Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Navigating Gen Z's Expectations: Fat Brands' Digital Strategy for the Mobile-First Consumer
As the digital experience becomes a bigger and bigger part of a buyer’s journey, brands must quickly adapt to meet the evolving preferences of their customers. Nowhere is this truer than with Gen Z, a generation that expects seamless, personalized, and mobile-first experiences. Fat Brands, a global leader in franchising with over 2,300 locations and 18 brands, is making strides to capture this audience through innovative digital strategies.
Understanding the Gen Z Mindset
Gen Z, comprising individuals born between 1997 and 2012, represents a significant portion of the consumer base. They are digital natives, having grown up with technology at their fingertips, and they expect brands to offer intuitive and efficient digital interactions. In our research, Loyalty360 found that Generation Z expects much more from a loyalty program than millennials. They want to save money, get additional perks, and earn rewards. They look for member-only discounts, coupons, and perks like free shipping and free samples.
Lisa Cheatham, Vice President of Marketing Revenue Channels at Fat Brands, explains how the company has pivoted to address the demands of Gen Z consumers. "We've observed a couple of trends here," Cheatham says. "The pandemic accelerated the shift towards digital. Across all our brands, we’ve seen a surge in online ordering and mobile app usage.”
For Gen Z, convenience and personalization are paramount. “They expect a seamless online ordering experience,” notes Cheatham. “That was a key insight as we developed our app. We wanted to make it as easy to use and flexible as possible.”
The interest in brand partnerships, whether between two, three or more brands with no prior affiliation or within a large consortium or holding company of brands, is growing within the customer loyalty space. There is a clear push to simplify these partnerships to ensure they are easily understood and provide value to customers of all participating brands. As companies shift from managing large portfolios of brand partnerships to offering more strategic, streamlined collaborations, challenges may arise. Many large multi-brand holding companies still lack integrated customer loyalty offerings as their brands are often acquired over time. Legacy technology systems and siloed organizational structures can create alignment issues and complicate efforts to create streamless partnerships. If it could only be as simple as ice cream and cookies. Well, it can be, and today we're going to hear the story of FAT Brands. We're pleased today to speak with Lisa Cheatham she's the vice president of marketing revenue channels at FAT Brands to learn more about their approach to creating not only a recognized customer loyalty offering, yet a very successful multi-brand partnership approach. Lisa, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.
Speaker 2:How are you today?
Speaker 1:Lisa.
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. How about yourself?
Speaker 1:Doing well. Thank you. First off, for those who may not know about Fat Brands, can you tell us a little bit about Fat Brands? What?
Speaker 2:they do, how they do it, and also a little bit about your role with the company and your experience in customer loyalty. Sure, so I am Lisa Cheatham. I'm the Vice President of Marketing Revenue Channels at Fat Brands, and we are a leading global franchising company that currently owns and franchises 18 restaurant brands with over 2,300 locations worldwide. Our portfolio ranges from everything from sweet treats like cookies and ice cream and fan favorites like burgers, pizza and wings. A few of these brands include Roundtable Pizza, johnny Rockets, fat Burger and Fazoli's, and then you can see kind of the full host of brands behind me.
Speaker 2:So my team manages digital operations such as online ordering, third-party delivery, our loyalty programs and customer relationship management across the portfolio of brands, and I joined Fat Brands through the Global Franchise Group acquisition back in 2021. So prior to that, I worked on Great American Cookies, marble Slap Creamery and Pretzel Maker and all sorts of marketing roles and functions. During that time, I did have the privilege of leading the charge in shaping our customer loyalty programs, and I've really just witnessed firsthand how strong loyalty programs can really drive customer engagement and then ultimately boost sales.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. I know Fat Brands recently debuted the Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery co-branded app and loyalty programs. Can you tell us a little bit about what went into kind of developing a joint program between the two? Obviously they go pretty well, cookies and ice cream the two obviously they go pretty well, cookies and ice cream. Uh, we'd love a little more about kind of how you decided to bring those two together and the loyalty program and maybe some of the benefits for the customers who engage in the program yes.
