Article

Zoës Kitchen launches mobile app

In less then a week, the app already has 15,000 downloads.

March 6, 2013 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Zoës Kitchen launched a smartphone app last week and already has 15,000 downloads. The app called, LIFE, allows users to order on-the-go, upload receipts, participate in the brand's loyalty rewards program and use the nutritional calculator, said Rachel Phillips-Luther, vice president of marketing for Zoës Kitchen.

"Today's consumer craves total connection, and our core consumer is using their phone to manage much of their life," she said. "We saw tremendous growth in mobile activity on our Facebook page and also hoped to capitalize on additional growth in online ordering."

The app, Phillips-Luther said, became the strategy to address a number of business goals, including:

• Capitalizing on the brand's "LIFE" message: Zoës translates to "life" in Greek.
• Delivering a unique and highly relevant loyalty program, thereby driving frequency and allowing the chain to better understand transactions and usage.
• Measuring guest satisfaction without the hurdle of getting people to call or log online.
• Making online ordering easier, which helps decrease phone traffic at peak hours.

The cost
Relevant Mobile, which co-created the solution with Zoës, approaches mobile development much differently than most companies, Phillips-Luther said. Instead of an upfront development fee, Zoës is on a monthly subscription. Establishing a partnership with Relevant allows the chain to "Dig deep and understand trends within the data, better position the guest satisfaction component and stay at the leading edge of mobile technology," Phillips-Luther said.

Specifically, there's also no cost for the pilot, and subscriptions start at $40 a month per store, which includes the customer relationship management, the app, a loyalty component, surveys, emails and text push notifications, said Gerrine Pan, co-founder of Relevant.

Although Zoës was unable to comment on the exact cost of the app, Phillips-Luther estimated that it will drive 1.5 additional visits per year from the average consumer, which will produce about a 200-percent ROI.

Initial feedback on the app has been overwhelming, Phillips-Luther said. Unsolicited, the chain has received numerous Facebook comments, emails and phone calls from customers talking about how much they appreciate it the app and enjoy using it.

For example, a review on iTunes by one user, LaurenHop reads:

"Love Zoes and their new app! So much more than a basic restaurant app - easy to use and the inspirations are really fun and shareable. Love the instant goodies! And ordering is a snap."

The app can be downloaded free from iTunes and Google.

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About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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