Ted’s has a mission to treat every guest like a regular, but with over a million guests in their database, that’s a big goal for a small marketing team. The sit-down restaurant lacked a formal loyalty program and the data needed to implement sophisticated, data-driven marketing strategies. Thus, email marketing was generic. There was also no structured way to respond or act on guest feedback.
Another challenge was at the host stand. During peak hours, host teams relied on manual pacing and instinct, resulting in uneven table turns and inconsistent guest experiences. When quoted times were inaccurate, frustrated guests often left rather than wait. Without live visibility into table status or expected table turns, front-of-house (FOH) teams couldn’t confidently manage flow, leading to avoidable bottlenecks and missed revenue opportunities.
With nearly 70% of guests dining in, Ted’s didn’t have a reliable way to capture valuable in-restaurant data. This was mission-critical for a brand doubling down on elevated service and team culture.
The brand turned to Olo to better understand its guests so it could provide exceptional service. Ted’s leaned into the entire guest experience suite (Engage) for technology to amplify the human touch. Ted’s implemented Olo’s FOH software
Host to help collect dine-in data and optimize front-of-house operations, and relied on Engage to
get a pulse on guest sentiment, analyze data, win back guests, and
build relationships that turn first-timers into regulars.
Using the Olo Host app, front-of-house was able to quote wait times more accurately (by 6%), and guests received real-time updates on their waitlist position. With Host’s real-time table status, course pacing insights, and automated queue management (SmartQuote algorithm), FOH teams could finally seat more efficiently and reduce manual guesswork. Host surfaced guest notes,
Smart Tags (VIPs, dietary preferences), and visit history the moment someone checked in, giving Ted’s teams the context they needed to greet guests personally and deliver on their hospitality promise.
With this new ability to analyze more data, Ted’s wanted to track guest feedback and boost their reputation online to drive more dine-in visits. With Sentiment, guests automatically received a survey after their visit, and reviews below three stars triggered management outreach to address the issue. The brand reviews the report daily to identify trends before they affect reservations, and guests are measurably happier.
Ted’s also engaged Olo’s Professional Services to better understand their guest database and be a trusted extension of their small team to scale their marketing efforts. To tackle the issue of generic, broad marketing campaigns, Olo experts identified three personas for Ted’s to focus on. Ted’s could personalize campaigns to these strategic audiences by using Smart Tags. Next, they sent targeted, just-in-time email marketing campaigns to encourage holiday reservations.
The results were clear. Valentine’s Day saw a $100K increase over averages from the previous five years, and seven teams broke weekly sales records. An Easter email campaign drove 1,800 reservations and had a 30% conversion rate. A Mother’s Day campaign broke 15 company sales records, and a Father’s Day campaign broke 10, with an 8.6% increase in guests served.
2025 has been the best year yet for Ted’s Montana Grill. Going all-in on Olo Engage gave Ted’s Montana Grill the power to turn every guest interaction into lasting loyalty and repeat sales—proving that fully connected operations and marketing can drive lifetime value at scale.