Speaker 2:So, um, before I kind of dig into the app, let me just get a little bit of background information on these two brands and kind of say how we ended up here. So great. Great American Cookies was founded back in 1977 and is known as the creator of the original cookie cake, our delicious, famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, and then our signature Double Juzzies, which is like the ultimate cookie sandwich, made with like icing in the middle. And then Marble Slab Creamery is an innovator in the ice cream space for over 40 years and is famous for its frozen slab technique and offering homemade, small batch ice cream with free, unlimited mix-ins, shakes and ice cream cakes together, like you mentioned, has just really been showing some greater potential, and so we launched our co-brands back in 2014 and have expanded to over 160 locations worldwide, and we're seeing about a 10 to 20% increase in incremental sales in the co-branded model, which is really just an excellent value proposition for our franchisees, and so, overall, like the co-branded experiences, it's really integrated. As soon as you walk in one of these locations, you're going to see a co-branded menu. You'll see the products kind of laid out, co-branded both together, and then taking your first bite of even a ice cream cookie sandwich, and so once that in-store experience was unified, we know we needed to ensure that the digital experience kind of would feel the same, and so that enters into our co-branded app and loyalty program.
Speaker 2:So we wanted a program that would not only reward our customers but also make their lives just a little bit sweeter with our sweet treats, and so this new program just really creates a unified digital journey that allows our customers to earn points and redeem them for fan favorite tweets from both of our brands in one place.
Speaker 2:So the customers can download our app, they can sign up online and they can receive our welcome offer, which could be either a free cookie cake slice or a small cup of ice cream a free cookie cake slice or a small cup of ice cream and that's available in-store. And then we also added an extra bonus of an online-only offer for $5 off an order of 20 or more, and so our users generate one point for every dollar spent on app qualifying purchases in the app, online or in-store, and then, once they accrue 75 points, they can be redeemed for $5 off a purchase. We also show appreciation to our loyalty members by celebrating them on their birthdays, other special occasions with just a really exclusive deals and offers, and both birthdays and special occasions are really key pillars for both of our brands. You can get a cookie cake or ice cream cake to celebrate any and all occasions that you want, so it was really imperative that we leaned into that with our new loyalty program.
Speaker 1:Okay, you talked about it a little bit, but what are all the features of the new co-branded app and how do you envision them? Enhancing customer experience and customer loyalty. So, yeah, I think that enhancing customer experience and customer loyalty.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think that the customer experience is definitely going to be improved. So previously, each brand had separate loyalty programs with separate structures. They both had two different apps. There was two different online ordering platforms, so we needed to really streamline everything, and first we had to start by streamlining our online ordering experience, and so the new co-branded website really seamlessly integrates both brands. The customers can order both products, whether at a standalone location or co-branded location, from our website from our website, and so that then allowed us to really make the new co-branded app function better. So it really just provides some convenience and engagement by allowing our customers to earn and redeem points across both brands in one place, and so they can easily browse our menu, customize their order, for if they want cookies or ice cream, they can track the reward progress all from this one app now, instead of having to do everything separately. And then members of our existing program can easily migrate their points over to the new app, so they retain everything that they had before.
Speaker 1:Okay, and looking at the history of your loyalty program, how has the program evolved to a point where you decided to create the new app, the integrated experiences?
Speaker 2:So, like I mentioned, the co-branded concept has been started about 10 years ago and then, just based on that strong bottom line, the franchisee demand for it continues to grow, and so, as this co-brand becomes like a really significant part of our footprint, we know that we needed to evolve the digital customer experience, and so we did some listening sessions with our customers, with our franchisees, and really that just brought up that we really needed this unified app to really make sure that we meet everyone's needs, and so it was a lot of work that needed to be done before we could get to this place of launching the app, and so that included, you know, upgrading our tech stack. We had to go through and integrate menus for both brands. Some work had to be done in our point of sale systems and on our online ordering platform. So this was, you know, a multi-year project. So this was, you know, a multi-year project.
Speaker 2:But once that foundation was set, that allowed the co-branded app and loyalty program to really function properly in store and on the website and in the app, and so really, the app is just really another extension of the co-brands footprint, so the app does offer several ways for customers to engage.
Speaker 2:So of course there's the convenience there so they can order for pickup or delivery, they can explore all the rewards in one place.
