Summary
Can a simple photo of your meal help feed those in need and boost your restaurant’s bottom line? In this episode of the Local Marketing Lab, Andrew Glantz, founder and CEO of GiftAMeal, reveals how restaurants can achieve growth with social responsibility. Andrew shares innovative strategies that not only give back to the community but also drive customer loyalty and increase revenue.
Turning food photos into community impact and profits. GiftAMeal’s unique platform allows restaurants to donate meals to local food banks when customers snap photos of their food. This simple act of social responsibility has led to remarkable results: customers using GiftAMeal return 39% more frequently, spend 20% more per order, and tip 32% more. It’s a clear demonstration of how restaurant growth with social responsibility can create a win-win situation for businesses and communities alike.
Leveraging user-generated content for marketing. Andrew explains how the GiftAMeal program generates authentic, positive user-generated content for restaurants. This not only amplifies the restaurant’s social media presence but also provides a wealth of marketing materials that can be used across various platforms, further driving restaurant growth with social responsibility.
Balancing profit and purpose. The episode highlights how businesses can effectively combine profit-making with social impact. Andrew’s for-profit social venture model showcases that companies can donate a significant portion of their revenue to local causes while still achieving financial success. This approach not only benefits the community but also strengthens the restaurant’s brand identity and customer loyalty.
This episode is a must-listen for restaurant owners and marketers looking to boost their business while making a positive impact on their community. Discover how integrating social responsibility into your business model can lead to substantial restaurant growth and create lasting connections with customers.
Key Takeaways
Here are some topics discussed in the episode around increasing restaurant growth with social responsibility:
- How to implement a giving-back program in restaurants
- Impact of social responsibility on customer behavior and loyalty
- Integrating social impact initiatives with existing marketing efforts
- Communicate your brand’s social impact to customers
- Authenticity in corporate social responsibility efforts
Each restaurant location is matched to a local food bank that services their community. So that way it’s something that’s really meaningful and relevant to the staff and the customers and the franchisee.
ANDREW GLANTZ
Resources
- Connect with Andrew Glantz on LinkedIn.
- Learn more about GiftAMeal.
Other shout-outs
- Brands working with GiftAMeal: Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, Pizza Factory, Gong Cha bubble tea, Groucho’s Deli, HopCat, Sal’s Pizza, Starbird Chicken, Fuzzy’s, Taco Shop, Jimmy John’s, TGI Fridays, Andy’s Frozen Custard, and Scooters Coffee
- Integrations with GiftAMeal: Olo, Thanx, Lunchbox, Ovation, and Tattle
Transcript
Justin Ulrich
What’s up everyone, and welcome to the Local Marketing Lab, where you get real-world insights from industry pros to help you drive local revenue and local for growth. This podcast is brought to you by Evocalize – digital marketing tools powered by local data that automatically work where and when your locations need it most. Learn more at evocalize.com.
What’s up? And welcome to the Local Marketing Lab. Joining us in the lab today is a guest with over ten years of experience in restaurant technology. He’s gotten last place in a fencing tournament, first place in a debate tournament, and has made both 30 under 30 and 40 under 40 lists. He’s the founder and CEO of GiftAMeal. Andrew Glantz, thanks for joining us in the lab, my friend.
Andrew Glantz
Thanks for having me. Quite the intro.
Justin Ulrich
Well, it’s your background, so you earned it, so great work. Well, awesome. Well, hey, it’s fun having you on. You know, we met a couple of months ago just at different events, and I thought you had an interesting story that was worth sharing and also an interesting platform that was worth getting the word out around.
So why don’t we just start by telling us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got to where you are today as the founder and CEO of GiftAMeal.
Andrew Glantz
Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up in Los Angeles, and I came out to St. Louis, where I am today, to go to Washu for college. And when I was in college, I had an internship at a venture capital firm where I really got exposed to the startup world. And when I was on a lunch break with the other intern, we were talking about how us, as millennials, were looking to support businesses that give back.
And with restaurants, there were a lot of coupons and discounts and financial incentives, but not a lot that was really building an emotional connection between the customer and the brand. And so I pulled from a TOMS shoes “buy one, give one” model, combined with the trend of people posting photos of food on social media.
And came up with the idea of GiftAMeal, where each time a guest takes a photo of their food or drink from a partner restaurant, we make a donation to a local food bank to help provide a meal to someone in need in their community.
