Parakeet Cafe is a health-forward fast-casual brand with multiple locations across Southern California, serving coffee, food, and pastry from early morning through evening, seven days a week. When Owner and CEO Jonathan Goldwasser needed a digital ordering partner that could keep up with a fast-moving menu, integrate cleanly with Toast, and support repeat-guest growth, the brand moved from Incentivio to unPLUG in early 2026.
This Q&A case study captures Jonathan's experience in his own words (edited lightly for clarity), organized for operators evaluating a restaurant mobile app case study on Toast restaurant app integration, multi-location cafe app rollout, and what "good" looks like in the first months after launch.
At a glance
- Brand: Parakeet Cafe (fast-casual, health-focused coffee and food)
- Role: Jonathan Goldwasser, Owner & CEO
- Stack: Toast POS · unPLUG branded web & mobile ordering · loyalty · catering
- Launch window: ~2 weeks from kickoff to go-live; live since early 2026
- Early business signal: Same-store sales +14% vs prior year while much of the U.S. restaurant market was flat or down
About Parakeet Cafe
Q: What kind of business is Parakeet Cafe, and why does digital ordering matter for your model?
Jonathan Goldwasser, Owner & CEO: We are a healthy coffee, food, and pastry concept. People come back often. That makes repeat customers the heart of the business, not a nice-to-have.
We also run tight footprints in some locations, so pickup and delivery through our own channels matter a lot. About half of our sales are to-go. We are open 365 days a year, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., so if ordering goes down even for a few hours, it hits guests immediately.
We are growing. We are signing leases and working toward doubling our size within two to three years. We want partners who can scale with us, not just launch a v1 and disappear.
Before unPLUG: what was broken
Q: Before you contacted unPLUG, what problem were you trying to solve? What finally pushed you to look for something new?
Goldwasser: Three things.
First, speed of change. I am the owner and CEO, but I am also the person running a lot of the digital work day to day. Parakeet moves fast. We launch items, change menus, test ideas. With our previous setup, even small updates took too many steps. Sometimes I would say, "If we cannot launch this with the app ready, let's not launch it at all." That is a bad place to be for a brand that changes often.
Second, growth tools we did not have. We knew the app should help drive sales through better merchandising, lifecycle logic, and the kind of backend capability a small team cannot build alone.
Third, guest ease. We needed a faster, simpler way for someone to think, "I am going to order from Parakeet," and actually finish the order without friction.
Q: What KPIs did you expect the partnership to move?
Goldwasser: Sales, obviously. But also repeat customers and order frequency, pickup and delivery mix, and how guests perceive the brand digitally.
We are the type of concept where someone might visit several times a week if the experience is right. That is different from a once-a-month occasion brand. Digital has to support habit, not just transactions.
Vendor selection: why Parakeet chose unPLUG
Q: Did you evaluate other vendors? What made unPLUG different?
Goldwasser: When we moved from Incentivio to unPLUG, we did not shop around. That was intentional. We had seen enough to know this was what we needed.
For context, this was our fourth ordering transition since we opened. We had been on Incentivio, ChowNow, and another provider I barely remember because the pain blended together. Every prior onboarding was a headache. That history alone made me hesitant to switch again.
What changed the decision:
The sales process matched reality. Everything discussed in pre-launch onboarding looked the same once we were live.
Onboarding was actually smooth. That sounds basic. For us it was not. Prior migrations were rough. This one was not.
Service matches our operating hours. We cannot afford downtime. When something comes up, the team responds quickly. That matters when you are open every day from early morning to evening.
Q: How would you describe unPLUG to another operator?
Goldwasser: I have already recommended unPLUG to peers in the industry.
The honest version: I am very happy with the relationship. Communication is clear both ways. unPLUG handles a lot of backend work I do not have to rebuild myself. The migration from Incentivio was simple. Guests barely noticed the switch.
It is not a rigid template where you get what you get. They work with what you need. And they keep shipping. New features, roadmap items, AI direction. That is what I want in a partner at our stage: one less thing to worry about, with room to grow into marketing and loyalty activation next.
Onboarding and migration from Incentivio
Q: How long did onboarding take, and who did the heavy lifting?
Goldwasser: From the first target date to launch was about two weeks. unPLUG did most of the work, including on my systems. They took over Toast setup pieces, connected what needed connecting, and made sure the cutover was quiet.
