innovation and want to succeed in an era of elevated customer experiences, check out the details of our free Platform Certification Program.