Giving back had always been something important to me. I would volunteer at different causes for helping kids in my community. And I’d served on the board of a nonprofit throughout high school and raised about $350,000 for kids in need in my community. And I think that there’s something about the power of community and how businesses can do well by doing good and how for-profits and nonprofits can work together.
And so when I founded GiftAMeal, that was kind of really the premise of it. And so that was October 2015 that I launched the very first version just in my St. Louis community. I didn’t have a car then. I was literally walking up the street through the snow to mom and pop restaurants to pitch them to be early adopters and graduated in May 2017.
We’d given about 30,000 meals to those in need at that point in time, and now we surpassed 2 million meals across a thousand restaurants in 38 states.
Justin Ulrich
That’s incredible. So you founded the company while you were still going to school?
Andrew Glantz
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was literally. We went through an accelerator program in spring 2016. That was our first investment. And I was literally going back and forth between the office where the accelerator was to meet with subject matter experts and things like that and go back to a class.
So go to a morning class, then go to the office, and then back to class and back to the office. And, yeah, I stuck it out and graduated. Almost dropped out.
Justin Ulrich
That’s so wild. I mean, that’s. A lot of folks do that. They end up dropping out because they know that what they’re on to is really worthwhile. Very, very interesting. So you’ve gotten lots of years of traction and who are the types of clients that you’ve been able to bring on board in the last few years?
Andrew Glantz
So we work with all different types of restaurants from system-wide chain brands with hundred plus locations, like Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken with 130 locations or Pizza Factory with 114. With those ones, it’s something unified across the brand. So the program is funded by the restaurant and free for the guests to participate.
And so Lee’s and Pizza Factory, they pay out of their marketing fund for all the franchisees to be on GiftAMeal. So that way it’s something unified across the brand. So it’s, you know, local marketing. Local giving. Each restaurant location is matched to a local food bank that services their community. So that way it’s something that’s really meaningful and relevant to the staff and the customers and the franchisee.
But since it’s something unified across the brand, that’s something that can really be their thing that they’re doing to give back. So system wide brands like those we work with, drink brands, like, we have 236 locations of Gong Cha bubble tea brands. We work with regional chains like Groucho’s Deli with 30 locations. HopCat with eleven locations is more of like a bar concept.
We work with, you know, pizza spots like Sal’s Pizza. Coffee shops. We work with independent mom and pops restaurant groups, brands like Starbird Chicken. I think they just opened their 16th location a few days ago. So, yeah, all different types of brands. And we also work with franchisees. Like, we work with franchisees of Fuzzy’s, Taco Shop, Jimmy John’s, TGI Fridays, Andy’s Frozen Custard, just to name a few.
Justin Ulrich
Just to name a few. They’re all getting tagged in the episodes. We’re gonna get some exposure there.
Andrew Glantz
Awesome.
Justin Ulrich
So tell me a little bit about the user’s experience then. So let’s say I’m eating at a restaurant. I really love the food. I want to take a picture and share. How does that share happen? And how does GiftAMeal? How does it make the connection to give the meal to the local food bank?
Andrew Glantz
So from the guest experience, they see something like a table tent up at the restaurant or something on the menu that has some type of call to action which will say, scan the QR code, take a photo of your food, drink, or a selfie. And when you do that, a meal is donated locally. So sometimes it’s those three steps or something like that.
And so the guest just scans a QR code, snaps a photo for doing that. That’s one meal provided, and then they’re invited to share that photo on their personal social media. And we give an extra meal for each platform they share on. So if they share on GiftAMeal on Instagram, it’s two meals. GiftAMeal Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X is up to four meals provided, all free for the guest funded by the restaurant.
And then the restaurant doesn’t have any logistics required. They just pay a monthly program fee to be involved. And then from there, we pull from that program fee to make donations to the food banks. For each photo taken, each different food bank has a meal metric, which is their cost to distribute one meal’s worth of healthy groceries that’s donated by supermarkets and such from their big facility to the hundreds of neighborhood pantries for those in need to actually access it.
So typically they’ll say for every dollar donated, they can distribute four meals to those in either six meals or three meals. On average, four meals per dollar is twenty five cents per meal. So for each photo taken, we’re donating $0.25 on average to the local food bank, pulling from the restaurant’s program fee, and we just make those donations on the first of every month. And restaurants can track in their dashboard the impact that’s generated with no extra effort for them.
