Increase foot traffic and transactions

Sun Holdings is a Dallas-based restaurant franchisee with nine brands in its portfolio, including Applebee’s, Arby’s, Taco Bueno, and Burger King. With over 1,000 sites spread across the United States, it’s the third-largest franchisee in America.

Like most competitive operators in today’s environment, Sun Holdings wanted to do more to win additional visits from uncommitted customers. These diners — sometimes called lapsed or occasional customers — prioritize their own value ahead of loyalty to any particular brand, and they choose where to eat based on the value they can derive from the transaction.

These uncommitted customers make up an increasingly large portion of the overall population, and to win their business, restaurateurs have to reach them where they are and profitably motivate them to visit on an ongoing basis.  

Sun Holdings found that traditional customer acquisition was expensive, and the return on investment for that strategy wasn’t guaranteed. Any new customer strategy would have to  increase volume sold while holding its return on investment constant. Which makes sense — any restaurant can increase transactions by paying for unprofitable promotions, but growing volume profitably is the smart and sustainable way to operate.

For those reasons, Sun Holdings tried a different approach to drive more diners into its restaurants.

A network of partnerships to drive more diners in-store

One of the many ways Upside helps introduce its retailers to new customers is through strategic consumer partnerships. Exactly what does that mean? Our team identifies companies with large user bases — most often other tech companies with consumer apps — and works with them to put Upside retailers and cash back offers on those users’ phone screens. It’s good for retailers because they reach more customers, and it’s good for these strategic partners because they make their own products more valuable to their users by boosting their purchasing power.  

As a result, Sun Holdings is now able to reach 35 million consumers across the United States that are in Upside’s partner network. Those consumers are opening up apps they know, trust, and use often — like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and Triple — so that participating Upside retailers and their cash back promotions show up for these customers at the place and time it’s most relevant for them.  

This ecosystem is especially advantageous for retailers like Sun Holdings because it provides access to several different partners in one fell swoop. The team at Sun Holdings could certainly pursue these partnerships with other retailers and tech companies on their own, but negotiating and signing each of those contracts is time-consuming and inefficient. With Upside, retailers are able to reap the benefits of these agreements immediately and automatically.