How WOWorks Is Stacking The Deck With Tech

Based on the best restaurants, WOWorks will grow in 2023, and one of its main focuses is to improve technology integration.

These new partnerships include QU, OLO Rails, OLO Dispatch, PUNCHH and World Pay.

The updates will improve WOWorks' sales systems, menu management platforms, third-party delivery options, payment processing, and customer loyalty programs.

So far, four out of six WOWORKs brands have seamlessly transitioned to the same tech stack with Zopp integration plans. Eatery and Barberitos later that year. In 2022, the company acquired two chains for an undisclosed amount, joining Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and The Simple Greek.

Improvements in the technology stack benefit employees, customers, and franchisees.

“We have a lot of franchisees that own a lot of brands, so it's a huge win for them to have the system in place,” said WoWorks CIO Kyle Marks. "Cross-business franchisees love it."

PUNCHH has improved support for guest retention and engagement. This allows direct messaging between the guest and the brand, extending the loyalty program and promoting promotions. Mark believes that PUNCHH and the data it provides is the future of what cross-brand loyalty looks like.

“The biggest advantage of PUNCHH is getting to know the guests for real,” Mark says. "It's all about data and using it to help all of our brands."

The enhanced loyalty program uses customer data to find links between WOWorks offerings and invites guests to visit co-branded establishments, thus strengthening the relationship between customers and restaurants.

WOWorks is also using technology to increase the brand's virtual presence. An example of such a business is Soupworks, a virtual extension of Saladworks.

"We've outsourced Soupworks to third party partners, which is great," says Mark. “So we are now looking at our first steps to do the same with our other brands and focus on those lesser known aspects.”

The second stage of WOWORKS virtual brand integration includes the introduction of the latest products that need to be tested or do not work in a normal environment. In any case, Mark sees these ghost concepts as an additional source of income.

In other cases, WOWorks collaborates with external sources such as virtual meal concepts.

“We are working with other companies on some of their products that we can offer in store, such as virtual food concepts,” Mark explains. "We are currently testing Cake Boss and this is a great initiative for us."

The technological transformation of WOWorks is undeniable. According to Mark, the franchisees were initially reluctant to abandon their system in favor of a new one. There were fears that staff training would slow things down, but the results were far from that.

“With this new technology, we focused on ease of use,” Mark says. “It was funny to see how the employees immediately understood this.”

Franchise owners will be among the first to benefit from this partnership. Mark says they are seeing higher operational efficiencies than ever before as individual franchisees take advantage of the wealth of data available through technologies like OLO, QU and World Pay. .

OLO Rails allows you to manage multiple menus from one place and automatically distribute them to third party marketplaces. OLO Dispatch offers brand delivery directly through websites and apps to strengthen the bond between concept and guest.

Similarly, the OLO menu management system does not allow WOWorks to disable options online. This is beneficial for customers and franchisees as everything that is done in the store can also be done online.

“I have seen brands reduce the number of offers on their websites because the system they use cannot be effective. This is one of the reasons we chose OLO,” Mark explains. And decide."

For a company like WOWorks, balancing six different brands is critical. Constantly promote the brand "Wow! Way" in all operating, technology and marketing divisions.

In addition, WOWorks continues to expand its franchise network. Franchise opportunities are available in 49 states (all but Hawaii). Franchise owners, like brand portfolios, are incredibly diverse, from the military to the hospitality industry.

WOWorks manages over 350 points in the system and oversees over 7,000 employees. Between now and 2022, 14 locations have been opened (four Saladworks, two Fruit Bowls, one Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, three Zop! and four integrated locations) and 21 franchise agreements have been signed (eight Saladworks, two Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, eight Fruit Vases). They did business together, including two barbers and a janitor!). The company opened two new centers at ghost kitchen operator REEF Technology, raising $150,000 for No Kid Hungry and serving 1.5 million food insecure children.

In 2023, the company's first big goal is to integrate all six brands into one technology stack. Database integration is also done on the server side. The multi-brand platform will use advanced technology to create a personalized Internet, creating a "WOWnet" that will eventually become the hub of all operations.

“We are building a data warehouse on the back end to store all of our data and make it available to everyone,” Mark says. “Then we can make more decisions based on this information rather than knowledge. We are very dependent on data, so this is one of our biggest challenges for 2023.”

According to Mark, WOWorks is looking forward to a new year filled with innovation, strategy and brand development.

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