written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . june 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message transmedia type private industry financial services founded 1984 founder mel chasen headquarters chicago illinois united states area served north america key people dan kazan chief executive officer shane kern chief financial officer john leen chief sales officer alice geene chief legal officer 1 number of employees 375 2011 2 website www.rewardsnetwork.com rewards network is a financial and marketing services company that provides restaurants with immediate capital through merchant cash advance and access to diners who belong to various dining rewards programs . over 11 000 restaurants are members of rewards network . 90 000 restaurants have participated in the program over the past 30 years with over 2.5 billion of financing being awarded . 3 contents 1 rewards network tools for restaurants 1.1 comment management system 1.2 data and analytics 1.3 marketing for restaurants 2 financing for restaurants 3 the dining programs 3.1 airline programs 3.2 charitable programs 3.3 hotel programs 3.4 rewards programs 4 history 5 references 6 external links rewards network tools for restaurants edit comment management system edit the rewards network comment management system allows restaurants to connect with their diners outside of the restaurant . when a member of rewards network eats at a program restaurant they will receive a request for comment via email a day or so after paying their check . restaurateurs can then know without any doubt that the comment came from someone who actually paid to eat at their establishment . every review is verified and tied to actual money spent . 4 data and analytics edit because rewards network is able to connect restaurants to actual customers they have the ability to break down average check size party size ratings by key metrics and geographic reach . restaurants can then turn around and use that data to make better business decisions and decide how to compete in their local market . 5 marketing for restaurants edit rewards network markets program restaurants to diners via various rewards programs across the united states . advertising opportunities provide additional exposure through spotlights banners and landing pages . diner reviews sends surveys to diners . emails include embedded search engines and links that lead diners to the restaurant . mobile web allows diners to search for restaurants in or near any city . 6 social media connects diner ratings and reviews to facebook . web marketing provides a virtual meeting place that connects diners to restaurants through dining program websites . financing for restaurants edit rewards network provides restaurant owners with a cash infusion through two merchant cash advance programs designed specifically for the restaurant industry premier restaurant funding and dining credits . each program includes the marketing services programs listed above and provides restaurant owners and operators with an alternative to a traditional business loan . merchant cash advance is not a loan . merchant cash advance provides the cash businesses need through a purchase of their future credit card receivables . rewards network agrees to pay its merchant cash advance clients upfront in a lump sum for a percentage of sales they will make over time . loans are generally fixed and not based on actual sales . a merchant cash advance is based entirely on the projected volume of future credit card receivables . businesses that choose merchant cash advance as a method of restaurant financing don t pay back a debt the way they do when taking out a loan . when future credit card sales are sold to the company offering the merchant cash advance a client isn t repaying ; they re simply delivering on a purchase already made . future receivables are sold in exchange for cash when and to the extent that they actually occur . with a loan a business must repay the principal and interest amount borrowed no matter what the ebb and flow of business looks like . the dining programs edit airline programs edit aadvantage dining american airlines 7 free spirit dining spirit airlines mileage plan dining alaska airlines mileageplus dining united airlines 8 rapid rewards dining southwest airlines skymiles dining delta air lines 9 trueblue dining jetblue airways 10 charitable programs edit escrip dining escrip hotel programs edit hhonors dining hilton hotels & resorts ihg rewards dining intercontinental hotels group rewards programs edit club o dining overstock.com fuel rewards dining fuel rewards network idine american express orbitz rewards dining orbitz upromise dining upromise shop your way dining shop your way history edit mel chasen founded rewards network in september 1984 as transmedia network inc. in new york city . the company started with 41 restaurants and 225 members . mike nichter who created the mci green card the initial restaurant platform invested money restaurant credits barter experience and sales management shortly after mel and david roth raised the initial fundiing . by 2000 transmedia was the world s largest dining rewards program with over 2 million members and 8 000 restaurants . in 2002 transmedia changed its name to idine rewards network . in 2003 the name was shortened to rewards network . 11 the company was taken private in december 2010 . 12 references edit http www.rewardsnetwork.com business solutions our business who we are leadership http www.sec.gov archives edgar data 78536 000119312510058414 d10k.htm why us . rewards network . comment management system . rewards network . data insights . rewards network . marketing services . rewards network . aadvantage dining . rewards network . milesplus dining . rewards network . rewards network . skymiles . rewards network . trueblue . rewards network . hoovers . middle market . themiddlemarket . external links edit rewards network rewards network dining programs for consumers retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rewards network & oldid 743337082 categories companies based in chicagohidden categories articles with a promotional tone from june 2015all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 05 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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