That was impressive. We have been through enough migrations to know how badly they can go. Even one day of broken ordering would hurt. We did not see that.
Q: What was different compared to prior vendor transitions?
Goldwasser: Prior onboardings were headaches. This one was clear, fast, and low-drama. I was checking in frequently the first couple of weeks, which is natural when you have been burned before. Issues got solved quickly. Staff and guests did not feel a big disruption.
Q: Anything you would improve about launch?
Goldwasser: Launch was smooth. There were small items, the way there always are when you move to a "new house." You cannot see every edge case until real guests use it. Nothing stood out as a major miss.
The part that mattered: when bugs appeared, they were fixed fast. In this industry, that is the difference between a bad migration and a good one.
Go-live: first weeks on unPLUG web and app ordering
Q: How did the first busy weekends go after launch?
Goldwasser: I was watching closely, especially Saturday and Sunday, our busiest days. Your team was available around the clock. There was a payment slowdown at one point. It got fixed. Loyal guests gave us direct feedback on small UX items, like photo sizing on menu tiles. Those got addressed quickly.
Q: What stood out about working with the unPLUG team day to day?
Goldwasser: Flexibility. Across all my vendor experiences, that is what I have liked most here. You pay attention to our needs. The answer is usually, "Yes, let's figure out how," not "No, that is not in scope."
We also update the app regularly. As a consumer, when an app I use often gets better over time, I notice. Our guests notice too.
Toast integration, loyalty, and catering in one experience
Q: How is the Toast relationship working alongside unPLUG?
Goldwasser: Toast is going well. No issues. That foundation matters. POS, kitchen, and payments have to be solid before digital growth means anything.
Q: You use unPLUG for loyalty and catering as well. How has that gone?
Goldwasser: Catering was newer on your side, but the rollout went well. No operational issues. It lives inside the same experience as cafe ordering. Guests are not bouncing to a separate product. They can move between cafe and catering naturally. Now it is on us to market it more aggressively.
Loyalty is live structurally. Guests are earning points. You recently helped us put earn and visibility on the Toast register screen, which speeds up in-store enrollment. That is a meaningful operational win.
We have not fully activated loyalty as a growth program yet. That is the next chapter, and it is one I am excited about. The infrastructure is there. We need to use it.
Q: Are you running lifecycle marketing (email, SMS) yet?
Goldwasser: Not yet. No email program, no SMS. Mostly organic social, light paid social, and some PR/influencer work. We do not have a full in-house marketing department.
That is why I am excited now. The ordering layer is in a good place. The database exists. The next step is to use the marketing and lifecycle tools unPLUG provides. That is where Elif and your team are helping us think through what to turn on first.
Early results and what comes next
Q: What results are you seeing so far, qualitative or quantitative?
Goldwasser: Qualitatively, the app is cleaner and easier. Menu changes are simpler. That alone saves me time every week.
Quantitatively, we are up about 14% on a same-store basis vs last year. I know the U.S. restaurant environment has been tough for a lot of brands. We are not down. We are up. I cannot attribute every point to the app yet. I am confident it is helping. We are building the apples-to-apples view in our QBR process so we can see app users, channel mix, and repeat behavior more clearly.
Q: What is Parakeet's digital roadmap over the next few years?
Goldwasser: Grow the store base significantly. Stay at the front of what restaurant technology can do for hospitality.
Competition in healthy fast casual will keep increasing. We need guests to choose us not only because the food is good, but because we remember them, reward them, and make every channel feel personal. Birthday moments, Mother's Day, little surprises. That is hard when half your business is to-go and you operate many locations.
We want technology to elevate hospitality, not replace it. unPLUG is the tool we are building that on.
What other operators can take from Parakeet's experience
1. Prior vendor fatigue is real. If you have lived through multiple ordering migrations, onboarding quality is a buying criterion, not a nice-to-have.
2. Menu agility is a growth feature. For brands that change often, slow CMS or app update workflows become a strategic bottleneck.
3. Migration risk is operational, not just technical. A partner that owns Toast cutover and responds in hours protects guest trust on day one.
4. Ordering, loyalty, and catering should feel like one brand. Separate apps for adjacent use cases add guest friction and ops complexity.
