Companies are starting to get the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Now, whether or not the general population is catching on remains to be seen, but there is no denying the movement gaining momentum.
Fast-casual restaurant operator Chanticleer Holdings (NASDAQ:BURG) is seeing the opportunity to reward patrons with a digital currency that can be used for future meals or traded with other consumers. The new program is built upon MobivityMind, a blockchain-architected platform of Mobivity Holdings (OTCQB:MFON) for commerce and customer communication across brands.
The cryptocurrency of Mobivity is called "Mobivity Merit." Diners at Chanticleer restaurants will earn Merit (earning is a process often referred to as "mining"). "Use your Merit mined by eating at Little Big Burger to get a buffalo chicken sandwich at American Burger Co., or trade them with your vegan friend so he can get a veggie burger at BGR," explained Chanticleer CEO Michael Pruitt.
Pruitt added, "And that's just the beginning," suggesting he has more up his sleeve to interact with consumers.
In the news release today on the new rewards/cryptocurrency plan, Chanticleer only mentioned its Burgers Grilled Right, Little Big Burger and American Burger Co. as brands that will use the platform, but there was mention that it could be expanded across all brands. Chanticleer also owns Just Fresh and Hooters locations.
In the era of big data, the script is flipped with MobivityMind because the brand only owns the data about their interaction with a consumer. The consumer, owns the data about all of their transactions across all different brands using MobivityMind, keeping the info stored in the distributed ledger of blockchain.
As explained by Corey O'Donnell, SVP of Marketing for Mobivity, “This is the democratization of consumer data, putting the power back in the people’s hands rather than giving it to the data-aggregators who trade it without the knowledge, consent, or benefit to the consumer."
The new program is expected to start being rolled out mid-year with deployment across all Chanticleer brands by the end of 2018.
Shares of Chanticleer have rocketed ahead by 52.5% to $4.01 on the news.
Shares of thinly traded MFON have climbed to a 52-week high at $1.46, representing a gain of 21.7% on the day as of 1:15 PM EST.
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