The Mag
Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast Chief Commercial Officer with Givex Mr. Mo Chaar. Good morning, sir.
Mo Chaar
Good morning. How are you?
The Mag
We are doing great. Mo, before we get too far into things tell us about Givex how are you serving folks?
Mo Chaar
Yeah, Givex is a transactional company. It's been around since 1999 in the tech space. And we have been helping our customer base through our gift card platform, our point of sale, and our loyalty platform as well.
The Mag
Well, so how does it work? Like what you said your customer, what Who is your typical customer
Mo Chaar
Our typical clients or anybody that needs to transaction with a gift card. But to be more specific on that some of our client base in the US would be like Texas Roadhouse, and or focus brands and others on that brand space.
The Mag
So, a lot of times its restaurants,
Mo Chaar
A lot of it is restaurants, but we definitely handle retail space as well. And then we also have clients in the hospitality space and hotel space. So, like Marriott and others.
The Mag
So, anybody who uses gift cards, or has gift cards in their own brand’s name, then you can help them facilitate that.
Mo Chaar
That's correct. Yeah, so we handle a closed-loop program, versus an open loop, which is more of your visa and your MasterCard type gift cards.
The Mag
Now, what about kind of loyalty programs? Do you do any work in that area?
Mo Chaar
We do. So, we handle anything from a, you know, your simple points-based program converting to dollars, your frequency card program, which is your, you know, your coffee card type idea. And then we get into things that are very intricate around, you know, rewards and, and timed rewards and applications around surprise and delight and visit-based loyalty, all that is available as well tied into our CRM tools in the backend.
The Mag
Can you give me a little backstory of the company? How did it start in all of these areas? Or did it start in one of them and kind of evolve over time?
Mo Chaar
Yeah, no problem. So, Givex actually started out as an electronic gift certificate company in 1999, a little bit ahead of its time, then not everybody had a smartphone. Obviously, receiving email wasn't as great and the internet didn't work as good back then. So in about 2000, what we did is we moved the card number onto a physical card and launched our physical gift card program with different merchants, in Canada and the US. Since then, we have grown, we're a global company, into the UK, Australia, Hong Kong's and Gen, Brazil. And we've got offices across the US as well in Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago, as well. And we've tied in different things around stored value. And some of those are uptakes platforms, which is stored value on tickets, so we’ve preferred members of the MLB, or in the partner of the MLB, around our stored value on tickets. And then loyalty was just an added component. And then we wanted to give our clients and merchants a full end-to-end solution, especially in the restaurant space, that they're looking for the point of sale, and gift and loyalty and CRM all tied into one.
The Mag
Now when you work with a restaurant, is it typically the franchisor that you're working with? Or do you work with a kind of single independent restaurant owner?
Mo Chaar
We are looking at mostly the franchisor from a Givex standpoint and try to send out a full enterprise system in that mid-market range.
The Mag
So you're not as interested in the emerging franchise you're looking for the one that's been around a little bit.
Mo Chaar
No, definitely interested in the emerging franchise as well and the emerging franchisor that is looking for an enterprise system at a lower cost. Then you know, your typical legacy systems that are out there in the marketplace,
The Mag
So, then when they start working with Givex are they usually coming from one of those legacy systems and they're making a change? Or are they being you do you prefer to get them before they've really committed anything, so they don't have to unlearn anything,
Mo Chaar
We'll take them as they come actually on the Givex end, we are definitely working with clients on both ends. So, one, some of the restaurant clients that we've brought on board, we're really looking to bring the technology to the forefront on what they're offering the consumer base and giving them that omnichannel ability to place an order. So, with Givex’s point of sale system, all that is integrated into, and also we integrate to best of breed partners as well. So those are the customers that are looking for switching out legacy and getting into a cloud and report. And those aspects. And then from there, for clients that are coming into the marketplace and restaurants that are coming into the marketplace, Givex actually worked with them to help their strategy and their vision of what they're looking to do with their franchise and expanding.
The Mag
So, the conversation you're having with an emerging brand that maybe only has a few locations right now, or maybe they're still the owner-operator once and they're about to launch as a franchise, you can really help them create a good foundation that will help them scale I would imagine.
