promotion through its computerised cash register system.

With the new Best Customer Bonus Club, the Par-la-Ville Road restaurant and bar can track the spending of each member and offer that person specials, explained Mr. Frank Schmitz, MR Onions general manager.

Through the restaurant's new COMTREX integrated computer/cash register system, customers, once they have filled out a membership card and once they reach the $150 spending level in a 30 day period, they will receive a coupon for a free Monday night rib dinner, he explained.

"All the customer has to do is fill out a membership card, and when he or she gets their bill, sign it with their phone number -- also their membership number -- which is keyed into the system,'' he said.

The system keeps track of the customer's spending and the individual items he or she requests.

The restaurant currently is offering three specials in association with the new promotion.

As well as the free rib dinner, MR Onions patrons in the club can qualify for one free lunch special if they buy 10 lunch specials in a 30 day period, or receive a free bottle of chardonnay for every four bottles ordered over a 30 day time period.

"The promotion is directed at the individual customer and the coupons are automatically printed with his or her name,'' said Mr. Schmitz, general manger at MR Onions for two years.

Mr. Schmitz said he may introduce business memberships where members of the same company can rack up points.

"The US National Restaurant Association says utilising this system can increase sales by up to 30 percent,'' according to Mr. Bill Allen, president of Bermuda company POS Ltd., the COMTREX representative which supplied the system which includes; four restaurant terminals, one bar terminal, three kitchen printers, one bar printer as well as an office file server.

Not only does the COMTREX system afford frequent buyer promotions, it also monitors inventory and does the books, and the payroll, and can even keep track of a customer's favourite meal as well as how he or she likes it prepared.

It also tracks the coupons dispensed and is capable of monitoring 60 different specials concurrently.