Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, a Greek fast casual restaurant chain, has partnered with Square to power its 94 locations in 16 states, predominantly in the southeast and midwest. With the help of Square’s software and payments technology, Taziki’s is able to easily manage both their enterprise-level and in-store operations – thus allowing them to focus on offering a modern customer experience with the feel of a small, local cafe that focuses on fresh ingredients and close-knit communities.
Taziki’s first location opened in Birmingham, Ala. in 1998, after Keith Richards and his wife Amy returned from their vacation to Greece and felt inspired to bring their culinary experience home with them. Over the last 25 years, Taziki’s has adapted to the modernization of the restaurant industry while still maintaining its homegrown charm. The Mediterranean chain launched the Taziki Cafe app in 2018 for order and pick-up, and partnered with Square to improve customer loyalty. Since starting its long-time partnership with Square in 2016, Taziki’s has now begun leveraging Square for Franchises to run their locations more efficiently.
“Since we started using Square, guests have had an omnichannel experience with our brand, whether they’re ordering from a computer or on their mobile device,” said Dan Simpson, CEO of Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe. “We decided to move to Square for Franchises because it’s built specifically for the needs of businesses like ours. Being able to manage all locations from one dashboard is an invaluable addition to our operating model.”
In harnessing Square’s technology and marketing tools, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe seamlessly processes dine-in, to-go, and catering orders, and Square ensures easy management across all locations to create a consistent customer experience. Taziki’s has modernized their restaurants and grown their customer base by using the following Square solutions:
- Square for Franchises:
- Square for Franchises is an integrated solution specifically designed to help multi-unit businesses operate more efficiently, grow their revenue, and continue scaling. With a unified dashboard tied directly to their payments system, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe can centrally manage all of their locations from a single dashboard and customize the degree of control given to local franchisees.
- Customer engagement tools:
- With the use of Square Loyalty API, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is relaunching its TAZ Rewards program by fall 2024 to make it easier for customers to earn points through mobile, desktop, and in-store orders, which in turn increases the opportunity to create return customers. Additionally, Taziki’s uses Square Marketing to reach out to customers via email and text and share new menu updates, promotional offers, and more.
- Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe uses hundreds of Square Terminals across all its storefronts to enable customers to experience a fast and secure checkout experience. Customers can easily complete their transaction through a simple swipe, dip, or tap of their card or digital wallets.
- Operational efficiency through partner integrations:
- With an enhanced ecosystem of tools, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is onboarding a new restaurant management platform that integrates with Square to simplify the complexities of restaurant management and reduce administrative tasks. As Taziki’s continues to scale, this integration will enable the business to effectively manage their expansive workforce, optimize its staff resources, and reduce labor costs across its growing network of stores.
About Square
Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit www.squareup.com.
About Taziki’s Mediterranean Café
Founded by Keith and Amy Richards in 1998, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Taziki’s is a fresh celebration of the Mediterranean diet with a colorful menu that offers handcrafted, elevated, affordable food the entire family enjoys. Much of the original menu is still the same, with added efficiency in the process and technology to make the brand a systems-driven, scalable operation. Taziki’s continues to grow with nearly 100 locations operating today. With opportunities in every state, Taziki’s has a wide network of resources for franchise partners that allows anyone to bring the Mediterranean lifestyle to their neighborhood. To learn more about how to own a piece of the Mediterranean, visit tazikisfranchising.com. For more information, visit tazikis.com and follow Taziki’s on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.