Bikky, a customer data platform built exclusively for multi-unit restaurants, announced a partnership with Robeks, America’s premier destination for fresh and innovative smoothies, juices, açaí bowls, and handcrafted toasts.
Since its founding nearly 30 years ago in Southern California, Robeks has grown to over 100 locations in Arizona, Illinois, New York, and ten other states nationwide. Defying broader industry trends, the brand has grown comp sales by over 40 percent since the pandemic, with unit count growth of 15-20 percent over the last two years. Since 2020 alone, the brand has served an estimated 8 million consumers. As they scale, it’s become critical for its leadership team to understand how their menu, marketing, and operational efforts impact these guests.
“A customer data platform is a must-have in today’s environment,” says Robeks President and CFO David Rawnsley. “The business has shifted from one or two channels to now five or six. You’re falling behind if you don’t have the right data and tools to understand guests across those different channels.”
This announcement comes at a time when the restaurant industry finds itself at a crossroads. While total sales are expected to rise 10 percent in 2024 and surpass $1 trillion for the first time, the operating environment continues to get tougher. According to the National Restaurant Association, 45 percent of restaurant operators expect competition to increase. Additionally, more than 95 percent say higher food and labor costs will be an issue for their business this year.
Bikky enables Robeks to navigate these headwinds more easily, offering unparalleled insight into more than 4 million of their total guests served since 2020 — an increase in coverage of more than 3,000 percent relative to the number of guests in their loyalty program. This has become increasingly helpful as the brand continues to expand across the United States.
With access to their guest acquisition and retention data, Robeks can now pinpoint the relationship between marketing and operations in different markets – and how these factors impact sales. Noticing new guest traffic was softer than expected in one expansion market, the brand shifted resources to paid media, direct mail, and other awareness-building activities at the local level.
The data also informs how Robeks approaches menu development, a critical driver of their best in class guest frequency. With Bikky, Robeks can understand the impact of recent launches — like Avocado and Nut Butter toasts — on new guest acquisition and average check, as well as how changes to core ingredients in its popular açaí bowl line impact frequency.
“When it comes to our partnership with Bikky, the sky’s the limit,” says David. The number of analyses that you can run with the click of a few buttons is extremely powerful. The more education we have about our decisions, and the more we assess their outcomes, the more likely we’ll be able to make the best decisions in the future.”
“The restaurant industry is in an extraordinary state of flux. Costs, competition, and consumer preferences are all rapidly shifting,” says Bikky co-founder and CEO Abhinav Kapur. “The winners will be those brands that can successfully use data to drive incremental sales with every marketing, menu, and operational decision. We’re honored to partner with Robeks as they look to sustain a best in class guest experience and superior financial performance.”
The fastest-growing, most innovative restaurants look to Bikky for unprecedented insight into how their decisions directly impact consumer behavior and top-line sales. Robeks is the latest enterprise restaurant to adopt its groundbreaking customer data and analytics platform alongside others, including Bojangles, Dave’s Hot Chicken, MOD Pizza, and Long John Silver’s.