GetGo® from Giant Eagle® Launches foodperks!™ Just in Time for Memorial Day Travel and Entertaining

CLEVELAND, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- With Memorial Day marking the unofficial kickoff to the 2010 summer driving season, there could be no better time for GetGo® from Giant Eagle® to introduce foodperks!™, a unique way for customers to save up to 20% on their grocery bills by pumping fuel at GetGo. Launching today, customers can begin earning foodperks! rewards when they fill up at GetGo, and redeem those rewards immediately for saving on their groceries and holiday party favorites.

The foodperks! program complements the company's already popular fuelperks!® customer loyalty program and will run concurrently with fuelperks!.  The program's Northeast Ohio launch follows the successful launch of foodperks! in western Pennsylvania, Columbus, Ohio, and Frederick, Maryland, where Giant Eagle customers have collectively saved more than $33 million in groceries to date.

There are no limits to the number of foodperks! rewards that can be earned. There is a maximum discount redemption of $60, or 20%, on a single trip's purchase total of $300.  Any foodperks! savings beyond the 20% maximum will be saved for a later supermarket trip, and are automatically tracked via the Giant Eagle Advantage Card®. With foodperks!, every 10 gallons of fuel pumped at GetGo locations with the Giant Eagle Advantage Card® will earn customers a 1% discount off the price of a single trip's basket inside any Giant Eagle supermarket.  The foodperks! rewards are cumulative and, just like fuelperks! rewards, are electronically tracked on the Giant Eagle Advantage Card® to maximize customer convenience.  Accumulating foodperks! rewards is easy:

"With over one million Ohioans driving to their Memorial Day destinations this weekend, we're thrilled to launch foodperks! at a time when Giant Eagle customers can truly maximize their foodperks! earnings," said GetGo Vice President of Fuel and Convenience Stores Dan Pastor.  "foodperks! is the perfect addition to our popular fuelperks! fuel rewards loyalty program, and adds to the already strong mix of supermarket savings opportunities for Giant Eagle customers."

Pastor emphasized that even when customers redeem fuelperks! discounts -- up to and including the redemption of a free tank -- they are still earning foodperks! rewards.  He also noted how quickly foodperks! can add up, and how customers can strategically redeem them.

"A busy household with two vehicles making weekly fuel fillups can earn foodperks! discounts quickly," Pastor said.  "Those foodperks! can be accumulated over time, and in just a few weeks can deliver a significant discount on groceries."

Giant Eagle customers James and Judy Mouse of East Liverpool, Ohio have been earning foodperks! rewards for some time now, and have found foodperks! to help them save significantly on their grocery bills.

"Every dollar counts these days, so any time we find new ways to save money, we're very excited," said James Mouse.  "We've been able to redeem the 20% foodperks! maximum on multiple occasions, and have used our rewards for big savings on our grocery bills.  When we think about the fuel savings we're getting with fuelperks!, it's just great to save both ways."

At their option, customers can easily redeem their foodperks! at the Giant Eagle checkout when they scan a Giant Eagle Advantage Card.  The discounts earned in foodperks! and fuelperks! are electronically tracked and purchase receipts at both GetGo and Giant Eagle locations will show the amount of discounts earned for customer convenience.

Any gallons purchased without passing the 10 gallon threshold will be carried over to the next purchase. For example, a purchase of 17 gallons of fuel will immediately get a 1% discount, and the remaining 7 gallons will apply toward the next discount threshold.

Nearly all purchased items will be discounted when foodperks! rewards are redeemed in-store, with exceptions like government-regulated items, gift card purchases, alcohol and tobacco, state- and federally-funded prescription programs, prescriptions paid via third party co-payments, postage stamps, lottery tickets, money orders, entertainment tickets, or other items prohibited by law.  Discounts will be calculated after all other reductions such as coupons and other discounts.  Rewards earned expire three months after the month in which a customer earns them.

About Giant Eagle, Inc.

Giant Eagle, Inc., ranked 40 on Forbes magazine's largest private corporations list and recipient of Grocery Headquarters' 2007 Retailer of the Year Award and the EPA's ENERGY STAR Retail Partner of the Year Award, is one of the nation's largest multi-format food retailers and food distributors with approximately $8.2 billion in annual sales.  Founded in 1931, Giant Eagle, Inc. has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the region with 166 corporate and 58 independently owned and operated supermarkets in addition to 156 fuel and convenience stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia and Maryland. The company operates stores under the Giant Eagle, Market District, Giant Eagle Express, Valu King and GetGo banners.  

SOURCE Giant Eagle