Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe is a fast-casual franchise brand with roughly 90+ locations across the U.S., built on scratch-made Mediterranean food and high-touch hospitality. When leadership looked at its legacy Taziki's To Go first-party app, the numbers were hard to ignore: a ~35% checkout completion rate, a ~1.7-star app store rating, and a platform that struggled to ship basics like Apple Pay on a reasonable timeline.
Taziki's chose unPLUG for branded web and mobile ordering on top of Square's organizational API, with Braze in the lifecycle stack. This Q&A captures feedback from Tommy Traynham, Senior Director of Technology, and Elle Lawrence, Marketing Systems Analyst and Tech Integrations Lead, in their own words (edited lightly for clarity). It is organized for franchise operators evaluating a franchise restaurant mobile app case study on Square restaurant app integration, franchisee rollout, and how completion rate—not downloads alone—should frame ROI.
At a glance
- Brand: Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe (fast-casual Mediterranean franchise)
- Voices: Tommy Traynham, Senior Director of Technology · Elle Lawrence, Marketing Systems Analyst & Tech Integrations Lead
- Stack: Square for Restaurants (organizational API) · unPLUG web & mobile ordering · Braze · Restaurant365 · CaterZen (catering)
- Migration: From legacy Taziki's To Go first-party app; evaluated Olo and other providers
- Soft launch: April 28 (first full year on unPLUG tracked through summer ramp)
- Core business levers: Checkout completion, app stability, franchisee economics, guest migration pace, loyalty transition
About Taziki's and why digital ordering is a franchise problem
Q: What kind of business is Taziki's, and why does first-party ordering matter at your scale?
Tommy Traynham, Senior Director of Technology: We are a growing fast-casual franchise. First-party digital is not a side channel for us. At peak, our legacy To Go platform represented about 20% of system sales. That is material revenue, franchisee P&L, and guest habit.
We were also in the middle of a broader tech stack rebuild: Square for Restaurants, Restaurant365, enterprise tooling, and franchise operations upgrades. Ordering had to fit that architecture, not sit beside it as a one-off.
Elle Lawrence, Marketing Systems Analyst & Tech Integrations Lead: Timing mattered. We did not want another vendor who said they could connect to Square and then could not deliver. This decision had to be credible with the board, with franchisees, and with the teams running stores every day.
Before unPLUG: completion rate, ratings, and platform limits
Q: Before you partnered with unPLUG, what problem were you trying to solve? What finally pushed you to move?
Traynham: There were a lot of issues, but the loudest one for the board was completion rate. We were working hard to get guests into the funnel, and only about 35% were finishing checkout. Julie and Dan presented that to the board, and it became the case for change.
Beyond conversion, the legacy platform was rigid. Structural changes were difficult. Backend configuration was limiting. We wanted a more flexible foundation.
Lawrence: We also felt it on the vendor relationship side. Small changes that should be table stakes for a restaurant app were treated like major projects: long timelines, heavy fees, and deliverables that still missed the mark. The platform was not built with growth in mind, which made new features and partner connections harder over time.
Traynham: Data access was another pain point. Pulling useful reporting from the legacy stack felt like pulling teeth. And on product velocity, Apple Pay is a good example. It took them roughly 12 months to ship. We had a longer wish list; Apple Pay was basically the only major item that crossed the finish line.
When we switched to unPLUG, development speed and product quality were immediately different from what we were used to.
Q: What KPIs did you expect the partnership to move?
Traynham: Besides completion rate, we did not over-index on a long KPI spreadsheet at the start. The expectation was holistic improvement: menu management, Square organizational API integration, discounts and promos, Braze connectivity, and day-to-day operability across the stack.
Lawrence: App store rating was another red flag. A ~1.7 rating is embarrassing for a restaurant brand. Guests tie app quality to food quality even when the complaint is not food-related. We knew day one we would be above that floor. Today we are around 4.4, though review volume is still low relative to user base (~37 reviews against tens of thousands of users at the time of this interview).
Q: What internal objections did you have to answer before signing?
Lawrence: Cost and timing. This was a major investment during an active Square and R365 transition. The concern was too much change at once.
The ROI frame that helped was completion math: even a 10-point improvement in completion can cover platform cost when you are moving real volume through the channel.
Traynham: Franchisee buy-in is always a hurdle when costs shift. We had to show franchisees this change would pay for itself, not just add another line item.
Vendor selection: Square depth, Olo, and why unPLUG won
Q: Did you evaluate other vendors? What made unPLUG different?
Traynham: We talked to at least two or three other providers. Olo pushed hard. It was close. unPLUG won.
The decisive factor was Square organizational API depth. Other vendors treated integration as a future development project. unPLUG had already worked with the more complex API model we needed. I had to explain that nuance repeatedly to other vendors. With unPLUG, I mentioned it once and the answer was essentially: we have already done this.
Lawrence: We could not afford another "yes we integrate with Square" story that unraveled in implementation. Lunchbox had already failed us there.
Traynham: "Integration" had become a buzzword. Many vendors can technically connect because Square has an open API. That is not the same as a production-ready franchise integration. unPLUG was already two steps ahead on the hard part, with a product we liked better than alternatives.