Speaker 2:We do provide some personalized offers. So we're now able to use consolidated data for both brands to kind of tailor those offers and recommendations based on their preferences If they're a more cookies person or more ice cream person, or both preferences If they're a more cookies person or more ice cream person, or both. And then it also allows, you know, that seamless list, that seamless reward transition so they can track their points, they can redeem their rewards and they can manage their loyalty programs. You know, just really simply together in one place. The app is really the key part, one of our key parts, of the loyalty strategy. So it gives us that one place for us to put everything. There. We're definitely able to use the data to understand, kind of what the customer behavior is, and then the app just really keeps our customers connected to us and keeps them, you know, wanting to come back for more. So we're helping to increase that frequency and recency of visit more.
Speaker 1:So we're helping to increase that frequency and recency of visit. Okay, excellent. When you look at the implementation of some of the new features that you put in the app. You talk about the mobile wallet, the payments application, a 3D cookie cake builder is available on the website. Getting technology to work is a significant challenge for brands today. Right everything integrated, especially across a portfolio of 18 brands. I could see it being a challenge, was worth the effort and, even better, how did you decide on what technologies that would come together to create such a unified experience?
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely. The technology and the integration piece is key and it takes the input from lots of people to help make that happen.
Speaker 2:So we're relying on our vendor partners, our internal technology IT teams, to really kind of help us say these are the things that we want to do and how can we make it happen. So, as it relates to mobile wallet, customers know customers now really expecting a fast and convenient checkout. So once the mobile wallet technology was available for us, we knew we had to add that to the app, and so we were able to implement that pretty quickly with the help of our vendor partner and that just really helped to minimize, you know, drop offs and checkout and align with the customer's expectations. Everyone wants that Amazon one-click experience and so this mobile wallet will help our customers make that check-out process easier. But then when we go to and talk about the 3D Cookie Cake Builder, this was a massive project.
Speaker 2:We made the decision early on that we really wanted this to be best in class, and so we had lots of brainstorming sessions and we realized that one way that we could really make the customer experience superior was to build like this first of a kind customizable digital cookie cake tool. So, like I mentioned, it was a very significant lift. But after some user testing and just requests from our customers, we knew that, you know, the challenge was worth it, and so we were really excited to finally deliver upon this. So, as I mentioned, cookie cakes are really a top driver of business at our locations, making up almost 30 to 40 percent of our product mix, and it really drives those repeat sales for various celebrations and birthdays. So we knew that would need to be a very big focus on cookie cakes. So the 3D cookie cake builder had never really been built before, and so as we were building it, we were referencing what other best in class digital customization tools are out there, and so we referenced things like Nike's build your own chew tool on their website, and we really just wanted to make this the best thing that we could.
Speaker 2:So we took a lot of time of capturing some real world images of the cookie cake bases.
Speaker 2:So we really wanted to make sure that the extra effort was there to make it look completely 3D and giving their customers the most realistic looking you know, dollops of ice cream so it would look like they were going to receive it in store, and so that not only improves the guest experience but also like the in-store order accuracy.
Speaker 2:So the operations would be simpler and easier for our team members and then the customer's getting exactly what they wanted. So imagine just being able to like, design your dream cookie cake on our website. You're gonna be able to pick the shape, you're picking the flavor of cookie cake that you want, you're picking your icing colors and the messaging, and really that's the power of our 3D cookie cake builder. So the results are in and it's really been a great tool. We're seeing an 8% increase in our average order value, a 14% increase in our conversion rates, and then now we're also going to see our 3D cookie cake builder set to launch, like as a self-service kiosk in a few select test locations in 2025. So the technology has really grown and we're just hoping to you know, continue to build upon it.
Speaker 1:Okay, one of the things that we see at Low-T-360 in our brand community and actually we have a couple a committee that talks about this is the changing customer right, what it means to brands to have customers changing the evolution. But making sure that you're able to understand them, making sure that what they're telling you is actually what they want, you know how do you feel your customers are changing and you know what opportunities do you see with kind of meeting your customers' expectations or meeting where they may be the channel or you know their interests. Two questions, sorry.
Speaker 2:No problem, let me try to answer both of those. So one's in terms of like what our consumers needs are and how they're changing. So we've observed a couple of trends here. So one, of course, the pandemic really just accelerated the shift towards digital, and so, across all of our brands, we've just seen, you know, a surge in online ordering, and for those brands that have it, you know, mobile app usage. And so to meet that changing need, you know, we really kind of invested in our digital platforms, making sure that we had the best technology available, the best vendor partners available, and then offering the different modes and modules to offer our customers the flexibility on how they wanted to pick up their orders, whether that's curbside pickup, delivering it to their house, et cetera. And then, in addition to that, another trend that we've noticed just in the Gen Z generation, is they really are mobile first. They expect a seamless online ordering experience, and so that was a key insight that we used as we developed the app, and so we wanted to make it as easy to use, flexible to use as possible.