Mo Chaar
Definitely, all our product lines are modular as well. So, you can start with a point of sale, add on kiosks, add on menu boards, add on gift, loyalty, etc., at different stages within the growth of your restaurant. So, there's no need to take it all directly from the start. As you grow, we grow with you. And we're also always adding on different feature sets to allow our emerging franchise or to take advantage of as well.
The Mag
Now, is there anything that when you're having these conversations with either an emerging or somebody who has a legacy system? Is there anything that when you start explaining your system and the way that it all kind of plays nicely together? That is a surprise to them that they didn't realize that hey, I didn't realize it impacted this side of my business, I thought I was just buying it for, you know, just for loyalty cards or, or point of sale.
Mo Chaar
Yeah, so definitely from a point-of-sale standpoint, when selling into a current client base that already has a point of sale system, the marketing features that are offered through gift and loyalty and kiosks and an omnichannel online piece as well. And everything working together. Definitely resonates with marketing, and definitely resonates with the IT team, seeing how they only have one administrative portal to manage all these different products. So, reduces and assists with reducing headcount and, you know, time, etc., where is usually spent managing multiple different products versus just one.
The Mag
So, but that's a pleasant surprise, right? So, it's less complexity and less headcount. Those are things that I would imagine most executives are pretty pleased about
Mo Chaar
Yeah, exactly. I think if, if you have the ability to reduce someone's time is definitely something that they take, take happily back to other things they have to do on their list.
The Mag
So now, is there anything like yeah, you work in so many parts of the world, and you solve so many problems for so many people? Are you able to kind of get some best practices that oh, this person's kind of doing this a cool way? And we were able to help them solve this problem and then bring it to the kind of the client base elsewhere in order for them to kind of solve some maybe common problems that they are having.
Mo Chaar
Yeah, so every bimonthly we put out our release notes. And within those release notes, we show different feature sets that we're providing globally, that our client base can take advantage of. We also have our client relationship manager that's tied to every point of sale client, within our system that actually reviews, different feature sets and actually talks to our merchants about their initiatives and what they're looking to do to ensure whether we can fit in or how we can assist with some products that we have on file, whether that be through gift or loyalty or whether that be through our ticketing system and platform to allow them to take advantage of you know all the features within the point of sale system versus just, you know, punching in order and sending that to a kitchen.
The Mag
Now, for you, how do you get the word out because I would imagine that the franchisor or these businesses are kind of bombarded with all kinds of seemingly great solutions to these challenges, how do you kind of educate them on the Givex way, and that that's a good solution for them to consider.
Mo Chaar
So definitely through trade shows, and our marketing team does a great job on our end, word of mouth has been great from a referral standpoint and getting the word out our point-of-sale system and our gift card program and the offerings that we can offer, as well. We also have some great employees on my end, and colleagues on my end that have great relationships within the industries. So, getting that word out helps as well. So that's the way we kind of reach out and then obviously, the PR and all that that we do as well.
The Mag
Do you spend a lot of time kind of in the education element of explaining to these restaurant owners, and franchisors and franchisees, hey, there's a better way to do this, this is a very kind of elegant way to tie all these things together that maybe you hadn't considered before? And you speak about because, you know, if you're cobbling together several different systems, I would imagine that opens you up to some kind of cybersecurity and hacking challenges that when you have a single source, that you're kind of alleviating some of that.
Mo Chaar
Definitely, it also opens you up to a lot of frustration, as well, with calling different vendors for different issues that you have on the way we go in with selling or talking to different merchants around our product bases, is definitely a consultative fashion. So, and we're not ones to put up barriers to our merchants saying, you know, no use our product only versus, you know, tying in somebody else's product into our POS system. So, our goal is to see what issues and problems they're having, whether that be within the restaurant, in a point-of-sale fashion, or gift card or loyalty, and how Givex can actually work that problem out for them and ensure that you know, they can focus on what they need to do, which is run their business in the restaurant.
The Mag
Can you share a story I mean, you don't have to name the name of the company that you help but a story that illustrates kind of, hey, they were having a problem, we implemented a loyalty program and this kind of improve their sales or Hey, they were having kind of a problem communicating with the kitchen, and we had a POS system installed that helped them kind of be faster or more efficient.
