Find your Aloha with Mo' Bettahs

brilliant solution. And having just gone through graduation for my son, I would have loved to have had a solution like this, check out Nick and his solution restaurant when you get a few minutes after the show. Welcome back to the restaurant technology guys podcast. I thank you guys out there for listening. As I say each and every time I know that you guys have got tons of choices on how you guys can spend your time. So we appreciate the opportunity to

talk to you guys. This week's show is going to be a fun one because we have not had a marketer on in a while. And so today we are joined by somebody from a brand that I respect. I admittedly have not been to but I've seen and it's been fun to watch. But I'm gonna let Katrina introduce herself. We can talk a little bit about Katrina's history, and background and then we can talk about what she gets to do for a living. And then we'll talk about all things marketing and loyalty and such

in the restaurant space. So Katrina, why don't you take it away? Tell everyone on our, our show who you are. And then we'll talk a little bit about my business. Of course, well, first and foremost, Jeremy, thank you for having me on and taking the time, I can't wait to feed you. That'll be one of my treat for sure. Katrina Guevara been the Director of Marketing at Mobius for the past 11 months now. It's been quite the journey, you know, understanding what the brand and the opportunity is

here. Well, bettas is founded upon by two brothers chemo and Kalani Mac. And so one of the beauties of this year is actually that it's our 15th anniversary year. They've been in business for that long, you know, essentially, there's a

nice story to tell there. And one story that I get to bring to life as a brand marketer to showcase the fact that their foundation essentially has roots in kind of Yohe, on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, and then moved over to all the places Bountiful, Utah, where their side of the family was from, and then essentially introduced the flavors of what they grew up with on the island to really simplify a menu that was centered around that backyard

barbecue. And, you know, ever since then, they've been sharing the Aloha with everyone from Utah, Idaho, Kansas City, Texas, and Oklahoma. So it's been an exciting time to be part of the brand. When I came in, you know, about 11 months ago, it's it's been quite the journey to go through building the marketing calendar, launching the loyalty platform with thanks, as well as I think I've done eight new store openings now across three

different states. So it's definitely been a journey and something that I'm excited to talk to you about today. Well, I know you touched on it a little bit. And as we were talking about a pre show, um, I personally am super familiar. And I love my love myself some wine food. But why don't you talk a little bit about MOBAs, just because for those audiences, it's not a household name necessarily in all 50 states, and we've got quite frankly, people that listen to the show from all over the

world. So we get some new listeners from South America and from Europe. So for those that are less familiar with the brand or haven't haven't had a chance to partake in it, what is it is fast, casual, full service, fine dining. Talk to me a little bit about the brand, What Kind Of Products Do They serve? And what can you expect as you walk into them about as before we dip into kind of marketing and loyalty and and what you guys have been

doing? For sure, well, first and foremost, the name MOBA is not more betters,

So you'll already immediately feel that you'll see different nods to the Hawaiian lifestyle, like Hawaiian flags, surfboards that untouched the waters that have you know, indentations that have actually been written on by surfers, artwork all over with landscapes and photography that's actually connected back to photographers on the island or that they might be relatives or friends of and then you know, when you get to the food piece, you're going to experience essentially a line of items and

you'll smell the grill at the centerpiece of our restaurant. We're serving up, marinated and fresh

pulled. very savory, very smoky taste, and all of that paired with our sacred white rice or brown, if you want that as well as our mac salad, which is a huge nod to the side that coin plate lunch is most popular for so essentially, you know, you build your own plate, you pick your own protein, as well as making sure that you know your side whether it is those white rice Mac tossed salad, we've now introduced cookies as an

additional add on. And then I didn't mention this, but we also have shrimp tempura so you know, have added on that route. So I think that with what we want to present ourselves as flavors that are familiar to American households, these are staples, with our chicken with our steak, etc. But also a variety of options for you to essentially build your plate lunch around.

