With close to half of its orders coming from digital channels, Potbelly Corporation is turning to AI-powered location platform Flybuy to further enhance off-premises operations across its more than 450 sandwich shops.
Integrating Flybuy into Potbelly’s digital ordering system allows the sandwich brand to deliver accurate order time estimates and status updates. Additionally, the Flybuy Marketing Suite enhances marketing efforts with location-based, context-aware in-app messaging.
“Flybuy uses customer or driver location and machine learning (AI) to notify the staff when to prepare the orders based on arrival using a first-arrived-first-out methodology,” Marc Wallace, Flybuy CEO and co-founder, said in an emailed statement. “Less stress, fresher food and higher customer satisfaction.”
Regarding removing friction at pickup for customers, Yosra Saleh, Potbelly’s vice president of digital marketing, said that partnering with Flybuy allows the brand to move from a reactive approach to a proactive one with real-time intelligence.
“Digital business for Potbelly is at a meaningful scale, and it has become core to how guests experience the brand,” said Saleh. “More than 40 percent of our orders come through digital channels. So, optimizing off-premise isn’t just incremental for us, it’s essential.”
Since first launching with Potbelly last June, customers using Flybuy have placed more frequent orders and, ultimately, spent more than guests who did not use the service, according to a late-January press release.
“Overall, the partnership helps support higher engagement and repeat visits, as well as improved throughput,” Saleh said. “That helps strengthen unit economics across both company-owned and franchised locations. On the customer side, there is improved clarity, transparency and trust around order readiness and what Potbelly has to offer as far as proximity and loyalty value.”
On average, Flybuy reduces customer wait times by over 80 percent and results in customer ratings above 97 percent, according to Wallace.
Potbelly used a staggered approach to introduce Flybuy, first testing a pilot program at select shops, then expanding it across the entire system. Saleh said targeted “In the Neighborhood” campaigns saw a more than 10 percent increase in redemptions and purchases after amplifying the efforts with Flybuy and partners.
“Our digital strategy is centered around personalization that feels helpful but not intrusive,” Saleh said. “So, through the partnership with Flybuy and their marketing suite, we believe that helped us in enabling engagement with guests at high intent moments using real-time context and location.”
The Flybuy announcement builds on Potbelly’s existing list of tech partners, which already included Amplitude, Bottle Rocket, Braze, Olo, Paytronix and Toast. For Flybuy, the Potbelly shops add to more than 40,000 restaurants, retailers and grocers that use the platform globally.
