Japanese restaurant drives more revenue with Popmenu

Client Spotlight:

Teppanyaki Time

Teppanyaki Time earns 7x returns on online ordering offers

Teppanyaki Time, part of the Lucky Dog Mountain Hospitality Group, set out to bring authentic Japanese cuisine to a small Georgia mountain town. A challenging goal considering the tough market conditions they had to navigate: opening a restaurant at the height of the pandemic, closing the restaurant for a limited time due to staffing shortages, and supply-chain issues requiring chefs to travel four hours to a farmer’s market to access authentic ingredients. Yet, the Japanese kitchen proved its resiliency and came out on top using Popmenu’s direct online ordering, marketing suite, and phone answering tools to keep customers (and online orders!) coming through the door.

With online ordering living directly on their website, Teppanyaki Time can both avoid third-party online ordering commissions—saving them an $2,700+ a month—and collect guest contact information. That data is foundational to their marketing strategy as the restaurant uses it for email communications inviting guests to leave a review, wishing them a happy birthday, or offering them a discount they place another order.

“The offers feature definitely sets Popmenu apart. Nobody else in town is able to offer and measure discounts the way we are.”

Jen Rushing

Marketing & Operations Director, Lucky Dog Mountain Hospitality Group

By providing offers on online ordering, such as $2 off when guests leave a review or 15% off takeout orders, Teppanyaki Time has seen over $73,400 in revenue—7x the value of discounts given. What’s more? The Japanese eatery attaches offers to smart messages—emails that send automatically after guests perform specific actions—saving their team precious time on email marketing efforts while still keeping their restaurant top-of-mind with guests.

In addition, the restaurant was able to save time with Popmenu Answering, which reduced the number of calls their staff had to answer while supporting their marketing efforts.

"The phone was ringing off the hook and became too much for one person to handle. That's why we invested in Popmenu Answering. It would take a little bit off our staff's plate so they could give the in-person guests the best service possible."

Teppanyaki Time uses Popmenu's AI phone answering assistant to field calls and provide answers to common questions with information from the restaurant's website or with custom responses, which can create opportunities to highlight events or special dishes. That includes sending diners a link to place an order online. Half of guests who called in the last ten months were looking to place an order and got the service they needed, without the staff having to ignore on-premise customers.

The Lucky Dog Mountain Hospitality Group continues to see great success as they prepare to launch their 5th concept later this year. The continued growth of Teppanyaki Time has proven that not even a pandemic, labor shortage, or supply-chain issues can stop a successful restaurant launch, especially when using the right technology tools.

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“Having [Popmenu] as a consistency with all of our restaurants makes everything simpler for us. I think it sets us apart.”

Jen Rushing

Marketing & Operations Director, Lucky Dog Mountain Hospitality Group

$78,000+

in revenue from email marketing

12,749

calls answered

113

hours saved from speaking on the phone

46%

of calls resolved by AI Answering.

Popmenu + Genius: one menu, one ordering flow, fewer manual updates

What initially drew Nick, along with marketing director Brennan Best, to Popmenu was its seamless integration with Great Basin’s POS system Genius. Prior to Popmenu, any menu or website changes were manual and time-consuming: menus changing two to four times a year and updates across locations via various technologies, all online orders were routed through third parties, cutting into the restaurants’ profits. After choosing Popmenu, the team has saved significant time: instantaneous website changes across all channels, online orders go directly from the Popmenu platform into the Genius POS, and guests’ orders are fulfilled with less room for error.

In the months following the launch, Great Basin has seen an average month-over-month 11% increase in online ordering gross payment value (GPV), which is the total amount processed during transactions. During that period, they’ve also gained more than 1,000 new guest contacts (a 9% increase)—and those new followers have driven almost 75% of their orders. With Popmenu, Great Basin is capturing guest information so they can stay top of mind and continue to build a loyal customer base.

“The ability [as a result of the Popmenu integration] for our customers to order directly from our website, and for that to be less expensive for them without the additional markups for third-party delivery, has been a gamechanger for us and has really improved the experience for our guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

Stronger communications or better SEOhappier guests

For Great Basin, technology isn’t just about efficiency–it’s about staying connected with their guests and their community. So when they had to navigate between several scattered and disparate communications tools, they weren’t able to get their message across in the meaningful, consistent way that aligns with their values.

The Popmenu platform has enabled Great Basin to unify their messaging, while still allowing each location to have its own unique voice. Within the platform, they’ve been able to customize the look and feel of each location’s landing page to convey the fact that each restaurant has a different personality.

“It's always been important for us to listen to our community, while also conveying our brand’s narrative to our community as well. The Popmenu platform has been super helpful because not only does it allow us to receive feedback from our guests, but it also enables us to respond directly to those guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

The brewery’s SEO has also improved since integrating with Popmenu, as their website’s event inquiry page for guests looking to host onsite parties has seen a surge in traffic. Soon after Great Basin made the switch to Popmenu, location managers were trying to understand why they were seeing unprecedented levels of interest in events. As a result, they are currently booked with private parties through mid-2026.

“Popmenu’s built-in marketing tools have replaced several standalone systems, saving costs and creating consistent messaging. We were able to cut a few hundred dollars a month by consolidating tools, and now our messaging – emails, events, promotions – all run through one seamless system.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

Smooth and supported implementation

As any restaurant team can attest to, rolling out new technology across multiple locations can be daunting and challenging. But Nick, Brennan, and the entire Great Basin staff credit both Popmenu’s onboarding process and its client service reps for a smooth transition. Even launching the integration during one of Great Basin’s busiest seasons didn’t slow things down.

“We had everything running in about a week across four locations – it was one of the easiest integrations we’ve done. We even went live right before summer events, and it didn’t faze the team at all. Once everything was set, we were off and running.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

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We’ve got your back. Every. Day.

Japanese restaurant drives more revenue with Popmenu

Teppanyaki Time earns 7x returns on online ordering offers

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Nevada brewery saves time, grows direct online ordering, and unifies multi-location operations with Popmenu and Genius.

Popmenu + Genius: one menu, one ordering flow, fewer manual updates

Stronger communications or better SEOhappier guests

Smooth and supported implementation

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.