When the founders of the popular Facebook group “Massapequa Moms” decided to expand their goal of bringing discounts to consumers, one town wasn’t big enough.
“Long Island Loyalty came to be after running the Massapequa Moms group for many years,” said co-founder Dawn Boyle Kostakis, who initially started the group just for her friends. “We wanted to figure out a way that we could help the consumer and the business owner at the same time; keeping local commerce going and having the people get a little bang for their buck,” said Kostakis of Long Island Loyalty, which launched on July 25 and aims to unite businesses and consumers by keeping the exchange of money in local hands, rather than out of state or to large corporations.
The two entities are separate, but are united by the community, a term that took on a new meaning after Hurricane Sandy struck close to home.
“It brought our community together,” said co-founder Stephanie Hartman. “Everyone opened up their homes to those in need,” continued Hartman, adding that Massapequa Moms was the only form of communication for her and her friends.
“It was a virtual cup of coffee with a living room of 6,700 people,” said Kostakis.
After getting such positive feedback from members of the Facebook group, it was then that the founders came up with the idea of creating a membership card and making the rewards program island wide, instead of limiting it to Massapequa. In order to do that, they enlisted the help of now partner Greg Goldfeder in May 2013.
“I’ve been doing credit card processing for twelve years, and I learned about loyalty card programs through sharing an office with a company that did that,” said Goldfeder when Kostakis approached him about the program.
Kostakis, Hartman and their other co-founders, Kerri Romeo and Denise Bianco, already knew plenty of local families that owned businesses. Along with Goldfeder, they began to take the idea to businesses they already had relationships with.
“There has to be a trust factor when something isn’t up and running; for them to come on board with us,” said Goldfeder. “We’ve been getting a lot of businesses to join through referrals.”
When it came to their kids, the moms made sure to include them.
“At first it was very difficult for them to understand. It was me being home all the time to me never being home,” said Kostakis, whose kids come to events and help hand out loyalty cards. “They spot the window clings on the cars, so they’re starting to see all of the hard work finally come to fruition,” continued Kostakis, adding that all of their kids have their own loyalty cards.
“I have two six year old twin girls and they love to use the card for their nails,” said Hartman. “When they see that we’re responsible for this, it’s exciting.”
Here’s how the card works: members can register for free online or fill out a form at one of the company’s pop up events, and a card will be mailed to the customer in six to ten days. The card is individual to each member and used like a gift card, with 10% in virtual cash put back on the card upon use. Customers can also choose to stock up on rewards for a later date at a different business.
“You can use the card as often as you like and the rewards never expire,” said Hartman, stating that customers can check the balance and activity of their card on the website. “That’s the thing; to keep people going back to local businesses and help them thrive.”
As for the businesses, which pay to be in the program, Long Island Loyalty needed to balance competing agendas. 
“We wanted something that was large enough where the card holder feels like they’re getting something, but small enough that we’re not hurting the business either,” said Goldfeder. “As far as our pricing and the exposure, it’s a no brainer, but if for some reason the business no longer wants to be part of the program, we don’t charge them to leave, we part as friends.”
The businesses are allowed to impose certain restrictions, which are listed on the Long Island Loyalty website. For example, some restaurants are too busy on weekends or have specials for which the card is not applicable.
“The key is to help people grow their businesses, not to take away business,” added Hartman.
This fab five have put their hearts and souls into Long Island Loyalty. In just two months, they have gained 120 participating businesses; with dozens more applications to sort through.
“We revamped the loyalty program probably about thirty times before we said this is good to go,” said Kostakis, who added that social media has been the company’s biggest advertiser so far.
“This is our baby; you have to nurture it and change it to help it grow,” said Hartman.
As for the future of Long Island Loyalty, the sky is the limit. Customers have already approached the group about furthering the program and bringing it elsewhere; there is already a business in Manhattan.
“There are so many local businesses around Long Island and we want to continue growing,” said Kostakis. “The program will constantly evolve, so we’ll keep you posted.”
