On St. Patrick’s Day I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Steven J. Wagenheim – President, CEO, Director of Granite City Food and Brewery. For those outside of the Upper Midwest, Granite City is a restaurant, sports bar and brewery all rolled into one. Granite City has a great selection of food and they brew a lot of beer with the change of seasons and festivities. One of the things they offer is a special called the Mug Club. If you are a Mug Club member you receive discounts on food and drink, offers of free food and get to be among the first to try the newest brews produced and much more.

I have been a Mug Club member for a couple of years, and it has more than paid for itself. About a week before St Patty’s Day I got an email from Granite City saying the owner would be in town between 4-7pm to meet people and talk about ideas and whatnot. I ventured down and visited with Steven and the COO of Granite City, Darius Gilanfar, for a few minutes and talked about the restaurant and marketing. I mentioned the effect Twitter is having on the hospitality industry and how Granite City could use it to their advantage.

Steven offered up a challenge to me saying he would give a free beer to anyone who shows up within the next hour from Twitter. I tweeted the message out on my phone with the details on where to go and what people get and I sat back and waited. Right as Steven was about to leave and head out to the Sioux Falls, SD, Granite City, I got a tweet from Colt of @golfcartadz saying he was just down the street. Steven said I had 5 extra minutes .

Needless to say, Colt showed up and Steven was impressed. We both got a free beer and I got a Granite City VIP Card. I never knew Granite City had a VIP Card. You get a few little perks with the card including a 10% across the board discount as well as immediate seating. Nothing like jumping to the front of the waiting list on a really busy Friday night when the Eagles are in town. Here is a pic below of the card. If you ever want to buy me dinner, I will gladly bring my card along.

Twitter is growing very quickly, and the people who jump on the bandwagon now will reap the benefits much more than the people who join in a year. Get in early and dominate.