Mo Chaar
Sure, yeah, no problem. So, one of our clients that we brought on board was using a legacy point of sale system, they have about 25 locations. They are a fast-casual dining restaurant, within the industry. And what we assisted them with was moving them to the cloud on the point of sale system and allowing them to get the reporting and the operational reporting that they need to create efficiencies within the restaurant. From there we also tied in the kitchen display system for their sorry for their kitchen, which allowed them to measure waste, also time spent for orders coming through and table turns as well. And then from there, they also added in some automation within the ordering process for takeout, which allowed us to ensure that worked out correctly in orders that went directly into the kitchen.
And then online ordering, which is something that they were looking at getting into as well. So, they're using our online ordering. So, they have one vendor for three or four different products that they're using within the restaurant. And then we just launched with them their loyalty program, which is now offering their customers, you know, a reasonable return and their ability for them to communicate and offer rewards and discounts and to their top customers as well. So that's just one way that we've actually assisted this client to reduce headcount within the kitchen, also to assist with reducing headcount within the waitstaff because they're able to take on more cables with their point-of-sale system, because of the Wi-Fi tablets that we've given them as well. And then takeout they've reduced headcount there as well, where they've implemented kiosks for takeout.
The Mag
Do you have any technology that helps them manage all these delivery services?
Mo Chaar
We do so we've integrated with a couple of different companies. So, Kubo is one, Checkmate will be another one that we're doing that integration with and flight. So, it allows those orders to come indirectly into the point-of-sale system. So, then they can approve orders. And then some of them have these third-party aggregators also allow for the menu to be managed directly from our admin site. So, from an IT standpoint, they only have one menu to manage in one menu to update, which is the same menu for the restaurant out to out to the rest of the aggregators.
The Mag
Wow, that's, that's very useful. I've seen a lot of problems in that area. Now, what kind of trends are you seeing, I'm sure you guys are on the cutting edge of all this tech, the technology changes, and the features I'm sure have to be evolving constantly what's on the horizon?
Mo Chaar
That's definitely what we're looking at from a Givex standpoint, how to automate a lot of different operational needs in using AI. Within our consumer front end products. Those are the kinds of things that we're looking at from our end, AI is becoming a big play within the restaurant space, and how to create efficiencies, and also how to upsell within the online ordering, and also for the staff members while carrying the Wi-Fi tablets and keeping them engaged in keeping them also offering those items with larger margins.
The Mag
So now an example of an upsell opportunity like so if it's a server has a tablet, will something like a pop-up, like based on if they've ordered these things, does something pop up and say hey, this would be a good complement to whatever they ordered. Is it that is that a way? Wow.
Mo Chaar
The AI that we're working on will pair different products together based on what they've ordered. And then they also tie in on a consumer standpoint, to also pop up on what they've ordered as well.
The Mag
So, it's not just set telling everybody you know, Hey, would you like cheesecake? It could be like, based on what you've ordered, this dessert might be the better fit or it's.
Mo Chaar
That's correct. So, it's looking at historical data. Over the past few years, here's you know what most people have ordered with this product?
The Mag
Wow, that's amazing. It changes so fast that you, I mean, you must be kind of when you look back in the history of this, how things have changed. It's pretty dramatic, isn't it?
Mo Chaar
It definitely is Yeah, and it continues to change and continues to evolve. And as a franchise or and restaurant, you definitely need to stay on that cutting edge.
The Mag
So, what's your favorite part about being in this industry?
Mo Chaar
The evolving change in technology and being able to offer clients the solution that they're looking for. So that That to me is what's kept me in the industry for 14 years now.
The Mag
Yeah, it's good stuff. And it's amazing how the restaurant industry has grown so dramatically over the years. I mean, it's very competitive, so they need every edge they can get.
Mo Chaar
Definitely agree.
The Mag
So, if somebody wanted to learn more, if there's a franchisor out there a franchise emerging franchise out there that wants to get a hold of you and learn more. Do you have a website?
Mo Chaar
Definitely. So www.givex.com is the website that they can definitely go to learn about our products and then there is a column number as well there as well.
The Mag
Mo thank you so much for sharing your story today.
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Image Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mo-chaar-86767112/
