Panera Bread’s “new era” is all about delicious food at good prices. But as market uncertainties and shifting consumer habits put sustained pressure on fast casual restaurants, Panera needs to balance attracting more customers with profitability.

That’s the real challenge facing restaurants today — how to continually win trips from new, lapsed, and infrequent customers without unnecessarily eroding already-thin margins. We see across retail categories that consumers are increasingly willing to look around for the best value, and so restaurants are wise to give them what they want. 

We recently conducted a survey of Upside users in St. Louis; on average, our respondents said that they dine out seven times per month across five different restaurants. Across the industry, restaurants are trying to come up with unique ways to win more of these transactions. While one-size-fits-all discounts or bundled value meals can boost foot traffic and earn more visits, these strategies can also hurt profitability in the long run. 

“Quick wins” like these often reward existing customers and cannibalize revenue, rather than attracting new or incremental visits. 

Franchisees like Flynn Group, Hamra Enterprises, and Manna Development, three leading restaurant operators with more than 450 restaurants in our marketplace, are using Upside to drive sustainable growth. They saw immediate impact after launching their sites on Upside. New Panera locations added to our marketplace can expect to see that immediate impact, too:

Read on to see how Upside’s personalized promotions can drive incremental visits and protect store profit, giving everybody what they want. 

Long-term value > quick wins

Upside is a digital marketplace that connects restaurants with nearby customers via personalized promotions. These offers, which are unique to each Upside user, profitably incentivize customers to visit our partners’ stores and spend more when they do.  

Reach new and infrequent customers

We primarily target new, lapsed, and infrequent customers — what we call “uncommitted customers.” These shoppers are open to a variety of brands and make purchase decisions based on both value and experience rather than habitual loyalty. (Our offers also might reach your devoted fans, but our methodology accounts for that. More on that in a second.)

As our platform reaches over 35 million American consumers, we have a lot of these uncommitted customers in our orbit, and we can present them with personalized offers to get them to visit Panera more often. Panera certainly has an opportunity here — when we surveyed Upside users across the United States, more than half of them said they’ve dined at Panera in the last year. However, only 9% said Panera is their go-to option.

Joining Upside provides significant brand exposure with a critical group of customers, and it comes at no cost to our partners. 

Amplify MyPanera’s performance

And so what happens when you’ve got more customers eating more meals at more restaurants? With additional opportunities to make positive impressions, Panera can fuel its loyalty program with more members. In that way, Upside can serve as a pipeline for MyPanera and make it stronger without eroding profit.

In our user survey about Panera transaction frequency, 50% of respondents said they belong to both MyPanera and Starbucks Rewards. By appealing to new and infrequent customers, Upside can help mitigate this cross-shopping behavior and drive more foot traffic to Panera.

Then, on an ongoing basis, MyPanera and Upside can work together — while your program targets existing loyal customers, Upside can simultaneously run one-to-one promotion strategies for all other customers.

Change consumer behavior with personalized, one-to-one offers

Upside’s dynamic offers adjust based on individual behavior and available margin, motivating customers to change their usual behavior. (And we know that the right cash back offer can motivate customers to travel up to 10 miles for a meal.) These personalized, one-to-one offers find the sweet spot — enticing enough for the consumer, profitable enough for the retailer. Our platform does this for every customer, at scale.

Only pay for visits that are actually incremental

Now, remember earlier when we said your devoted customers might use Upside, too? Our incremental methodology accounts for their pre-Upside spend, so if they start claiming Upside offers but don’t alter their order size or frequency in any way, Upside will fund those promotions in their entirety. Unlike traditional marketing and discounting strategies, our incremental measurement protects Panera from cannibalizing existing profits.

An efficient, zero-risk way to win more engaged customers — Upside is a fresh way to make a splash in your new era. 

Get in touch with our team of restaurant experts to learn more.