Welcome, Liz Wattiker!
At Thanx, we know that each restaurant brand is as unique as their customers. Today, that includes a totally unique tech stack based on the needs of the business and the demands of the consumer. This is why we continue to accelerate our industry partnerships and technology integrations. Our goal is to deliver unprecedented flexibility for restaurants so they can build their ideal technology with our leading loyalty and CRM platform at the core. The future of loyalty depends on these seamless integrations, enabling brands to share data across their systems effortlessly to uncover actionable insights to drive revenue.
Accordingly, we are very excited to announce our new Head of Partnerships at Thanx, Liz Wattiker. Liz is a seasoned partner strategist with experience influencing teams at DoorDash, Amazon, and Caviar. Liz’s addition to the Thanx team reflects our embrace of the growing importance of industry collaboration to accelerate the adoption of innovative digital technologies, bringing sophisticated loyalty software to all restaurants. Liz will be a key player in helping us achieve these goals. We’re excited to have Liz on board, who shares our dedication to creating value for restaurant brands.
With over 10 years of experience, Liz’s previous positions with Amazon and Caviar allowed her to refine her skills in creating scalable solutions across teams and developing partnership strategies, making her the perfect choice for Head of Partnerships at Thanx. Her expertise in restaurant-tech, SaaS, and hospitality management will prove integral to her work here at Thanx.
Over the last year, Thanx has invested in building a modern data and open API infrastructure, making it simple to connect customer data across technology systems.
Liz will focus on capitalizing on the momentum Thanx has built with our technology and business partnerships. These partnerships empower restaurants to take advantage of the best technologies and services, delivering measurable improvements in the digital guest experience. With our leading open loyalty platform available to restaurants, Liz will manage our continued focus on helping restaurants maximize their technology solutions to grow CLTV. Thanx already works with many partners including leading POS and online ordering providers: thanx.com/partners.
“Thanx has an amazing culture, a passion for supporting the guest experience, and a focus on expanding to make loyalty a possibility for all,” says Wattiker. “I’m excited to join this team and look forward to helping expand and deepen Thanx’s already impressive lineup of partners.”
Here is a quick Q+A with Liz:
(1) What excites you about what we do at Thanx?
After spending years in the 3rd party delivery space I realized that there is a lot to be said for empowering restaurants and brick and mortar retail to retain and grow their customer base with data that is, first, theirs, and second, actionable.
At Thanx, the team is truly focused on empowering business owners to make the best decisions for their customers, and we are providing the tools and access to do that in a way that is actionable and scalable. I appreciate the Thanx team’s dedication to building a product that solves this challenge for restauranteurs.
(2) How did you get into the restaurant tech space and how did you find yourself specializing in partnerships? What is your favorite part about the partnership focus?
Long ago and far away I took a big bet on a tech-forward restaurant group in San Francisco and joined their team as opening General Manager for their second restaurant concept, Split Bread (now Split). At the time, the founder, David Silverglide, was focused on enabling 100% digital payments in-store via QR code and POS. This was in 2012, well pre-pandemic, and as you can imagine, received an array of feedback from the industry and press. Being exposed to this type of technology and way of operating intrigued me, and from there I started building relationships with our providers that would allow a more technologically advanced ecosystem to bring in incremental revenue while eliminating some major operational costs for the restaurants.
My career in restaurant tech really began in a very traditional SaaS/Platform sales role and has evolved into a more complex technical + agency partnership focus. By far, my favorite part about partnerships is that ‘ah-ha’ moment where an integration story or a partnership solution can solve a big need or barrier for a potential customer. Building off of that moment, it’s exciting to be a part of a diligent strategy around go-to-market that not only enables a shared customer, but also provides multiple growth-focused teams with a new way to sell a product, handle an objection, or move a deal cycle in the right direction. At the end of the day, I want the work that I do alongside our teams to fuel growth for Thanx, our Partners, and our customers.
(3) Why are partners so critical in the restaurant ecosystem right now?
With options galore, the true value in a partner ecosystem is the credibility and accessibility of vetted technology for restaurants. From a single mom-and-pop shop to enterprises of scale, having trusted solutions to power your everyday operations, loyalty, marketing, inventory, etc. not only improves efficiency but allows operators to focus on what really matters – quality and guest experience.
(4) Any fun facts about yourself? Favorite cuisines or restaurants? Hobbies?
I recently got into gravel cycling (not road, not mountain, something in between) and really love it. Cycling, in general, is wonderful, but this tiny niche of folks are pioneering in so many ways – it has been fun to be a part of the growing community.
I’ve also been known to go to great lengths to find the best pizza in any given town. Ask me for recommendations at any time.