Justin Ulrich
That is incredible. I mean, what a really cool concept. I mean, on the restaurant side too, from a marketing standpoint, you’re incentivizing tons of user generated content to be created and then you’re able to test on the socials, like if something really works really well, you can then amplify that by putting some dollars behind it and drive even more traction on the content that is already resonating with your audience.
Andrew Glantz
Yeah. And actually, something cool is that through the program, even if customers have a private social media account, the restaurant, when the customer submits the photo, they give the restaurants the rights to those photos. And so the restaurants and their GiftAMeal dashboard have access to all the customer photos that are generated through the program.
So they literally have a giant library of user generated content that they can pull from for their own social media and marketing efforts and everything. And it’s all uplifting, happy content with positive captions and everything. There’s no ratings or reviews. And so it’s, you know, a really great tool for the restaurants to pull from. For sure.
Justin Ulrich
That’s awesome. And from, like, a result standpoint, have you seen a specific type of content or what have you seen that has worked really, really well for your clients?
Andrew Glantz
I mean, on average, we’ve seen that the guests using GiftAMeal are returning 39% more frequently. They’re spending 20% more per order, and they’re tipping 32% more.
So even putting the impact of social media content aside, the real secret sauce about GiftAMeal is from a behavioral science standpoint, we’re creating an experience where the guest is attributing a sense of gratitude to the brand to foster a sense of emotional connection that makes them be a more valuable customer.
So we’re increasing the customer lifetime value for these restaurants and having a socially conscious incentives for guests to want to choose their brand over another restaurant’s brand.
And then from the social media perspective, I mean, getting authentic social media promotion of your guests to all their friends is obviously a really great benefit as well.
Justin Ulrich
Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah, it’s really an incredible model. I hadn’t heard all the way through end to end in our previous conversation. So it’s a really neat model. And like you said, you’re able to get engagement with the audiences of everyone who’s also sharing the content and get exposure that way so that you’re able to grow your base of folks who are impacted by the content, by the brand.
Who do you think is using your product to, like, the fullest extent, and, like, what are they doing differently? Like, do they have table tents and QR codes in the table and on the windows and on the menu? Or, like, what’s the secret sauce to actually getting success with the product?
Andrew Glantz
Yeah, it’s a great question. So, I mean, you know, a big thing is just, is there a call to action to the customer at the right point in the customer experience? You know, they don’t need a plaster signage everywhere, but if they have no signage or no explanation, the customers aren’t going to know they’re involved.
So whether it’s a table tent or for Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, they actually have the QR code printed on their cups. It’s actually on the packaging. So that’s pretty cool. You know, we have some brands like Starbird that have an acrylic four by six stand on the tables and that’s something that’s worked really well for them.
We have Scooters Coffee franchisees that put up a window cling in the drive through window and that’s worked well for them. So it’s figuring about what works best for that brand.
We’ve also had brands that have actually added GiftAMeal into their own mobile app experiences as well as after we have integrations with Olo and Thanx and Lunchbox and all these other companies where restaurants and also guest feedback like Ovation and Tattle, where at the end of any of these other experiences, the restaurant can prompt the guest to use GiftAMeal as well.
And so whether it’s for digital or in-person orders, you know, it’s figuring out how can GiftAMeal be presented to that guest in a seamless way. And also something to note is that the entire GiftAMeal experience is in the restaurant’s own brand’s identity and colors. So that way it really feels like a native experience to the guests.
So if they’re launching GiftAMeal from their mobile app, it still feels like they’re in the restaurant’s ecosystem when GiftAMeal is launched and they’re submitting their photo and everything because we really want the restaurant to be getting the credit for it at the end of the day.
And we also know that, you know, customers see a lot of messaging when they’re at a restaurant. And so we want GiftAMeal to be something that’s additive and not something that’s polluting the experience of just like another call to action.
Justin Ulrich
Yeah, no, it makes total sense. So let’s say somebody doesn’t, maybe they can’t get buy in to get started right away, or maybe they can’t jump right into using GiftAMeal. What are some suggestions you’d make to them? And let’s just say they want to also start moving in this direction of giving back to the community.
What are suggestions that you can give to them to maybe get started and get the ball rolling to get momentum, get a foothold in service within their community.
