The fast food loyalty rewards space is seeing more competition each and everyday. The latest and one of the last to enter the world of rewards for fast food is A&W Canada. They have now launched A&W Rewards for their restaurants in Canada and much like many of their competitors it is an app based program.
A&W will be going up against McDonald’s, DQ, Wendy’s, Tims, Burger King, Popeyes and numerous others who have already been rewarding their customers. (Thanks to David who DM’d us on Facebook last night with the details of the new program!)
With that out of the way let’s take a look at the new A&W Rewards program
Joining A&W Rewards
To join A&W Rewards you have to download the A&W app and create an account within the app. Once your account is set up you will be a member of A&W Rewards and all set to earn and redeem points with the program.
Earning points
Like all other fast food loyalty programs, earning points in A&W Rewards is straightforward and simple. Members will earn 10 points per $1 spend on eligible purchases made via the A&W app or in restaurant by clicking on the “Scan” button in the app and having the restaurant scan the code. It’s that easy.
In addition to the base earn rate they are promising exclusive deals and offers so we can assume with 99.9% certainty there will be limited time bonus points opportunities available.
And yes, don’t judge me, as I have already given it a test run using the Scan option in the app going through a drive thru. The points posted pretty much immediately and now I am only 30 points away from the first reward.
Remember you will also earn your credit card points for the purchases including the very valuable 5 points per dollar on points earning machines like the American Express Cobalt Card, MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard and the Scotiabank Gold American Express card.
NOTE: A&W’s that are part of Petro-Canada gas stations (and there are lots of them!) tend to code as “gas” purchases so if you frequent those locations the most, you’ll actually want to use a card that has a gas accelerator, of which the Amex Cobalt and Scotiabank Gold Amex also have at 2x and 3x points respectively.
Redeeming points
In the same manner as pretty much all the fast food reward programs there are redemption tiers for various items off the menu and also like all the other programs, only select menu items are available as reward options.
In A&W Rewards the redemption tiers are 300 points, 600 points, 900 points and 1,500 points. Here are some screenshots from the app showing just a small selection of the items you can redeem for:
I haven’t perused all the reward options yet nor done the value calculations but just by a quick glance at those items and points requirements the program does not look to provide as good of return on spending as MyMcDonald’s Rewards and DQ Rewards. For example, 300 points for an Apple Turnover when McDonald’s asks 2,000 points (the equivalent of 200 points in A&W Rewards) is already telling.
Stay tuned for some follow up posts where I’ll have to compile the 5 best A&W Rewards options like we have previously done for McDonald’s and DQ Rewards:
And then all these program will have to head over to the RC Arena to battle it out in our Clash of the Loyalty Programs!
Wrapping it up
A&W Canada has officially launched their own loyalty program called A&W Rewards. It’s great to see this iconic chain that can be found in so many large cities and small towns alike across Canada now offer a rewards program. They are one of the last fast food chains to do so, but it’s never too late and many A&W customers will now be happy to have the opportunity to start getting Teen Burgers, Root Beer, Onion Rings and more for free!
Click here to learn more about the new A&W Rewards
All images via A&W