SUNNYVALE, CA — (Marketwired) — 11/12/13 — , a mobile CRM suite for restaurants, has formed a strategic partnership with and the MMS Catering Institute, to create the industry-s first restaurant catering rewards and loyalty program, which will launch in 2014.

According to Punchh CEO Jitendra Gupta, growing consumption of meals prepared away from home and a rise in meals delivered to workplaces have helped off-premise catering become one of the fastest-growing sales opportunities for restaurants. The battle for that revenue, however, is highly competitive, and that led Gupta to MonkeyMedia Software and the MMS Catering Institute.

“Just as a repeat customer of a particular restaurant enjoys getting a free meal for their loyalty, a catering client does also,” said Gupta, whose Silicon Valley company provides more than 1,300 U.S. restaurants with a POS-integrated, cloud-based platform through which operators market to customers. “This is especially important since catering customers spend far more money for catered meals than would a single customer.”

Businesses that can track those sales and their customers- purchasing habits, Gupta added, can reward them meaningfully while marketing to them effectively.

“When we are out in the field with restaurant operating and marketing leadership, we are often asked about reward and loyalty solutions for catering. Through this partnership, we are bringing an industry-leading solution to our customers,” said Wayne Alexander, president of the MMS Catering Institute.

Punchh has been certified by the MMS Catering Institute in the Get Catering and Grow sales system, which will allow Punchh to speak the language of catering. “Punchh has built the market-s leading and most comprehensive mobile engagement and rewards platform and we are proud to have them as a strategic partner,” said Erle Dardick, founder and CEO of MonkeyMedia Software and founder of the MMS Catering Institute. “We see a huge opportunity today for restaurant brands to build and deploy catering-specific loyalty programs and through this partnership we will further enable our restaurant customers to feed, and now reward, their customers where they live, work and play.”

Gupta said his team is eager to work with the MMS Catering Institute.

“Through this partnership, we can deliver the industry-s first solution to help restaurant chains grow their catering business by rewarding customers for their repeat business,” Gupta said.

Punchh is a mobile CRM suite for restaurants, which includes mobile apps for consumer engagement, big data customer analytics, and integration with POS, social media, and other 3rd party systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Punchh-s patent-pending technology operates in more than 1,300 restaurant locations under brands such as , , , , , , and . Operators reporting Punchh report:

Ten percent increase in same-store sales

Three- to four-times higher participation rates, 50 percent-plus repeat rates, and new customer referrals for the first time ever

Twenty-five percent-plus redemption rates for marketing campaigns

Ten- to 15-times more customer reviews than Yelp!

For more information, .

MonkeyMedia Software helps multi-unit restaurant operators increase sales in the off-premise business channel. Using its turnkey Get Catering and Grow Sales! System (Strategy, Education, Software), MonkeyMedia Software works closely with each brand-s executive team to drive strategic alignment, provide education for team members, and deploy an enterprise software platform to service and support the off-premise business channel.

MonkeyMedia Software-s MonkeyCatering software platform features an enterprise toolset to manage and track catering lead generation (CRM), provide account and client management, sales, production, distribution, and powerful reporting for real-time visibility and results-based decision-making.

The MMS Catering Institute, as a division of MonkeyMedia Software, is an education and certification institute for restaurants and vendors implementing or improving catering and off-premise operations. The MMS Catering Institute ensures that executive, management, leadership and all other team members are focused on the common goal of ensuring their catering programs are a success and that programs maintain scalability for future growth. For more information, .

:
Ann Dickerson

303-319-4330

:
Valerie Killifer

502-216-4670

  , catering-rewards, mobile-engagement, mobile-loyalty, restaurant-loyalty, restaurant-marketing