Speaker 2:We're always talking about personalization, and so that trend just continues and, especially as we look at our target demos, it really plays a part in terms of our product innovation. So, as it comes down to, like cookie cakes, our ice cream, where you're getting free mix-ins so you can pick, you know, whatever combination of ice cream and mix-ins that you want, and so with that, the customer needs changing. It provides a challenge and also opportunity, really. But we also want to make sure that we're staying true to our roots and so as we look at, like, our customizable products, you know those really set us apart and really continue to make us successful. So our focus right now is how can we enhance what customers want, not necessarily change what we're offering, but to make sure that we're still providing. You know what customers love about us and our brands.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. You've talked about it a little bit, how you've kind of changed and enhanced your app, looking at more personalization, making sure that you're kind of meeting the customers where they are. You know how holistically have you changed or enhanced your communication strategies with the customers, the millennials who want, who are more digitally focused, app focused. How are you staying relevant to your target audience?
Speaker 2:So, I mean, this is the ever-changing, ever-moving target, but we're really trying to make sure that we are staying engaged with them as their needs change, and so one of the things that we are trying to do is just really leveraging the data. So what is resonating with our customers? What offers do they like? What email content are they engaging with? Where are they clicking on our website? What products are most important to them? And so we're trying to leverage all that data and insight to help us refine our communication strategies where we're marketing things, what new products that we're coming out with and where we want to be speaking to them at. And so our new co-branded app really kind of allows us to segment customers based on their preferences and behavior. So, you know, we can see a customer who frequently orders ice cream cakes. You know they might receive a targeted email based on the new fall LTO flavor that we're launching. And so we're able to do a little bit more segmentation as our communication strategy and really just knowing you know our customers and delivering them what they want and what they crave. So being able to kind of use and leverage that data. And then, when we think about kind of the channel marketing strategy and how that messaging changes or difference.
Speaker 2:We really do kind of tailor the content for the platform, and so a great example of this will be our current kind of fall winter LTO featuring our red velvet hot cocoa cookie and our hot cocoa ice cream, which are both delicious.
Speaker 2:And so our email campaign kind of, you know, allows us to feature, you know, our beautiful product photography. We're able to kind of share all of the detailed product descriptions and then, as we look at maybe like in-app push notifications, so we're able to kind of do a timely update there to remind our loyalty customers like, hey, these new products are in store now. You know, come check us out. We do have a great inbox feature in our app that serves just as another visual reminder for customers to see the new products. They can order them directly there from that inbox. And then, you know, we're also leveraging social media to really build brand awareness, engage with our audience. We might be able to have a little bit more fun there with some contest, giveaways, partnerships and some interactive content. So we have tried to use the full omni-channel approach in our communication strategies and we might just tailor the content or the messaging kind of based on that channel.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Success and efficacy are very important in a customer loyalty program. How do you measure the success of your customer loyalty efforts? What KPIs does your team look at from a customer loyalty and customer experience perspective to make sure you're on track?
Speaker 2:Yes. So that is another aspect. So once you launch it, you need to measure it and track it Right To see how how it's performing, and so we do have some key internal metrics and dashboards that we use here at fat brands, but generally speaking, we try to track against one kind of you know what the product adoption rate is. So are we seeing growth in our participation rate? Um, the frequency of app downloads, and so that is one of kind of the key metrics that we're looking at. We're also looking at engagement. So we're tracking metrics like how often are customers checking in? When are they checking in? Are they checking in after we've sent out a campaign or push notification? We're also checking metrics like redemption. So we sent out an offer, what was the redemption rate like? And then, ultimately, we're looking at sales from some of the specific loyalty app offers that we send out. So that kind of captures the engagement side.
Speaker 2:And then another thing that we don't like to we want to make sure that we're keeping track of is like customer satisfaction and customer feedback.
