Pizza Republic doubles revenue to $1.2M in 18 months with Popmenu.
A Central California pizza shop in a market with 20 competitors turned survival mode into a real business — by cutting out the middleman and using the marketing tools already sitting inside their platform.
Pizza Republic sits in one of the most competitive pizza markets in Central California: a college town with roughly 20 competing pizza and Italian spots packed into a few square miles. Owner Tim Lindsay isn’t a lifelong restaurant guy; he’s an engineer by trade who took on the business alongside his wife, a career restaurant operator, after purchasing the location eight years ago. For years, it just “survived”. Tim told us, “It wasn’t a moneymaker by any means. It did well enough to survive, but it was more of a hobby at that point–not a business venture–because the owners weren’t getting paid.” We sat down with Tim to learn how he and his wife turned Pizza Republic into a genuinely profitable business, and what we learned is a story worth passing on to any operator wondering whether their marketing stack is actually working for them.
From Survival Mode to a Real Rebuild
Like a lot of independent restaurants, Pizza Republic was hit hard by COVID, but Tim used the disruption to confront an important but inconvenient truth he’d been putting off: The restaurant’s digital presence was inadequate. Tim shared, “Our website support was horrible. Our online ordering…there was nothing there. As everything went to social media and people started ordering food online, we weren’t taking advantage of that opportunity because we had no presence there.”
So Tim and his wife rebuilt from the ground up: a redesigned dining room and outdoor seating area, a restaurant consultant brought in to sharpen operations, an employee dedicated to social media, and—on a supplier’s recommendation—a switch to Popmenu to finally give the business a real digital presence.
The Campaign That Revealed Where the Value Actually Was
Once the rebuild was underway, Tim brought in an outside marketing agency to run paid campaigns; a natural next step for an owner who’d readily admit marketing “isn’t my gig.” The results made for one of the more memorable moments of our conversation.
“They ran their first campaign in September and it was a total flop. Literally less than 1% ROI. But then in October, our busiest month, they were successful because they jumped on the Popmenu platform to run the campaign.”
— Tim Lindsay, Owner, Pizza Republic
Tim asked the obvious follow-up question in his next meeting with the agency, “So you’re telling me I’m paying you to do my marketing, and the first success we had was running the campaign through Popmenu, which I’m already paying for? I’m like, ‘Hold on a second. I can do what you did.’” He ended the agency relationship shortly after. The tools he needed to reach customers were already sitting inside the platform he was using.
The Numbers Behind the Turnaround
“Literally in 18 months, we grew the business 100%. We went from $600,000 to $1.2 million.”
— Tim Lindsay, Owner, Pizza Republic
A significant factor for that growth has been online ordering. Since Popmenu’s first-party online ordering collects guest contact information when they place an order, Pizza Republic has grown their contact list 4x, exponentially increasing their opportunity to earn repeat business through marketing communications later on. In fact, these guests place an average of 2.9 online orders.
The loyalty is durable, too: 83% of Pizza Republic’s online orders come from customers who’ve ordered two or more times. That loyalty program is doing real financial work, too. Online orders placed with a discount applied run 31% larger than orders without one—proof that a modest upfront discount is paying for itself many times over. “When you offer a flat discount and let people select the items they want, your average ticket cost goes up. If people perceive value they’ll spend more. They’ll order more dessert, more sides. My average cost per ticket has gone up with my campaigns, which is a great story.”
Loyalty & Repeat Business
Repeat-guest behavior driven by online ordering and loyalty discounts
Tim has also seen the difference in what a direct relationship with a customer is worth compared to ordering through third-party delivery platforms, where discounts and loyalty perks don’t carry over the same way.
“My average ticket price is significantly higher on Popmenu than it is on third-party ordering platforms. And people ordering through those platforms don’t get the advantage of the discounts. When you go to our website, our campaign pops up and shows you right there: ‘Here’s our summer special, here’s your loyalty savings.’ They don’t get any of that from third parties.”
— Tim Lindsay, Owner, Pizza Republic
What’s Next
Pizza Republic isn’t done growing. Tim’s next goal is pushing online ordering from its current share of the business toward 35%, and he’s continuing to build out VIP and loyalty programs to widen his reach in a market with roughly 20 competitors within a few square miles.
“I truly believe that Popmenu is part of my success in this restaurant. Because now Pizza Republic is not a hobby, it’s a money-making business for us now, which is great. That’s the goal. And you guys are always innovating.”
— Tim Lindsay, Owner, Pizza Republic
Tim’s advice to other operators on the fence about investing in their digital presence comes from hard-earned experience: the tools that build a real, repeatable relationship with your customers aren’t a nice-to-have. They’re the difference between a hobby and a business.