Ideally, the plate lunch was built around back in Hawaii where you know, essentially, those on the plantation would put together a potluck and bring all those items together. So we we hope to translate that now as we have now 45 units and growing in six other states to introduce that concept of not just the the food that's in front of you and allowing that to be a new option and variety within the American

household. But also present the Hawaiian culture as something that our founders were raised upon and pay homage to that Hawaiian culture that we know and we

it. And kind of what story you've been able to tell as you guys are launching out into these new, you know, these new states, these new new regions and and you know, really fulfilling the pallets like you talked about of, of the people that missed those flavors, or maybe had them on vacation in Hawaii or like where do I find one of these and they find them? Well, that isn't like, oh, here it is. So talk to me a little

bit about that heritage. Where did it come from the Hawaii 15 years ago decided to go to Utah?

motherland. They were also able to go and visit Utah, and Kalani moved first with his family and decided, you know, what are entrepreneurial opportunities here, they made a whole list of 10 different business ideas after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Essentially, we're in communication between both brothers to say which one should we try first. And ideally, the restaurant concept was out there, they had a little bit of restaurant background just in their, you know, early days of

working on Hawaii. But they knew food, they knew those recipes. They knew that that was something that was special, and that could stand out. And so right when they decided, alright, we're making this jump, we're gonna move. Chemo actually left Hawaii to join Kalani. And that day he got back from the airport, they visited their very first restaurant in Bountiful, Utah. And they just brought that plate lunch to life with those

recipes. And so it essentially was a family born the concept of bringing that Hawaiian flavor into Bountiful, Utah. They had a

variety of audiences, right. So you have your blue collar workers, those construction workers, first responders, local heroes, were coming into the restaurant, kind of remembering that this is an authentic version of what Kimo Kalani were bringing, and it was a very affordable option to be able to come in and have that lunch in something different than you know, your typical burgers or

pizza or chicken tenders. So with that chemo, Kalani had essentially had their first store raise enough funds to open their second store in actual South Salt Lake County, to be able to then grow now to multiple units outside of Utah and growing so I think one special part about the plate lunch concept is that most wine concepts have such a vast menu.

And what Warren Kalani knew in their heart was just to keep it simple, you know, not just for the operations piece, but to really make sure it's replicatable and really find something that can translate well, again, those familiar flavors for most Americans staples, have, I mean, it's grilled chicken, essentially, it's grilled steak, and it's fried chicken or roasted pig. And I know that you know, if you're in Texas like you are and like you and I were, you know

around for so long. You're used to pulled pork right on a slider or something. So for Hawaiians, it's, you know, pulled pulled pork that can't dig a hole in The ground and throw pig in it. But as good as we can do in the back of house, they provide that hand pull it. And that's kind of been one of the top favorites is pork, chicken side of rice and Mac.

and different. You know, when you're traveling, it's a different conversation that you're over in Hawaii, there's all you got this, you got to pay lunch, and this is what it is. But now I'm in Utah and Oklahoma and Kansas. And I and I walk in, oftentimes those flavors are not something that's super

prevalent. And so I know, part of part of the whole conversation for you jumping on jumping on was really to talk about guest engagement, and you guys really telling the story and talking to your audience and marketing to them. Can you talk to me a little bit about that journey over the last 12 months, you know, you talked about, you know, 15 year history and getting to celebrate that heritage, and I love the story. And again, selfishly now I'm

feeling like Hawaiian food. But you know, with that, talk a little bit about what you guys have done in the last, you know, the last really nine months, because it's a pretty unique story. And I love what you guys are doing. I'm excited to have our audience here, kind of where you guys are at what you guys were trying to get accomplished from guest engagement and worldview perspective.

enrolled. So at that point, it was very clear that there's a huge opportunity with the amount of traffic and the amount of store growth and loyalty essentially, that was out there for our brand that we just needed to compound upon that. So we found thanks at the right time, to be able to onboard with them and partner with our Olo app, which we had already

previously launched in 2022. So our initiative for 2023 was get loyalty integrated, since thanks paired very nicely with holo, and being able to launch a full robust program that allows both communication from our email marketing alongside our rewards marketplace, and make sure that that all seamlessly gives us a 360 view of how we can capture our transactions capture our customers as they're coming on, what do they like? What are

their purchasing? How often are they coming, etc. So we really wanted to find a program that was going to leverage that. And you know, really, that's thanks. So we launched in February, as I mentioned, our program is as what you guys all know, for most loyalty programs, it's a spend points based program $1 for every point. And well, one point

for every dollar rather. And we also have an enticing incentive on enrollment to be able to have a free mini plate upon signup, which is a $10 value if you go into more beds today. And that's one scoop of rice, one scoop of Mac and your two choices of protein, which, as we talked about is essentially the kicker right there. That's your opportunity to try us. And then we give you all the reasons to

come back. So a birthday complimentary treat of our small kind cookie cups, which is little shareable cookies that you can have. And then we've introduced other sorts of different engagement pieces. So exclusive offers during different holidays, we've built a marketing calendar that allows for only loyalty based offers.

