Founded over 20 years ago in sunny Los Angeles, Robeks has risen to the top of the healthier-for-you market. They’ve become a leader in providing guests wholesome juices, smoothies, acai bowls, and toasts, across more than 100 stores in 13 states.

They’ve coupled their strong consumer value proposition with a compelling opportunity for franchisees: smaller store formats, less complex menu builds, and no need for heavy-duty kitchen equipment all leading to more efficient, profitable operations. Combined with the demand for more health-focused offerings post-pandemic, Robeks’ offering only became stronger and more timely.

Robeks was thriving post-pandemic, but when California’s AB 1228 was passed, it significantly raised the minimum wage, increasing labor costs for every large brand in the state by 25%. As an experienced operator, Robeks President and CFO David Rawnsley - who’s been with the brand for more than a decade -  recognized the serious threat this new legislation posed to profitability.

He sprung into action, assembling a Franchisee Profitability Taskforce to look at optimizing every aspect of the business. They quickly implemented changes across their menu, operations, and technology in an effort to reduce costs. But while these decisions made sense in the short-term, Robeks wasn’t sure if they would have any unforeseen long-term impacts on guest traffic and frequency.

David knew he needed a way to ensure that these changes protected margins without sacrificing the guest experience.

The taskforce made three key changes to the business:
- Removing operationally complex menu items
- Simplifying preparation for core menu items
- Investing heavily in kiosks

David knew that while top-line sales could give Robeks a directional sense of if these changes were working, a Customer Data Platform (CDP) could unlock a deeper understanding of their impact on key guest metrics, like traffic, retention, frequency, and churn. They leaned on Bikky to validate the implemented changes, ensuring they had the intended results.

The first area to optimize was the menu, specifically Robeks’ low-calorie smoothie category. In order to ensure Robeks’ low-calorie items met their flavor standards, Robeks added a number of ingredients to these smoothies, making them more operationally complex to make. This added not only the cost associated with additional ingredients, but led to slower times between the order and handoff to the guest.

With Bikky, Robeks saw that only 5% of theirs guests had ever ordered a low-calorie smoothie since 2023. While they had a higher lifetime value than an average guest, they believed two things. First, the expected cost savings would more than offset any lost revenue. Second, those guests who remained with the brand would migrate to other parts of the menu - like superfoods - which offered a similar nutritional value and were easier for franchisees to execute.

Since making the change, Bikky has helped validate Robeks’ hunch that the change would be accretive to both margins and frequency. Specifically, more than 50% of Robeks’ highest frequency low calorie smoothie guests have continued to visit the brand six months after the category’s elimination. Beyond that, guests who continue to return have a lifetime value and order count that’s 3x higher than those who churned after the category’s elimination.

Robeks also sought to improve the profitability of their popular acai bowls - the second highest selling item category in 2023, accounting for 17% of new guests. Robeks knew that while tweaking the recipe could yield better margins, there was risk of alienating guests who loved the original offering.

Almost immediately after launching the new recipe at two test locations, Robeks saw a 25% year over year drop in acai bowl volume. While this alone was enough to reverse course, Robeks used Bikky’s data to isolate the true impact of the test on their guests. Specifically, while acai bowl sales were weaker than expected, test stores still saw annual increases in repeat and total guest costs by over 20%. On the other hand, new and repeat guest counts for those specifically ordering acai bowls were both down 4%.

With this deeper insight, Robeks could pinpoint the potential long-term risks of the recipe change on guest acquisition and frequency. From there, planning to go back to the traditional acai bowl offering was an easy call.

The final major change the taskforce implemented was a broader rollout of self-service kiosks. Robeks faced a tricky tradeoff: they’d gain efficiencies and throughput from reallocating someone from the register to food prep and order execution. On the other hand though, they worried about the potential negative impact self-ordering could have on the guest experience.

Once again, Bikky helped them clearly measure the impact of their decision. 

First, there was the clear lift in average check, with kiosk orders typically coming in 9% higher than traditional in-store orders. But more importantly, Robeks found that kiosks were actually additive to the guest experience. When looking at the average number of days between visits, Robeks found that guests who order on a kiosk come back 12% faster than a traditional in-store guest.

Robeks continues to thrive in today’s challenging market, not only reducing costs, but also achieving consistent sales growth across its footprint. Armed with Bikky’s data-driven insights, they continue to optimize the business while driving consistent year over year growth in both 30-day retention (+12%) and initial 30-day spend from new guests (+2.4%).

Looking ahead, the brand is testing new ways to drive higher attachment and average check through the expansion of their food menu. Through Bikky’s menu insights, they’ve already seen that orders of their avocado and nut butter toasts are highly incremental. Looking at their most popular toast, rather than replacing a core smoothie or acai bowl to achieve a similar price point, guests are instead pairing these items to achieve an average check that’s 72% higher than the brand-wide average. Notably, they’re actually seeing the highest engagement from their most frequent guests, who today account for over 40% of item transactions.

David views the food program is a key differentiator in today’s more cost conscious consumer environment. It enables Robeks to compete for greater share as a healthier meal option at a similar price point to the traditional fast casual and QSR players. Leveraging Bikky’s insights will once again be critical as they look to broaden their value prop and drive higher frequency with both new and loyal guests.