Case Study: Sonny's BBQ personalizes guest experiences and boosts marketing ROI with Olo

Sonny's BBQ Personalizes Guest Experience with Olo Engage

Sonny’s BBQ, the Southeast restaurant chain known for its slow-smoked barbecue, wanted a better way to understand who was visiting, how often, and why so it could improve the guest experience and grow more efficiently. The brand turned to Olo, using Olo Ordering, Rails, Dispatch, and later Olo Engage tools like Host, Marketing, and GDP to eliminate data silos and gain a full view of guest behavior.

With Olo, Sonny’s BBQ unified guest data across systems, built richer guest segments, and launched behavior-based email and SMS automations that replaced mass-blast campaigns. The results included a 50% increase in marketing subscribers, a 32% rise in engaged contacts, and a 26% lift in yearly visits from guests who engaged with automated emails; Olo also helped Sonny’s identify guest lifetime value, contributing to a 19% increase in that metric and better data-driven decisions across marketing, menu, and operations.

Sonny’s BBQ

Katie Love

Director, Brand Management