So you have to present the app you have to redeem in the app when you come into the store etc. So things like a buy one get one we did that for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, we just did you know a quick call to action to enjoy a large drink because we highlighted our our Hawaiian Pog juice, which is passion, orange guava, to be able to showcase that, you know, it's a hot day, here's a sunny day email, call that to action, give out a free

drink. And we've had quite a bit of things that now like one thing that I will say on the 15 year anniversary, we built a whole campaign that was centered around appreciating loyalty and driving loyalty and enrollment. So we essentially for the whole month of July, which is our anniversary month. We had in store P O P calling to action enroll and get x incentive. And in addition to that, you'll be qualified to win MOBOTIX for a year. And we were going to give out 15 prizes of this for a

year. And traditionally that I think, you know other brands have had to leverage some type of like, you know, gift card or certificate or something to you know, allow that justification of I'm a winner. I got MOBAs for a year and there You're flashing this or doing this. But it was all built into things. This is kind of the beauty of this program was that we were able to successfully launch a four year campaign through the app. And it's been so seamless, those winners got their prize at the

end of July, essentially. And what we're seeing is that they get to free many plates every week, and we're seeing them redeem those, you know, they might sit on one or another, it's not going to compound upon each other, it's just too weak. And we're building that loyalty, we've essentially have now 15 ambassadors that have, you know, said that they're proud of when this and it allows us to have this trigger for other campaigns

in the future. And just to see what else more we can push the program to do for us?

things. And I know that thanks as a platform allows you those capabilities to segment your market and understand who's coming in who's going. But I guess, Katrina, how does? How does Katrina? And how does MOBAs define what is loyalty? Is it you know, you guys are a brand that can get frequent, but it's not as frequent as Starbucks, obviously, or Dunkin Donuts. But you're probably more frequent than going to Ruth's Chris or, or you know, Morton Steakhouse, because that's, you know, that's

kind of special occasion. And so, because of the style of brand, talk to me a little bit about the philosophy as you guys were going to launch these things, because all of these campaigns, while they're successful, if they don't drive additional behaviors beyond what it is that you guys are looking for, it's hard to know whether they would have come in anyway, with or without having given them that $10 off for the for the signup and whatnot.

for Olo. That was a non negotiable. So we didn't want any additional hardware, we didn't want anything that was going to be kind of just a pain to log in, log out of etc. So there was that we also wanted to have that flexibility. In our program, we wanted to be able to adapt and pivot as we saw the businesses need need the business needed that if there was any strategy that we needed

to provide. So for example, we don't want to always coin ourselves into that offer offer offer AB testing is something that we're able to ensure that we're leveraging that data campaign by campaign and see what people responded to or not, is it a product that they're responding to versus another product, or $1, or a percentage or a different different type of

lever that we can pull. So that's what I think that we really enjoyed having with things is, you know, we're capturing that data, we're understanding the behavior, and yes, we're seeing that frequency and we're seeing the enrollment come through. But what are we going to do next for them? You know, what, what does it mean to again for if you're asking me directly, it's how are we going to get more personal with them?

How are we going to make sure that they know that, hey, you must be a top spender because you've had X amount for your weekly spend, looks like you might be feeding your whole family this like an ohana meal, for example. And that is an ohana meal, essentially, like a family for four feeds a family for for six. And we can extend

that out to them. As you know you've reached X amount of spending and X amount of visits, here's something that is a gift directly to you, Jeremy, who needs to feed his family every week at this time for this type of meal, and incentivize them based around those behaviors. But on the other end of things also entice people to try different things on the menu, you know, what we had seen is that we're introducing everyone

with this free mini plate. And essentially, that's what we want them to get to know us with a sampler size plate. But we also have what we call our regular plate, which is a little bit more of a robust portion. And as you know Hawaiians can eat so we don't want to be shoved away from introducing that additional scoop of rice or additional scoop of Mac. We want people to try other proteins, right. So we have our kolu, which is a large portion size, but allows you to get up to three different meat

options on that plate. So there's there's something that I think is is still an experimental phase of learning our customers and learning our behaviors as we go into more of Utah versus more of Texas, right. I think that we're seeing those checkout bridges bump up, especially when it's so easy to attach a cup of cookies or easy to attach a cup of pug, etc. So I think at this point we're continuing to have serve our customer base, see how they

respond. And even just send them friendly messages like a push notification to let them know that they still have a reward waiting for them or, you know, it doesn't always have to be centered around an incentive. It's more about that communication. And effectively, we have 220,000 people who are okay with us talking to them. And of that 146,000 People who are actually enrolled with their credit card and are allowing us to track their purchase behavior, and incentivize them based on that.

