Dominican Joe Coffee

In 2006, Dominican Joe opened in Austin, TX with a mission to make an impact on the world. By partnering with a nonprofit organization in the Dominican Republic, Dominican Joe receives the highest quality coffee through a direct trade partnership that provides fair wages for coffee farmers and scholarships for their children.

When Belly Bites, Belly’s customer acquisition tool, launched, Dominican Joe was one of the first Belly businesses to use it. After being live with Belly Bites for just over 2 months, here’s what Mehul Patel, owner at Dominican Joe, had to say about their experience:

“Because a single customer visit at a coffee shop is a small transaction, the real value for us comes in turning a new customer into a repeat customer.”

“Being able to track these repeat visits is the single most appealing and unique part of the Belly Bites system for us.”

So far, Dominican Joe has brought in over 197 unique new customers who have amassed over 352 repeat visits in just over 6 months!

Belly Merchants get to choose what to offer as their Bite; a signature product or service that allows them to showcase their claim to fame. “Our Belly Bite is a free small drink of the customer’s choice. Our customers have different preferences and we wanted to ensure the maximum possible flexibility so that anyone could find a drink they would enjoy,” said Patel. “Setting up the Belly Bite through the Belly Web Command Center is an extremely simple and straightforward process. The fact that we can do it on our own in just a few minutes is great!”

“We’re very happy with the redemption rate. Our shop is fairly busy and a sudden surge in traffic would be problematic, so being able to control the number of customers acquired through any marketing program is vital for us – Belly Bites is a perfect solution for us in that regard.”

While Belly Bites does an excellent job of getting new customers through the door, it’s up to the business to ensure the new customer has a positive experience and returns. “We strongly believe that once we get customers through our door, we can convince them to come back through our combination of quality products and inviting atmosphere,” said Patel. “Belly Bites offers the best tracking metrics of any advertising strategy we have found.” 

“The ability to track the exact number of customers we target is great on both the cost side and for traffic management, and the ability to track future visits is essential to determining true value for us.”