The iconic burger chain is adding SiteZeus’ location intelligence platform to its new future-forward real estate toolkit
Krystal Restaurants has proved it has the chops – or in this case, the Bacon Cheese Krystals – to thrive in the competitive quick service restaurant business. The nearly 300-store concept has been serving generations of customers since 1932, but the company recognizes that its future success hinges in part on leveraging digital innovation to strengthen sales and scale the brand. In line with the Krystal growth plan, the multi-unit brand will be leveraging SiteZeus’ A.I.-powered location intelligence platform to better understand its customers and pick locations with high revenue potential.
The restaurant industry is more dynamic than even and thriving in this sector requires a strong network supported by a backbone of great locations. Krystal will now use SiteZeus’ market planning solutions to build highly accurate models and take a data-driven approach/method to locate top performing trade areas and locations. The real estate team will be able to run comprehensive white space analyses in a matter of few minutes, allowing the firm to move from strategy to execution with both speed and confidence.
“As the market continues to grow ever more crowded and real estate options are more limited, being able to make the right decision fast is key. SiteZeus’ solution suite allows our team to run various data-driven market planning studies and pick locations in a matter of days,” said Tommy Mulkey, VP of Real Estate and Construction for Krystal. “The partnership is a competitive advantage that will allow us to select those higher AUV locations before they slip away.”
Like many chains, Krystal already has a picture of who its target customers are from a demographic perspective. One of its goals is to leverage SiteZeus’ data science to understand the customer from a deeper behavioral perspective. SiteZeus’ customer segmentation solution leverages customers’ mobile data to help the brand answer questions like Who are my customers? Where are they located? How do they behave in my trade areas? This level of granularity helps companies to optimize locations both at the portfolio and individual site level.
“With SiteZeus as our market planning solution, we approach our growth plan from an expanded viewpoint. The A.I.-powered platform is bringing the marketing and real estate teams closer together to better serve our brand, franchisees and guests,” said Alice Crowder, CMO of Krystal Restaurants, LLC. “The customer segmentation solution will help us understand guest behavior in individual trade areas, enabling us to optimize our offering and profitability.”
SiteZeus combines brand-specific POS data and location information with various third-party metrics culled from its vast data exchange to create highly accurate sales forecasting models within minutes. “The science Krystal is now able to put behind its location-based decisions will help the company strengthen relationships with franchisees and grow with confidence,” said Hannibal Baldwin, CEO and Co-founder of SiteZeus.
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Krystal Restaurants LLC is the original quick-service restaurant chain in the South. Krystal hamburgers have been served fresh and hot off the grill on the iconic square bun since 1932. The company proudly serves the classics, but over the years, they’ve never been afraid to innovate.
Krystal has grown to be in 10 states with nearly 300 restaurants and continues to deliver a one-of-a-kind taste experience through their unique menu items that are offered at a great price. The company’s Atlanta-based Restaurant Support Center serves a team of more than 3,500 employees. In 2019, the company was selected to USA Today’s Top-10 Best Regional Fast Food List.
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