5. Early wins can be business outcomes before marketing activation. Parakeet saw operational relief and same-store momentum before full lifecycle campaigns launched. The next lift is activation.
For operators on Toast evaluating build vs buy, see our restaurant mobile app cost guide. For loyalty benchmarks once enrollment scales, see QSR loyalty program benchmarks.
How unPLUG supports brands like Parakeet Cafe
unPLUG is first-party revenue infrastructure for multi-unit restaurant brands: branded web and mobile ordering, guest capture, loyalty, lifecycle marketing, and rollout support on top of POS systems like Toast.
For fast-casual and premium cafe brands, that typically means:
Digital Storefront & Integration: Branded ordering that keeps up with menu velocity and ties into Toast.
Guest Data Capture & Activation: Profiles and loyalty enrollment that connect digital and in-store over time.
Lifecycle Marketing & Growth: Email, SMS, and behavior-triggered campaigns once the ordering foundation is stable.
White-Glove Strategy & Roadmap: Hands-on onboarding and ongoing optimization, not a self-serve template drop.
Model your economics: Hidden Revenue Calculator
FAQ: Parakeet Cafe + unPLUG case study
Why did Parakeet Cafe switch from Incentivio to unPLUG?
Parakeet Cafe moved to unPLUG for faster menu and merchandising changes, stronger growth tooling behind the app, and a smoother guest ordering experience integrated with Toast.
Owner Jonathan Goldwasser cited slow update workflows on the prior stack, prior painful vendor migrations, and the need for responsive support across long operating hours.
How long did Parakeet Cafe's unPLUG onboarding take?
About two weeks from kickoff target to launch, with unPLUG handling much of the Toast and system integration work.
Goldwasser reported no meaningful guest-facing downtime during the migration from Incentivio.
Does Parakeet Cafe use unPLUG for catering and loyalty?
Yes. Catering and loyalty run inside the same Parakeet digital experience as cafe ordering, with Toast register visibility for loyalty recently added.
Catering rollout had no major operational issues. Full loyalty marketing activation is planned as the next growth phase.
What early results has Parakeet Cafe seen after launching with unPLUG?
Qualitatively, the app is simpler to manage and easier for guests. Quantitatively, Parakeet reported same-store sales up about 14% vs the prior year while much of the restaurant market was flat or declining.
App-attributed metrics are being formalized through ongoing QBR reporting.
What POS does Parakeet Cafe use with unPLUG?
Toast. Goldwasser reported a stable Toast foundation alongside unPLUG ordering, loyalty, and catering.
Is this a good restaurant mobile app case study for multi-location cafes?
Yes, for operators who change menus often, depend on repeat visits, need Toast-integrated web and app ordering, and want catering plus loyalty in one guest experience rather than separate products.
Parakeet's story emphasizes migration quality and operational flexibility in the first months, with lifecycle marketing as the next lever.
How can my brand get similar results?
Start with POS-integrated ordering that your team can actually update, prove a clean migration with guest-visible stability, then activate loyalty and lifecycle on the guest data you capture.
Book an intro call to map scope for your locations and Toast setup.
One less thing to worry about. Room to grow into what's next.
Parakeet Cafe's early unPLUG partnership is a useful restaurant mobile app case study for operators who have been burned by ordering migrations before: the win is not only a prettier app. It is menu agility, quiet Toast cutover, daily support when you never close, and a platform ready for the next chapter (loyalty activation, catering promotion, lifecycle marketing).
Jonathan's team got the ordering foundation stable first. Same-store momentum followed. The deliberate next move is to turn on the guest database for repeat and hospitality at scale.
Next steps:
- See more proof points: Case studies
- Compare app paths: Restaurant mobile app cost (build vs buy)
- Plan loyalty KPIs: QSR loyalty program benchmarks
- Model recoverable margin: Hidden Revenue Calculator
- Book an intro call: unplugdining.com
About unPLUG: unPLUG helps restaurant brands grow first-party revenue by connecting their tech, integrating loyalty, and improving the entire guest journey from first tap to checkout. Trusted by California Fish Grill, Luna Grill, Pure Green, Bluestone Lane, Parakeet Cafe, and leading multi-unit operators nationwide.
Note: Metrics and quotes reflect Parakeet Cafe leadership interviews and ongoing partnership reporting as of August 2026. Individual results vary by concept, market, and activation depth.