Restaurant Merchant Uses Gift Cards to Retain Customers and Profits
 

Carmine’s Gourmet Market of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is a 16,000 square foot specialty food store that incorporates a floral department as well as two restaurants. A landmark in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, Carmine’s is a one-stop shop for fresh and prepared food products, upscale signature food items, basic groceries and kitchen items.

Carmine’s had long offered gift certificates to make it easy for their customers to share the Carmine’s experience with family and friends, but the management team needed a more efficient method of issuing and tracking the certificates. Typically, sales were recorded in a ledger, and a corresponding entry was made when a gift certificate was redeemed. This manual method made it difficult to keep up with the program.

“Every time a paper certificate went out the door, it was hard to track,” says Scot Sabatino, director of IT operations for Carmine’s. “Plus, if the full value of the certificate was not used with the first purchase, we had to reissue the customer another certificate or give cash for the unused balance.” So, even though Carmine’s might have sold a $100 gift certificate, the redemption might have resulted in an actual purchase of only $25.  

With Elavon’s Electronic Gift Card program, Carmine’s now has an easy, accurate method for selling and tracking cards. Tracking and reporting capabilities allow Carmine’s to determine when and where a card is sold, the original value of the card, and how much has been redeemed. 

Unlike paper certificates, gift cards carry no value until activated and loaded, so they can be merchandised openly without the threat of shrinkage. And since redemptions are automatically deducted from the card balance, the cards are used until all funds are spent, retaining the full value of the original purchase.

Elavon’s Electronic Gift Cards also have built-in fraud protection. If fraudulent use of a card is suspected, that card number can be flagged in Elavon’s system to halt redemption. “I know where and when the card was loaded with value and can cut it off if need be,” says Sabatino. “With a paper certificate, it wasn’t too hard for an employee to slip one out of the box and use it. With gift cards, the control is much better.”

Customer Satisfaction: Overall, gift cards have been a hit with Carmine’s customers and its staff. Plus, they are effective promotional tools, especially when offered as part of a corporate gift program. Given the success Carmine’s has enjoyed with gift cards, it is no wonder that restaurants, retailers, salons, theaters and video stores are offering their own programs, and why gift cards have become the fastest growing segment of the card-based payments business.

Elavon, endorsed payment processor of SYSCO iCare, invites you to take advantage of the special discounted rates available to you as a client. Even if you are currently using another payment processor, call us for a free rate comparison. You have nothing to lose but higher fees!