Break Time Launches Loyalty Program via App

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- MFA Oil Co. launched a loyalty program for its 77 Break Time convenience stores in Missouri and Arkansas through a new mobile app.

Introduced via VERGE Retail’s Connect Platform, the app rewards customers each time they use their iPhone or Android smartphone to "check in" to a store, and offers games that can potentially unlock premium coupons while building points for future savings. The app also features instant prizes and coupons based on customers’ personal preferences.

"With our Break Time app built on the VERGE Connect platform, we’re giving customers an enjoyable experience as they interact with our brand daily in a way that provides value and savings to them, while also rewarding them for visiting our stores more frequently," said Jackie Maxwell, Break Time manager and vice president of MFA Oil.

Unlike before, mobile apps allow convenience store operators to convert brand-agnostic customers into brand-loyal customers, according to Carson Kuehne, VERGE Retail’s chief innovations officer. "With our platform, the loyalty program is turnkey and self-contained within the app, so it is quick to deploy, easy to use and highly effective because it delivers the brand to the hands of customers every single day in a way that is fun and rewarding," he said.

In addition to operating 77 Break Time stores, Columbia, Mo.-based MFA Oil Co. is a farmer-owned cooperative that also supplies a wide variety of fuels including E85, propane and biodiesel.

Henderson, N.C.-based VERGE Retail, a spinoff from M.R. Williams Inc., offers software products developed by c-store insiders. Its technology is deployed across more than 2,200 retail outlets.