Q: How would you describe unPLUG to another operator?
Lawrence: Partner is the word I do not use lightly. unPLUG is responsive, flexible, and easy to work with. No odd dynamics. You get things done.
Traynham: You ship quality you can stand behind. When we describe a need, it is executed with high standards. We are not re-explaining the same requirement five times. Right now, we benchmark other tech vendors against this relationship.
We also did not want to be "just another logo" on a giant platform. With unPLUG, we feel like a strategic partner, not a statistic.
Onboarding, launch, and franchise complexity
Q: How did onboarding and launch go for your teams?
Traynham: On unPLUG's side, support was strong: available, flexible, and engaged. On our side, context was heavy. This was the last major piece of a multi-vendor stack rebuild, so we were juggling web vs app timing, store communication, and franchise readiness.
Lawrence: Hindsight is 20/20. We could have set clearer expectations about unforeseeable integration issues in any large rollout. R365 scheduled-order work stretched timelines for months. That was not something any party could fully predict, but it affected launch pacing and external messaging.
Traynham: We launched into a messy macro environment too: AI shifts across vendors, Square workforce changes during our rollout, and partners rebuilding their own stacks. Given that storm, we stayed agile and got live as smoothly as we realistically could.
Ali Bolak, unPLUG (context from the session): Franchise complexity showed up in support patterns. Some franchise systems route all feedback through HQ. Others are leaner, and franchisees contact vendors directly. Taziki's HQ team helped manage that load during R365 and ticket-printing issues tied to scheduled orders.
Q: Anything unexpected after go-live?
Traynham: Guest excitement was in line with expectations. What stood out was responsiveness. Coming from a world where tiny releases took months, hearing turnaround measured in days or a week was a breath of fresh air.
Lawrence: Continued partnership rhythm matters. Weekly working sessions and ongoing product feedback still happen post-launch. That is not universal in vendor relationships.
Q: If you could change one platform gap today, what would it be?
Traynham: Curbside was not fully baked at launch, and we are working through that now. Longer term, a stronger catering front end inside one guest platform would be valuable. Catering has more moving parts, but unifying catering ordering, loyalty, and rewards with core digital would reduce fragmentation.
Lawrence: Internally, we would clone Abdullah. Support has been excellent.
Post-launch results: completion, stability, and migration pace
Q: What has changed since soft launch on April 28?
Traynham: Three themes: stability, conversion quality, and adoption pacing.
On stability, legacy To Go logged 9,300 crashes in 2025. In roughly the first four months on unPLUG, we saw about 24 crashes total. Reviews and reliability metrics are night-and-day different.
On users and orders, legacy 2025 had about 104,000 app users and 447,000 orders. In the first four months on unPLUG, about 37,000 accounts were created and roughly 27,597 unique guests transacted. That migration pace was slower than we initially hoped. We expected more of an immediate swap from legacy users to unPLUG users.
Lawrence: External app marketing beyond in-store prompts ramped later, and downloads are now accelerating. We went from about 7,000 to 9,000 downloads per month to around 16,000 in August at the time of this interview.
Traynham: Leadership still watches the gap between legacy user totals and current transacting users closely. That dashboard can look alarming if you only compare top-line user counts.
The more important conversion story is this: on legacy To Go, only ~35% completed checkout across the funnel we measured. Among guests transacting on unPLUG, completion is much higher (~80% in our internal framing at the time of this interview). Dormant downloads do not drive revenue. Completed orders do.
Elif Ulusan, unPLUG (context from the session): Across unPLUG brands, about 65% of users who sign up complete a first order. Taziki's can benchmark download-to-order behavior against that and build Braze journeys for non-transacting installs.
Q: How are you thinking about marketing and self-serve analytics?
Lawrence: With Braze in place for three years, we rely less on unPLUG to run campaigns directly. What we want more of inside unPLUG is operator self-service: promo code management, clearer dashboards, and analytics closer to what we review in QBRs (channel mix, order share, conversion impact).
Traynham: Better self-serve reporting helps franchise and executive conversations. If we change UX, we want to query impact on conversion, LTV, and channel revenue without waiting on manual pulls.
Square, Braze, loyalty, and the franchise roadmap
Q: How is Square working alongside unPLUG in daily operations?
Traynham: Square organizational API readiness was the reason this partnership was feasible at our timeline. Menu, pricing, discounts, and enterprise franchise controls need to stay in sync. That integration depth was the difference between a science project and a rollout.
Lawrence: We are still sequencing the rest of the stack: Square loyalty off-ramp, Bundle 8 download, Square Enterprise pieces, then unPLUG loyalty as the target state. Internally, there is little appetite to shop loyalty elsewhere. unPLUG loyalty is the expected path; additional vendor reviews are mostly process hygiene for board reporting.
Traynham: We are targeting January for loyalty transition, subject to upstream dependencies.
Q: Where does catering fit?
Lawrence: We use CaterZen today. Backend catering operations are complex (driver management, fulfillment workflows). The front-end experience is not where we want it long term. Ideal state: unPLUG guest experience on the front, with catering operations connected behind the scenes until native catering matures.
