Walk-On’s embraces digital tech simplicity with new loyalty appWalk-On’s embraces digital tech simplicity with new loyalty app

Like many restaurant companies over the past couple of years, Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux is refreshing its digital mobile experience with a new app and revamped loyalty program. The Atlanta-based casual-dining restaurant is embracing the trend of operational simplicity by rolling out a new app in partnership with Paytronix that prioritizes ease of customer experience over complex bells and whistles.

“People loved the loyalty program that we had, but it just wasn't working – it was clunky and the user experience just wasn’t quite there,” Walk-On’s CEO Chris Porcelli said. “We spent a lot of time bringing this to life. I am obsessed with guest experience and so making sure that it was a seamless process was crucial.”

The new app not only has ease of use and frictionless navigation as a primary feature, but also adds a tiered, points-based rewards system that modernizes the Walk-On’s loyalty experience. The app also offers personalized limited-time offers and game-day promotions catered toward individual guest habits. 

One example of a simple feature Walk-On’s added is the ability to sync the app experience with what’s going on in-stores. So, for example, the rollout of the app coincided with the launch of the brand’s new Southern Bourbon wings, made with Bourbon BBQ sauce. If guests order this LTO any time now through the end of February, they will receive an extra 100 bonus points in their account.

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“We're just scratching the surface on features like that that we can unlock to meet our guests where they are and to better understand them,” Porcelli said. “We hadn’t had capabilities like that before.”

Porcelli said that when deciding to relaunch Walk-On’s mobile and loyalty experience, his team decided to start from scratch and switch partners to Paytronix instead of just doing “patchwork repairs” so that the company does not outgrow its digital infrastructure as it expands.

“There’s a lot of technology out there that likes to sell you on all of these add-ons, but from my experience, we don’t want to just do this facelift and then a couple of years from now, have to redo it all over again,” he said.

This will be helpful moving forward as the 25-year-old Walk-On’s targets new locations.

 Last fall, the company launched a new store prototype and is beginning to sign leases with this new store design in Atlanta and beyond.

With growth on the horizon and the launch of a new mobile app, Porcelli said that the next step will be unlocking seamless omnichannel capabilities that better connect different channels of experience, including catering, third-party delivery, ordering through the website, and dine-in, especially with the Super Bowl coming up.

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“As we lean into these channels and see how guests use them, being able to capture that data and unlock that investment has me excited,” Porcelli said. “We have a lot of different channels to drive folks through, but hopefully at the end of the day, they're coming into our restaurants to have a great time and [these other channels] are just another reason to come back to us.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]