Andrew Glantz
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of ways that businesses can get involved in their community, whether it’s, you know, doing benefit nights to support different causes as a way to help drive some traffic, connecting with local schools or like the local kids little league teams and things like that, and like sponsoring those types of events as ways to give back.
They can host canned food drives and things like that to support their local food banks. They can do staff volunteer events, they can do roundups for a cause. So there’s a lot of different things that businesses can do. Even things like showcasing local artists, like art on the walls of the restaurant. There’s a lot of different ways that you can be involved in your community.
For a GiftAMeal, I mean, the entry cost is pretty low. For a single location restaurant, it’s $69 a month to participate, and it’s month to month with no contract or commitment. They get two months free if they pay for a year, but they can also just do it for a month if they want to try it out.
And for our chain restaurants, we discount based on the number of locations, anywhere from $34 to $55 a month per location. So we have a lot of brands just try to pilot it out because, you know, though there’s a lot of different things you can do from a community engagement and local marketing perspective, a lot of the times it takes a lot of time and work.
And so one of my goals with GiftAMeal is to create a really turnkey, plug and play way for restaurants to have a local marketing and community engagement solution that doesn’t add anything extra to their staff’s plate.
Justin Ulrich
Well, it’s also neat too, if you think about – it gives you an opportunity to even further embed with some of the nonprofits in your area. Because it’s like, if you, yes, if people come into your location and you have the placards and stuff, and you develop awareness, then that’s great.
But you could do a better job of even developing awareness beforehand of the organizations that you support and start to tell their stories on social and highlight, you know, those that are impacted by the organization and really just deeply embed yourself with the cause that you’re supporting locally.
And then when they come in now, it’s really an authentic part of your brand. People see time and time again that you’re supporting these organizations. Then when you come in, they’re like, oh, yeah, now we can donate and really help. We could do our part to be part of this movement.
Andrew Glantz
100%. I mean, I think that the more that you can do, the better to showcase that it is an authentic way that you’re looking to support this effort. So as much as you, the restaurant can be a megaphone of support for that cause in terms of spreading the word, you know, doing staff volunteering at that organization or, you know, other types of drives or donations to support them and be involved and just spread the word is fantastic.
One thing that I like that you mentioned was sharing the stories. One thing that GiftAMeal does at the end of the customer experience after they share their photo, is we showcase an impact story that’s been shared with us where we’ve actually gone out and interviewed those that are receiving the food at local food pantries. And we’ve also received stories from some of our local food banks.
And so we’ll actually show a picture of somebody with a quote from them about how this meal that you’re providing is helping to impact their lives and their kids’ lives as well and everything. And so I think that’s something that’s really important to me as well, is we’ve provided 2 million meals to those in need.
But showcasing, hey, hunger isn’t just a number. It’s actual members of our community. They’re receiving help and, you know, we’re all in this together type of mindset and really humanizing hunger and showcasing, hey, it could happen to anyone. So let’s all help each other out.
And so those stories, I think, are really impactful in terms of, you know, helping to advance the mission of the cause and also furthering that sense of an emotional connection both with the organization that’s being supported and with the restaurant brand when the customers are sharing out their GiftAMeal photos.
Justin Ulrich
Very cool. Yeah. I would have never thought by looking at just your – you come off as being so aggressive, but you’re so kind hearted.
Andrew Glantz
I come across as being aggressive?
Justin Ulrich
When we were at, what was it, QSR Evolution, I think when we were chatting and I said, whoa, don’t be so aggressive. You’re just the kindest, nicest person for those who are listening and not watching. Very kind hearted. Very, very nice nice guy, Andrew.
You know, one of the facts that you sent over, I can see why you lost the fencing tournament, by the way, but you had mentioned something about your class at college voting you to be, you know, most likely to be a billionaire in you’re graduating class, and I agree with, you would have the success to achieve such a feat.
But I do not think that you’d ever get there with your accounts, because I don’t see you as the person, type of person to hold on the money as much as you give.
Andrew Glantz
I’d be giving it away, but, you know, I think, I mean, it was cool to be selected for that, but yeah, no, I think that that’s definitely one of my missions in life is like figuring out, well, that is like a driving factor in my life is how can I figure out how to maximize my impact, whether it’s through for profits or nonprofits, and, you know, GiftAMeal structured as a for-profit social venture.
