case study

How Kahwa Coffee Migrated in 99 Days and Built Loyalty for a Lean Team

Thanx helps drive high-margin growth

99 Days

To transition from LevelUp

44%

Return for a third visit within 120 days

2.3%

Effective discount rate

About

A 99-Day Transition to Better Loyalty

When Kahwa Coffee's longtime loyalty provider, LevelUp, shut down its program, the growing coffee brand needed to move quickly. The transition meant replacing technology that had been part of the guest experience for years while navigating a fragmented restaurant tech stack and maintaining a seamless experience across in-store and digital channels.

Kahwa transitioned to Thanx in just 99 days, giving its lean team a more flexible loyalty platform with self-service marketing, automation, analytics, and seamless digital ordering. Today, 44% of first-time purchasers return for a third visit within 120 days, while Kahwa maintains an effective discount rate of just 2.3%.

The app is user-friendly, the automations save us time, and we’re able to manage everything with a really small team. It’s just easy."

Sarah Perrier, President

Kahwa Coffee

RESULTS

In less than a year, Kahwa Coffee turned loyalty into a growth asset.

To transition from LevelUp

99 days

Return for a third visit within 120 days

44%

Effective discount rate

2.3%

What Made It Work

‍

Why Kahwa Coffee Chose Thanx

Built for a lean team: Self-service marketing tools and automations help Kahwa do more without adding operational complexity.
More than discounts: Kahwa can engage guests through targeted rewards and promotions while maintaining a 2.3% effective discount rate.
Connected ordering and loyalty: Thanx's Olo integration creates a seamless experience across digital ordering, loyalty, and restaurant operations.
Flexible and easy to manage: The team can launch promotions, test new ideas, analyze performance, and make program changes themselves.

A 99-Day Transition from Legacy Loyalty

After nearly a decade with LevelUp, Kahwa needed to replace a deeply embedded loyalty experience when its previous provider shut down the program. Despite a lean team and a complex technology environment, Kahwa transitioned to Thanx in just 99 days, establishing a more modern foundation for loyalty and digital guest engagement.

Automation Helps a Small Team Do More

With a historically small marketing team, Kahwa needed technology that could make sophisticated loyalty marketing easier to execute. Thanx gives the team self-service control over promotions and automated campaigns, eliminating the need to rebuild recurring programs from scratch. Built-in A/B testing and analytics also make it easier to test, learn, and optimize without requiring additional resources.

Loyalty Drives Repeat Visits Without Heavy Discounting

Kahwa uses loyalty to build frequency without relying on broad discounts. 44% of first-time purchasers return for a third visit within 120 days, while the program maintains an effective discount rate of just 2.3%. Automated reminders, targeted promotions, and rewards give the team more ways to bring guests back while protecting margins.

Seamless Integrations Connect the Guest Experience

Thanx's Olo integration connects loyalty and digital ordering from the guest experience through restaurant operations, with real-time updates to products, hours, and other critical information. Kahwa has also extended loyalty into its Bite kiosk experience, allowing guests to access and redeem rewards across more ordering touchpoints as the brand's technology stack evolves.

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