Frank Talk

ON OCTOBER 1ST, we launched the new Lawry’s VIP Rewards. I’m proud to say ours continues to be one of the most generous programs of its kind in the country and is based on our long-held belief that your loyalty should be rewarded. To make it better than ever, we’ve harnessed technologies that weren’t available when we introduced it in 1997.

It took a year of hard work to make the changes we felt were necessary to achieve our vision of an improved VIP Rewards. I can honestly say it was a team effort.

Everyone in the company played a role in bringing the new program to life. Our frontline co-workers — the servers, bartenders, managers and all those you see when you come to our restaurants — gave their time to learn the ins and outs of the new system to make sure it’s easy and convenient for you.

Our vision of an improved VIP Rewards.

Some monumental efforts were made behind the scenes too. Special thanks go to Rich Cope, our Director of Marketing, who spearheaded the project and, along with his team, put in countless hours dealing with all its complexities, from analytics to design and everything in between. In fact, corporate office co-workers from every department contributed to building a new VIP Rewards.

Having been involved in many details myself makes me doubly appreciative of everyone’s efforts, including those of the computer experts we enlisted to do the all-important programming that makes the new system possible. My thanks go to one and all!

Since the program had a lot of moving parts, I was a little nervous the day the new VIP Rewards officially kicked off. While there were some isolated problems — and I do apologize for any inconvenience they might have caused — I’m happy to report there were only a few.

Now we’re able to say “Yes” to you more often.

Some of you have asked, “Why go to all this trouble to create a new Lawry’s VIP Rewards?” The answer is that now we’re able to say “Yes” to you more often. For example, when you ask if you can stop using cumbersome paper certificates, now we can say, “Yes.” When you ask if you can redeem your Rewards for Christmas Eve or any other holiday dinner we can now say, “Yes.” Because you asked for longer expiration dates, we said “Yes.”

The new program allows us to know you better and to serve you better. And we can finally offer different VIP tiers, with their increased benefit opportunities — something I’ve wanted since the beginning, seventeen years ago.

The new program allows us to know you better and to serve you better.

If you’re not a VIP member, I encourage you to become one. Those of you who already are should have received a letter from me with your new membership card. If you haven’t, be sure to contact Member Services.

It was gratifying to learn that thousands of you registered and updated your accounts within a few days following our launch date. This told me you were taking the time to be part of something that means a lot to you. I want to thank you and remind you that Lawry’s VIP Rewards is our way of showing our appreciation for your continuing loyalty and support.

From the desk of Richard R. Frank