Clever Ideas has been providing marketing and financing services to the hospitality industry for 26 years. We have developed imaginative ways to attract new customers and keep customers coming back to participating establishments.

Lee Suckow founded the company in 1977 and created several programs to help meet the financing and marketing needs of professional restaurateurs. The most popular programs were Dining Dollars® and LECARD®.

Clever Ideas began as an in-room hotel guest publication, selling advertisements to restaurants and retailers. The publication targeted out-of-town hotel guests to generate new business to local establishments. As this program evolved, meal credits replaced cash payments for the ads, and Dining Dollars certificates were introduced. Dining Dollars were sold to consumers at a reduced cost and redeemed at participating restaurants. Restaurants accepted Dining Dollars to be applied toward their outstanding advertising balance.

Affluent consumers and restaurateurs wanted the ability to participate in the program more discretely. In 1990, a credit—card based savings program called LECARD was introduced as an exclusive benefit to Diners Club® Cardmembers. Eliminating the need to carry a membership card, cardmembers registered their charge card in the program and saved 20% on their check at participating restaurants across the country. The credit appeared on the cardmember's next credit card statement.

Diners Club Cardmembers' charges reduced the restaurant’s balance. Restaurants participating in the LECARD Program were listed in both a national directory and online.

In November 2002, LECARD became LECARD REWARDS®, offering consumers the opportunity to enroll all major credit cards into the savings program. The program has an online directory of participating restaurants and consumers can join by logging onto www.lecardrewards.com or by calling our toll-free number. Restaurants can customize their own rewards program and provide members with savings or airline miles.

In November 2001, Clever Ideas acquired The Clubhouse (www.theclubhouse.com), a restaurant concept with a stylish country club environment. With locations in Oak Brook, IL, Costa Mesa, CA, and Atlanta, GA, these restaurants provide a testing ground for product development and determining promotional effectiveness.

In May 2000, CLICK (Customer Loyalty Increased through Customer Knowledge) was introduced to bring customers back to participating restaurants. By rewarding guests for returning, the program brings customers back to the restaurant’s tables and created a loyal guest base. Customers’ transactions can be tracked and targeted marketing campaigns are directed at the restaurant’s most important customers. Both restaurateurs and their guests refer to the program as ValuedMember^®.

Clients find the ValuedMember Program to be a win-win situation, establishing a lasting relationship with their customers while the incremental sales generated not only cover the cost of the program, but lead to increased profits. The program has been broadened to include the entire hospitality industry, offering a specialized loyalty program for customers. Clients' logos and colors are used to create a seamless communication link. Customized invitations to join the program are distributed to guests and membership data is maintained and tracked by Clever Ideas. The most popular program incorporates e-mail communications of special events to birthday cards with special offers sent through the mail, generating tens of thousands of dollars of incremental revenue.

Our focus continues to be the same as it has been all along—delivering more customers, more visits, more profits. We specialize in the hospitality industry and realize that marketing with measurable results is key to growing any business.