gotten to that place. You talked a lot at the beginning about kind of your guys's launch with a low and the fact that it seamlessly integrated and you also use not that it's a buzzword, but it's true, a lot of people are trying to get to this frictionless commerce concept where the guest, you know, they are the same guests, whether they're ordering and they're a pharmaceutical rep, and they're bringing mobiles to, you know, to an office building and their their ordering for 30

people versus ordering for their family, they're the same person, they may engage with the brand in different ways, they may engage with the brand driving home from soccer practice, on the solo app, or on your mobile app or some other way, and then they're gonna come in store and can pick up in a different way. Talk to me a little bit about how again, you guys philosophically thought about that, and how technology integrates that experience, because I think it is critical.

And I think when it gets disconnected and the brand doesn't understand that Jeremy Julian is the same person when he orders on his way home from work as he is standing in the dining room. And those engagements did look similar.

Because if they don't, and you treat me differently, like I want you to treat me differently, you know, and again, if I'm going into a brand and I'm going in for dinner, they're going to you know, they're sending me an offer for dinner, I want to I want the dinner portions, or I want the dinner type, I had entrees. Same with the lunch type entrees. So timing and how you engage with the brand, but you see it

through analytics. But when you disconnect ecommerce or offline transactions with online transactions in brick and mortar, it creates this dystopia for guests talk to me a little bit about how you guys ensured that that was, you know that that was part of your guys's brand messaging, because it says something about the engagement from your customers. And even

from your associates. If your associates can't deal with the online order, and the and the in person order they get, you know, they ultimately will deliver a bad guest experience. And that's not what you guys want to do. And I think that's

everything. So for us to be able to make sure, thanks check all those boxes for us, as well as was operator soft rolled and tested and approved on that and not just you know, it's easy to say it's marketer tested, we're good, we liked the email, you know,

Now you guys are all on the same app that I'm already placing order through, my reward can be redeemed through there, I can track my purchases, I can redeem my receipt, if I choose not to enroll my credit card, because I just don't want all of that integrate into my life, you can take a picture of your receipt, whereas that wasn't capable of our program prior to and we want to make sure that to that point, it becomes easy to access MOBAs however you want it wherever you

want it whenever you want it.

And I think that this is the phase essentially of digitizing mo bettas and allowing that convenience factor because you know, by the way, I mentioned Texas is one of our first drive throughs or are we just open one of our first drive throughs in Texas, excuse me, this past month, we're seeing that you know, those Texans who have already been adapted to what my bet is isn't that plate lunch they're even more excited because now they can come and get it through the drive thru.

thru. Talk to me a little bit about engagement is working in those drive throughs for loyalty because again, most drive thru like you don't check in I mean, I guess Chick fil A is the only one that I can think of where I I do something with an app and again they're multibillion dollar company and you know a little bit bigger than you guys are so their budgets probably a little bit bigger on the marketing and ad tech side.

It's just not directly through, you know, the true third party website or app, it's through our app, if you choose delivery, you can also get your free mini plate that you're choosing to redeem and pay, you know, whatever delivery fee on top of that. But I find that a breath of relief if I'm sitting in an office, knowing that I can't leave for my lunch, yet, I want to redeem my cookie cup, I want to be able to find my purchase plate and get my reward with it

and it has been delivered. So it kind of hits all those touch points and allows any customer whether you're willing to come in store and redeem said offer, get it delivered, go through the drive thru, etc. So that I think has allowed us a lot more operator breathing room to not have to sit there and constantly spend time ensuring that that loyalty customer gets whatever they wanted to get. It's a pretty smooth process at this point.

into new markets. Talk to me about strategies when you guys are going into these new markets to get brand awareness and get people to sign up for the loyalty. You know, you and I were talking pre show about a store that you guys are opening up later this you know, in the next 45 days or so, here in Texas. And thinking about where you guys are at geographically, I'm probably not going to be in Mansfield, and be in Forney and the same day because they're, you know, 100 miles apart or 80

miles apart. And they're they're geographically diverse. So you guys are opening into these regions. And you've got to create some brand awareness, you probably have some level of understanding for local store marketing, and some level of of signup for those things in those regions. How are you guys? I guess? How are you guys tackling that? How are you guys getting people engaged even before the brands there? And then what does it look like on onset?