And so I really want to showcase that businesses can do well by doing good. And, you know, we offer, we just reached break-even this month, actually. So as a start, big milestone. And also, just for me, for trying to show an example for other startups that, hey, you can do something that makes a significant impact for your community and still succeed in business.
I mean, GiftAMeal, a for-profit company, is donating about 25% to 33% of our revenue on a monthly basis to local causes as a for-profit company. And so that’s definitely something I’m super passionate about, both in business and in personal life.
Justin Ulrich
So you could have broken even a long time ago, but because you’re so tied to the cause, you prolonged that to ensure that you continued to give back to the communities. That’s incredible.
Andrew Glantz
I think when you’re a social venture too, you’re just held to a higher bar, or you should be held to a higher bar to make sure that you’re authentic and genuine in terms of the support that you’re doing for the community, because the social impact is your mission, and it is your brand identity at the end of the day too.
So you need to make sure to protect that brand identity. And so we make sure that all of our decisions revolve around that.
Justin Ulrich
Very cool. You know, one of my favorite superheroes that, you know, is always, he’s called friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He’s always giving back, he’s always serving those around him. And I thought it might be cool to kind of throw you.
Andrew Glantz
Oh, man, that’ll have to be a Halloween costume. Oh, that’s hilarious. I’ll show that to my wife. She’ll get a kick out of that.
Justin Ulrich
That’s what everybody says, I’m gonna show it to my wife. But yeah, anyways, I thought it’d be fun to drop into AI for those who are listening, not watching, it’s a it’s a picture of Andrew in a Spider-Man costume without his mask and actually looks pretty cool.
Awesome. Well, hey, before we let you go, why don’t you tell us, you know, how we can follow you, how we can follow GiftAMeal and maybe if there’s any causes that you think stick out, you know, in terms of being like front of or top of mind that we should look into to help support as well.
Andrew Glantz
Absolutely. So people can follow along for GiftAMeal. Our website is GiftAMeal.com. Restaurants interested in learning more can go to GiftAMeal.com/partner and they can always book a demo.
For people that want to follow along and see the restaurants and the photos and everything. You can follow us on social media, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, LinkedIn. It’s just @GiftAMeal.
I’m on LinkedIn as myself, Andrew Glantz. Feel free to reach out. If you reach out, maybe include a little bit of message on there that you heard me on the podcast so it gets through the noise. But yeah, just would love to connect and see how we can help the industry and help those in need together.
And in terms of causes and everything to support, I mean, I’m assuming listeners are from all over the country, so I would just say take a look at…you just literally Google food bank and your city name and look at how you can go support and volunteer. I mean, we volunteered two days ago with our team and we invited community members to join us and we had a group of 30 at Operation Foodsearch, the food bank in St. Louis.
And we packed over 5000 meal kits for kids in need for them to receive over the weekends when they don’t have access to school lunches. And so, you know, even just spending a couple hours bringing your team out there, it can be super fun to do it too. And engaging. Break the routine of sitting in front of a computer and give back. So I’d say, look up your local food bank.
And, you know, we’re just wrapping up. September was Hunger Action Month. And you know, when we’re looking at the impact, it’s not just a one month thing, it’s how can we throughout the whole course of the year, make an impact for our communities? For hunger in particular, one in six kids face food insecurity. So definitely something that’s near and dear to my heart and that we can all make an impact in together. So, yeah, really appreciate you having me on.
Justin Ulrich
And I will just add to that too. Having volunteered at like food banks, it is something any volunteer work that can do, it’s not only enriching for those that you’re helping, but it also enriches your own soul. So absolutely, if you get a chance to go volunteer, I would take advantage of it. It’s just – it’s fun to see just how others change around you, too, that join you in the work.
So awesome. Andrew, this is a lot of fun having you. Thank you, everybody, for listening. Thanks again for joining us in the lab, Andrew.
Andrew Glantz
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Justin Ulrich
You bet.
As always, thanks for joining us in the Local Marketing Lab. This podcast was sponsored by Evocalize. To learn more about how Evocalize can help you grow your business, visit evocalize.com.
If you learned something from today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook @Evocalize. That’s Evocalize and on X at Evocalize.
And remember, keep innovating and testing new things. You’ll never know what connects with your customers best unless you try. Until next time. Thanks for listening.
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