Speaker 2:So we're continuously trying to gather feedback through customer surveys. We're looking at reviews in our apps. We're looking at reviews through some of our other metrics from our listing platform and then some of our customer service platforms so we have separate customer service for our loyalty apps and campaigns. And so we take all of that data, see if customers are having difficulty in using the app and kind of what the feedback there, and able to kind of really refine the process for them. And so when we created the loyalty program, our key kind of really refine the process for them. And so when we created the loyalty program, you know our key objectives were really to create some new engaging rewards and offers that resonated with our customers, you know, increase participation and download of the app and then really just make it easy for customers to use this new loyalty program. Overall we're still kind the early stages of the post-launch we just launched this back in September but the initial data is showing some really promising trends and increased average check our participation rate and the average visits for our loyalty customers.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Are there KPIs you wish you had more information on or you would like to see?
Speaker 2:So, yes, I think one of our challenges is we have lots of data in different places, and so, you know, we're having a wealth of knowledge and data from our loyalty program. We're also getting data from our point of sale, from our online ordering channel, and so just really trying to find a way to consolidate the data, get a good view on it and how we can kind of really combine that. I think that's kind of one of the things that we're looking for not necessarily a specific KPI, but just kind of managing the wealth of information that we have from so many different systems that you know have some integrations but not all integrated cohesively.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. Last question what can loyalty 360 do to help you and the fat brands team with your customer loyalty efforts?
Speaker 2:What can Loyalty360 do to help you and the Fat Brands team with your customer loyalty efforts.
Speaker 2:So you guys just seem to really offer, you know, a wealth of services and I just can't wait to, you know, really get involved more and participate and kind of learn more about all the services.
Speaker 2:But I would consider and just say, like doing what you're doing, like sharing the best practices on loyalty strategies, providing you know the market research and kind of where consumer behavior trends are going in this industry, even highlighting some of the new technology that's available that can enhance our loyalty programs and some of those vendors that provide that technology. And then I would also say, like learning some about the new emerging trends. So, you know, how can we use AI to power personalization? How can we use AI to help us with gamification? So I think some of those areas would be some resources that we could see some help with. And you know, customer loyalty is always changing, as with all things marketing related, and I just think the industry leadership that you guys have and speaking with so many different people across a wide variety of industries, can really just help guide us and make sure that we're staying ahead of the curve in the loyalty space.
Speaker 1:Well, excellent. Thank you for the feedback. I think we do most of those things, but hopefully, we can focus on more of them. So thank you very much for that feedback, for sure.
Speaker 2:No problem.
Speaker 1:Now we have the wonderful quick fire question round. We'd like to keep these to a short phrase or a couple of word responses. The first question we have is what word or short phrase do you use to inspire others?
Speaker 2:I would say there is no, I in team.
Speaker 1:There we go. What is your least favorite word that others use?
Speaker 2:This is a hard one for me to really come up with, but I'm going to just say can't? I mean, I have a four-year-old daughter and she's like I can't do that. I need help, mommy. So that's the only one I can think of that makes the most sense right now.
Speaker 1:What excites you at work?
Speaker 2:Solving really complex problems surprisingly.
Speaker 1:Okay, what do you find tiresome at home or work?
Speaker 2:I'm going to say traffic because I live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1:There you go. What's your favorite menu item at either Great American Cookies or Marvel's Lab?
Speaker 2:menu item at either Great American Cookies or Marvel Slab. So I'm more of a cookies girl.
Speaker 1:And my favorite is the Snipperdoodle cookie. Is there a book that you read, or have read, that you enjoy, you find powerful, that you like to recommend to colleagues?
Speaker 2:I really like the four agreements. So not necessarily you know specific business, but I think it's just really great principles to kind of live by.
Speaker 1:OK, and what profession, other than the one that you're currently in, would you like to attend?
Speaker 2:This makes me think, but I'm going to say architecture. I really just like design and building development houses.
Speaker 1:OK, there you go. What do you enjoy doing that you often don't get time to do?
Speaker 2:Sitting down and actually reading a book.
Speaker 1:There you go, perfect, who inspired you to become the person that you are today?
Speaker 2:Without a doubt, it would definitely be my parents, my mother and my father.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect. Well, thank you very much, Lisa, for taking the time to speak with us today. It was great getting to know you personally, but also more about the FAP Brands program, especially the integration between Great American Cookies and the Marble Slab Creamery Very powerful program you're developing and looking forward to hearing more from you and your team in the coming year.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I appreciated the conversation.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and thank you everyone for taking the time to listen today. Make sure you join us back for another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series soon. Until then, have a wonderful day.