Taziki's Biometric App Is Improving the Ordering Experience

You may not yet be familiar with Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, but the restaurant brand was recently named one of Inc. 5000's fastest growing companies, and a big part of that is due to a recent 200% boost in online and takeout orders.

Online ordering has become a core part of the restaurant industry in recent years. Gone are the days when friends and families had to draw straws to determine whose turn it was to make the dreaded phone call to the restaurant. Now, thanks to individual restaurants' proprietary systems - and third-party delivery facilitators such as Uber Eats - food can be ordered, and tables reserved with just a few taps of the thumb.

Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe is more than aware of this trend and its impact on the company's own growth. That's why the brand is making new investments in its online ordering system.

Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe

Mainly, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe is looking to make improvements is by launching a brand-new app and online platform, built around an innovative ordering and rewards system.

"Expanding Taziki's technology capabilities for our customers including our app offerings, accessibility to ordering online as well as our recently-launched new website has been a big focus for our team," said CEO of Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, Dan Simpson. "We are working to anticipate consumer trends and implementing innovations that enhance guest experiences."

The new program is dubbed TAZ Rewards and is designed to offer incentives to customers interacting with the brand either through the app or online. The app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play, or by signing up in a Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe location and entering your phone number.

Working in much the same way as the stamp cards favored by coffee shops, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe customers can earn a star for every five dollars they spend on food. Once they accrue 25 stars, the customer receives a ten-dollar reward to put towards a future order. Further augmenting this offering, app users can receive further surprise discounts and promotions periodically.

"TAZ Rewards is our way of thanking our customers for their loyalty over the last 20 years," said Simpson. "We are grateful our customers believe in what we do and our commitment to use simple, wholesome ingredients that we make from scratch daily."

The app also has location features built in to help hungry customers find their nearest Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe. They can also use the app to preorder their food and collect it from a dedicated counter - allowing them to skip the line. To further facilitate this, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe is also expanding its car parking to allow more to-go customers to collect their food without reducing the spaces available to diners eating in-restaurant.

Biometric Security

Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe was looking for ways to make its app secure, but also maintaining the level of convenience modern consumers expect from online ordering.

Entering passwords each time a customer wants to place an order is inconvenient, and having those passwords saved on the app is not the most secure option. With this in mind, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe settled on biometric authentication for its new app. This means users can log in using the fingerprint or facial recognition technology contained within their smartphones.

"We're not trying to pioneer and invent everything," Simpson said. "The iPhone X made biometrics a social norm. Customers must provide one additional piece of information at the in-app point of purchase, but they need only enter three numbers - their credit cards' CVV codes. Requiring people to enter in their three-digit security codes is a feature to make sure that they actually are who they say they are. By evidence of them having this physical card on their person and being able to prove that at time of order, rather than somehow gaining access to someone's account."

The Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe app also uses tokenization to protect payment information. Making data as secure as possible is part of a drive for the brand to get as many people as possible to create accounts. Presently, a large proportion of Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe customers checkout as guests, and it's hoped that using these high-tech security solutions can resolve this challenge.

Final Thoughts

Innovative ordering platforms must be backed up by an appropriate level of security. By adopting biometrics in the infrastructure of its own app, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe makes the uptake of its new app and reward scheme a more attractive prospect to its customers.

"We have multiple levels of separation and distance and checks and balances in place, so customer information is being stored securely," said Simpson.

You can hear Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe's CEO, Dan Simpson, speak at Future Restaurants 2019, taking place this September in Austin, TX.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.