How Kahala Brands Doubled Guest Retention to 25%—Beating the 10% Industry Average—and Drove 6x Customer LTV
As a restaurant franchisor managing a portfolio of nearly 30 distinct brands, including household names like Cold Stone Creamery and Baja Fresh, Kahala Brands operates in a uniquely complex environment. For Brandon Hodgins, the Director of Loyalty Marketing, this complexity created a significant operational hurdle.
“Because we’re an acquisition brand, when we acquire brands, we also acquire their tech stack,” he explains.
This constant influx of disparate technologies created a patchwork of disconnected systems, a barrier that robbed the team of strategic flexibility and a unified view of their customers.
The team knew the true value of a loyalty program was using its rich data to launch targeted campaigns, but to do that, they first needed a single, reliable source of truth.
From Siloed Data to a 6x Lift in LTV
Kahala Brands chose the DataDelivers Customer Data Platform (CDP) to serve as the central hub for its guest data. The platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate with a wide array of POS systems and marketing communication tools made it the ideal solution to finally break down their long-standing data silos.
“We were able to stand up the DataDelivers CDP and start collecting all of our loyalty and non-loyalty guest data from across our different brands and technology systems,” says Brandon. “For the first time, we had a complete, 360-degree view of our guests.”
This unified view was the key to achieving a more sophisticated and effective marketing strategy. “Once you have that single source of truth for your guest behavior,” he continues, “you can then start to do some really cool things with it.”
Turning Unified Data into Measurable Growth
With the CDP in place, Kahala was finally able to put its data to work. The marketing team could now segment audiences with precision, identifying high-value customers, tracking visit frequency, and understanding guest preferences across the entire brand portfolio.
This newfound clarity allowed them to move beyond generic campaigns and begin personalizing their marketing efforts at scale. “The goal is always to get a better understanding of who your guests are and what motivates them,” Brandon states. “The DataDelivers CDP gives us the tools to do that.”
Key Results at a Glance
| Metric | Achievement |
| Guest Retention | 25% annual retention rate, more than double the quick-service restaurant industry average of 10%. |
| Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) | 6x higher LTV for loyalty members compared to non-loyalty guests. |
| Higher Visitation Rates | 3x to 6x more visits per year from customers opted-in for email or SMS communications. |
| Ad ROI Skyrockets | A significant increase in advertising return on investment, fueled by richer, more accurate audience data. |
A New Era of Data-Driven Marketing
With the DataDelivers CDP at the core of its marketing stack, Kahala Brands has fundamentally transformed its approach to guest engagement. The constant battle with fragmented technology has been replaced by the strategic advantage of a unified, comprehensive customer view.
This provides Kahala with a powerful marketing “toolbox.” They are no longer limited to one-size-fits-all promotions. Instead, they can now confidently deploy a range of strategies—from point-based campaigns to targeted discounts—designed to motivate specific behaviors in different customer segments.
As Brandon puts it, this capability is the ultimate goal for any modern marketer. “You have point-based offers and discount-based offers,” he concludes. “Being able to choose the right offer for the right group at the right time is really where you as a marketer are going to be valuable.“
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