Sonny's BBQ

With Thanx, we’ve gained much more control over our marketing spend and the ability to influence specific guest behaviors. For the first time, we’re able to reward loyalty in a more intentional way without always relying on deep discounts.

Katie Love, VP of Marketing
Sonny's BBQ

Sonny’s BBQ, a nearly 100-location full-service barbecue chain, operated for 55 years without a loyalty program. With rising fraud, declining margins, and franchisees calling for digital tools, the brand partnered with Thanx to modernize its approach to customer engagement. By implementing a mobile-first, points-based loyalty program with tiered rewards, Sonny’s reduced its effective discount rate from ~10% to 1%, increased habitual users by 42% and redemptions by 4x, and shifted from costly mass marketing to precision campaigns, driving a 15% increase in digital revenue —all without adding operational complexity.

Download Case Study

From 10% to 1% Effective Discount Rate

Down from ~10%, driving massive improvements to margins.

4x Redemption Rate

More targeted campaigns and loyalty rewards resulted in twice as many redemptions with half the audience size, driving a fourfold improvement in efficiency.

+42% Growth in Habitual Guests

Over the last 90 days, the number of habitual customers has increased by 42%, accompanied by a 37% rise in revenue from this segment.

Strategic loyalty, real results

Franchisee-first execution

With support from their agency and a cross-functional task force, Sonny’s evaluated top platforms. They chose Thanx over competitors for its simplicity, transparency, and a partnership-oriented rollout, earning praise from franchisees.

We launched without needing any new hardware. Franchisees were surprised by how easily it could be rolled out. They see this as a profit lever now.

VP of Marketing Katie Love

Campaigns that drive visits

Exclusive programs, such as Sweet Tea Tuesdays, Sweet Sonny’s Summer, and Smokin’ September, are designed to bring high-value guests back more frequently. Tiered perks and targeted offers drive one more visit per month from top customers.

From TV ads to targeted engagement

Sonny’s has dramatically reduced reliance on costly traditional advertising in favor of targeted, loyalty-driven traffic initiatives. This enables more precise ROI measurement and better resource allocation, while maximizing the value of both point redemptions and tier-based perks.

Get the full story

Read the full case study by downloading the PDF.

Full case study

Customer Story