specific offer. We're sharing the news and we're sharing the announcement of our event, which is our friends and Ohana event, we call it our gift to the community. It's essentially a complimentary night where you can come and get up sorry, it's a lunch or a dinner opportunity. So we communicate via thanks. We have, you know, some non aware users in new markets where we're, you know, putting paid ads out there to be able to entice them to sign up for an

offer to us post opening. And again, that local marketing aspect, we have people who are out there canvassing invitations and menus and extending the brand story out to each different business within the trade area. We're also doing

practice days. So we essentially, the Tuesday Wednesday, before we open on that week, we're inviting 300, school teachers, nurses, first responders, you know, community constituents, like the mayor, or the you know, the folks in the city office, we're inviting them to try a sneak peek, while we train our new team members to be able to repurpose that food and get the repetitions, all while building community goodwill and reputation of who we are in this community and introducing them.

So that's something that we do, and then post opening, you know, how do we keep this going, right? We all know, the honeymoon phase of a restaurant where everything's free, and then everything's hot. But what does that look like 90 days, you know, to 18 months, we continue to pull certain, you know, certain things not just offers, but how do we build value now that we've you know, had X amount of enrollments that are still new aware, new users, but maybe not aware of all the

different offerings. So we have different emails that trigger to those people who have just signed up in that new market that allowed them to learn about

our story. Learn about what the plate lunch is learn about the Hawaiian culture, the store design the intent behind I know that to build on that value, and then hit them with another, you know, different offer that isn't a free mini plate, maybe it's a free drink, maybe it's a free cookie cup, or trying a different type of size plate to allow them to figure out what is their behavior and what is their favorite and build off of that.

But we'll figure it out. Well, the funny part is, is, is, as I said earlier, in the show, I'm taking my kid to, to off to college, and I'm actually going to be driving through one of the regions where you guys have got a bunch of stories. So I may have to, I may have to talk to my wife and son into figuring it out. So

there. But we're not dependent on only Hawaiian culture, I know that that's like, to your point, growing up in Southern California, you're familiar with it because of that, you know, the ability to have it really wherever you go. In Las Vegas, we know that they're going to know who Hawaiian food is, and those who are in southern Utah that have had MOBAs there'll be familiar with the brand. And I think that market entry will be simple for us. I do think that there's an ability for us to

translate that food right. So the plate lunch isn't necessarily just a in store component. Our food travels very well.

have a luau. mo betta. This has translated very well in office spaces, social settings, we just did a pool party the other day, just knowing that there's a food that can be transported easily and the quality sustains and that flavor profile is something that's just not your typical like sandwich platter has been a really exciting opportunity for us to continue to grow. So while we don't have a true catering loyalty program, we are absolutely you know, teasing that idea.

It's more just just wondering what your guys's opinion is on it and how you guys have been thinking about it?

or focus for us right now. We are laser focused on finding opportunities like uncapped drive throughs, and finding ways that people can still have easy access to moe bettas no matter where they are. We mentioned the delivery piece. And I think that's the biggest piece of why ghost kitchens, you know, came to be about as much so to

transport and whatever. And whatever the case is, for us, I think we have the ambiance of our stores that we're very proud of you walk into my bed, like in the sounds, you know, maybe a little tacky, but that hospitality is the extension of

our Aloha. That's what you should feel when you're walking into a mode that is is like you're being greeted at a family gathering like you're able to kind of go on this like sensational journey of smelling the grill, seeing the artwork eating under the shed, and being transported essentially, to kind of do Hey, the backyard of where our founders grew up. So we

really are proud of that. And I think that that's why we don't want to just hide behind a ghost kitchen because there are so many elements that makes mo Beddoes who we are and we're able to deliver, get your drive through and you You're in store and you pick up experience. So I think we have something special here. So I think what we want to do is grow it as best as we can and just not screw it up.

the show yet. So if you talk to those guys over there, you can say send somebody over. So if they want to learn more about mobile photos and experience the aloha spirit that you talk about and kind of your guys's brand, how do they do that?

Katrina, thank you so much for spending time with us until telling the story and to our listeners make it a great day.