Press Releases
Squirrel Systems & Lochinvar Software Inc. Partner to Provide Customer Relationship
Enhancement Software to Squirrel Customers
Vancouver, B.C. - May 18, 2002 - Squirrel Systems, a leading provider of restaurant management systems for independent and chain restaurants, announced today that they have entered into a strategic partnership with Lochinvar Software Inc. Lochinvar Software Inc. is a software development and marketing company dedicated to providing small to medium sized companies with a selection of powerful loyalty marketing solutions. These software solutions are fully integrated with the Squirrel point-of-sale system. They have been developed to meet the requirements of single and multi-unit operators in the hospitality industry.
The LOCHINVAR™ software uses magnetic swipe or bar code technology to capture customer transactions. This allows retailers to track customers buying habits and create a detailed client database. In exchange, customers accumulate points, which they can exchange for benefits in a user defined rewards program. More importantly the software empowers the restaurateur to market directly to the database, informing the customers of upcoming promotions, and recognizing significant milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries.
The components of this product are:
- Customer Loyalty
- Reservations
- Team Sponsorship
- Swipe & Win
- Home Delivery
- Customer Survey
- Gift Card
In addition to software development Lochinvar Software Inc. provides a suite of creative services, assisting our clients with the total implementation of their loyalty-marketing program. These services include logo development, creative copy writing, member card and application form design, the development of loyalty marketing strategies; launch promotion planning, supervision of print production, and web development.
"The Lochinvar solution, integrated with Squirrel, provides a unique and innovative way of monitoring and rewarding frequency and guest history. Squirrel's exclusive 'POS extensions' support this integration which brings superb functionality to our customers," says Barry Logan, President of Squirrel Systems.
The principals of Lochinvar, successful restaurant owners themselves, originally developed the customer relationship enhancement (CRE) software to fill a need in their own operations. They began working with Squirrel in 2000 to begin the task of seamlessly integrating their solution with the Squirrel point-of-sale (POS) system. As a result of this integration, Squirrel customers can now take advantage of Lochinvar's powerful marketing software to improve their profitability.
Peter Mahony, President of Lochinvar Software says, "The Hospitality Industry has been looking for a robust loyalty marketing software tool, that can be self administered, does not involve high costs of communications and that can be integrated into their POS System. We have partnered with Squirrel Systems, the best in the POS business to provide the market with what they asked for.
"One of Squirrel's main design goals for the next generation product was to provide 3rd party developers such as Lochinvar with the ability to directly add POS features. Easy access to the core POS real-time transaction engine supported Squirrel's vision of developing a family of strategic best of breed partner applications. Squirrel is unique in offering outside developers the opportunity to customize the POS system. The open architecture platform and tools allow the rapid deployment of features to the marketplace independent of Squirrel's standard offerings.
The integration with Squirrel and Lochinvar was done by creating several cooperating
POS extensions. Squirrel POS can be extended in numerous ways. For example there
is the ability to alter or replace POS printed material like checks and receipts;
sales and payment information; or a function button can be added. Lochinvar was
able to take advantage of POS extensions and write software themselves to enable
Squirrel POS to send information to the Lochinvar system about a customer's historical
purchases and display this information to servers, including birthdays, anniversaries,
etc.
Lochinvar Software Inc. architects and develops customized CRE (customer relationship
enhancement) solutions for the hospitality and selected retail markets. Lochinvar
Software Inc. markets its solutions via direct sales and strategic Channel partners.
The LOCHIVNAR™ solution provides one to one marketing solutions via its customized
software, which can be run in various operating environments including Windows NT.
The software enables restaurateurs to recognize and reward customers by creating
a customized Loyalty Marketing program to meet their individual needs. In addition
Lochinvar Software Inc. retains a creative design team to assist clients with the
design and development of their loyalty marketing program. To learn more about Lochinvar,
visit www.LochinvarSoftware.com.
Squirrel Systems is a leading total solutions provider of management systems for
independent and chain establishments, including restaurants and food and beverage
operations in hotels, resorts and clubs. Headquartered in Vancouver , Squirrel Systems
and Squirrel Systems Canada are privately held companies. In its 15 years of profitable
operation Squirrel has earned a reputation for innovation and excellence by meeting
and exceeding the needs of over 10,000 customers with 50,000 installed Squirrel
workstations. As the first company to introduce touch-screen ordering into the restaurant
market, it has a long track record as an innovator. To learn more about Squirrel,
visit www.Squirrelsystems.com.
Linda Gillis
Director, Marketing
Squirrel Systems
Tel: 604.412.3300
Email: lgillis@Squirrelsystems.com
Chris Mahony
Vice President Marketing
Lochinvar Software Inc.
Tel: 604.612.4316
Email: cmahony@lochinvarsoftware.com
