Barbeques Galore has launched a brand-new customer loyalty program, the Barbeque Legends Club, with a distinct offering of expertise and experience, following extensive market research by the brand.

The new hub will house a mix of evergreen and seasonal aspirational and educational content, more than 30 free barbecue courses, paid masterclasses, member-only offers, and the opportunity to engage online with other barbecue aficianados.

Mike Ainsworth, Barbeques Galore general manager, marketing and customer, said “We’re throwing out the rulebook for your typical, ‘loyalty club,’ mentality of spend and save schemes.

“Instead, we’re pursuing customer relationships at its finest beyond the transaction – offering unparalleled, unrivalled access to content, information, and advice, delivered by the experts; and connected around a community of like-minded fans.

“Pleasingly, we are already off to an exciting start with the online community seeing six times the expected number of members join during the teaser campaign, which ran for only two weeks.”

To bring the barbecue legend idea to life the retailer has enlisted the support of experts such as industry consultant, author and pitmaster Adam Roberts, hatted chef Joshua Mason, and Grill Sisters Irene Sharp and Desi Longinidis.

The loyalty scheme is part of a broader digital transformation strategy which aims to better engage and support customers.

Barbeques Galore CEO, Angus McDonald, said “The announcement of the Legends Club materialises our customer obsessed ambition, again – by setting a new benchmark for customer engagement within the home and outdoor retail industry and delivering something unique in the field.

“Beyond this program, we continue to invest heavily in other digital capabilities to further enhance the customer experience.

“Most recently, we relaunched our new website and we are now looking to take this further as we leverage our investment in Salesforce Marketing Cloud to not just power our Barbeque Legends Club but also deliver consistent and personalised experiences to our customers,” he said.

In future, the brand will host masterclass events with the Legends themselves at select stores, nationwide.

The Legends Club announcement also follows the brand’s recently launched, “Seasoned Experts” offering, giving customers the opportunity to book and request a virtual appointment with staff in stores to demo the product directly.

Alongside these digital investments, Barbeques Galore continues to grow its footprint with three additional new-look stores set to open by Christmas.

This story originally appeared in Inside Franchise Business Executive.