Traynham: Catering is a bigger lift than core cafe ordering. unPLUG catering is on our roadmap conversation list, especially as loyalty and first-party ordering consolidate.
What other franchise operators can take from Taziki's experience
1. Completion rate is the ROI lever at scale. When first-party digital is ~20% of sales, a jump from ~35% to materially higher checkout completion changes franchise economics faster than vanity download metrics.
2. "Square integration" is not binary. Franchise brands on organizational API need proof of deep production experience, not open-API hand-waving. Prior vendor failure (Lunchbox) made proof mandatory.
3. Stack timing is a launch risk. R365, POS migration, and marketplace dynamics can delay guest migration even when the app works. Plan franchise comms for phased adoption, not day-one swap assumptions.
4. Stability rebuilds brand trust. Crash volume and app store rating recovery are guest-facing brand issues, not just engineering tickets.
5. Post-launch partnership quality matters. Weekly cadence, fast iteration, and strategic influence on roadmap beat set-and-forget vendor models, especially for franchise HQ teams managing many voices.
For franchise digital rollout planning, see QSR franchise digital ordering rollout. For franchisee cost conversations, see franchisee buy-in for restaurant app and loyalty.
How unPLUG supports franchise brands like Taziki's
unPLUG is first-party revenue infrastructure for multi-unit restaurant brands: branded web and mobile ordering, guest capture, loyalty, lifecycle marketing hooks, and rollout support on POS systems like Square.
For franchise fast-casual brands, that typically means:
Deep POS Integration: Production-ready Square organizational API workflows, not custom science projects per rollout.
Conversion-First Product: Checkout, payment methods, and reliability tuned for high-volume repeat ordering.
Franchise-Aware Rollout Support: HQ-led launch coordination with store and franchisee feedback loops.
Lifecycle & Data Activation: Braze-ready guest data, segments, and benchmarks for download-to-order activation.
Roadmap Partnership: Curbside, loyalty migration, catering, and analytics self-service as the program matures.
Model your economics: Hidden Revenue Calculator
FAQ: Taziki's + unPLUG case study
Why did Taziki's replace its legacy To Go app with unPLUG?
Taziki's moved to unPLUG to fix low checkout completion (~35% on the legacy app), improve product velocity, rebuild app reliability and ratings, and run on a Square organizational API integration that other vendors could not match on timeline.
Senior Director of Technology Tommy Traynham cited rigid legacy infrastructure, poor data access, and slow feature delivery (including long-delayed Apple Pay) as core drivers.
How did unPLUG beat Olo and other vendors in Taziki's evaluation?
unPLUG won on combined product fit and proven Square organizational API experience, while Olo and others were still treating complex Square integration as a development project.
Taziki's had prior failure integrating Square with Lunchbox, so production proof mattered as much as sales demos.
What early technical results has Taziki's seen on unPLUG?
Crash volume dropped sharply (9,300 legacy crashes in 2025 vs about 24 in the first four months on unPLUG), app store rating improved from ~1.7 to ~4.4, and checkout completion among transacting guests is materially higher than the legacy ~35% benchmark.
Guest migration from legacy installs to new transacting users progressed slower than initial forecasts, with downloads accelerating after broader marketing push.
What POS and marketing stack does Taziki's use with unPLUG?
Square for Restaurants (organizational API), Braze for lifecycle marketing, Restaurant365, and CaterZen for catering operations.
unPLUG loyalty is the planned loyalty target state, with transition targeted around January pending upstream Square milestones.
Is this a useful franchise restaurant mobile app case study?
Yes, for multi-unit franchise operators on Square who need enterprise API depth, franchisee ROI framing, and a partner that stays engaged after launch—not just at implementation.
Taziki's story emphasizes completion economics, migration pacing, and stack sequencing across POS, ops, and marketing systems.
How can my franchise brand get similar results?
Start with a POS integration you can trust, define completion and stability KPIs before download targets, plan franchise messaging for phased adoption, and activate Braze (or equivalent) journeys for install-to-first-order gaps.
Book an intro call to map scope for your franchise locations and Square setup.
Completion first. Migration second. Loyalty next.
Taziki's unPLUG rollout is a useful franchise restaurant mobile app case study because the win is not only a modern app interface. It is checkout completion on real volume, crash and rating recovery, and a Square-native foundation strong enough to carry loyalty and lifecycle activation next.
Tommy and Elle's team proved the ordering engine could perform under franchise complexity. The ongoing work is accelerating guest migration, tightening self-serve analytics, and completing the loyalty transition so first-party digital pays back fully across the system.
Next steps:
- See more proof points: Case studies
- Plan franchise rollout: QSR franchise digital ordering rollout
- Align franchisee economics: Franchisee buy-in for restaurant app and loyalty
- Benchmark 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, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, and leading multi-unit operators nationwide.
Note: Metrics and quotes reflect Taziki's leadership interviews and ongoing partnership reporting as of August 2026. Individual results vary by concept, market, franchise mix, and activation depth. Seasonality and stack migration timing can affect year-one ROI comparisons.