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Restaurant marketing and loyalty: Owner.com, Popmenu, Toast, Thanx and AZ
For one independent restaurant, the real choice is Owner.com, Popmenu, your POS's own marketing, or someone who runs it for you. Thanx, Bikky and SevenRooms are built for multi-location brands and do not publish prices. AZ runs reviews, texts, Google, AI-search visibility and ads as one system, using the guest list your POS already has.
Restaurant marketing, CRM and loyalty compared
| What it does | Built for | Works with | Price (vendor-published) | Who runs it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AZ marketingrun with you | Reviews read and replies drafted, Google profile tracked, AI-search visibility measured, texts on each guest's own rhythm, catering outreach, search ads judged on profit | Independent restaurants | Clover (proven). Guest list built from POS, tickets and old lists | No price list. Quoted per restaurant | We do, with your approval on anything that goes out |
| Owner.com | Website, SEO pages, loyalty, AI email and text campaigns, branded app, review engine | Independents | Clover (native), Toast, Square, Lightspeed | $249/mo + 5% per order, or $499/mo flat. Guests pay 5% | Software; setup specialist and 24/7 support |
| Popmenu | Website, menu, marketing; AI answering add-on | Independents and groups | Not confirmed (vendor page blocked) | Tracker lists $179 / $299 / $499 per month; unverified on vendor page | Software; onboarding consultant, then a client success manager (partner page) |
| Toast Marketing / IQ Grow | Email and loyalty; IQ Grow bundles an AI marketing agent, ads, storefront and a marketing success manager | Toast restaurants | Toast only | IQ Grow reported at $499/mo plus ad spend; vendor page blocked, unverified | Software plus a success manager |
| Thanx | Loyalty, CRM, segments, automation, guest recovery, ordering and apps | Multi-unit growth brands | Clover not mentioned | Not published (talk to sales) | Software |
| Bikky | Guest data platform: profiles, audiences, automated campaigns, BI | Multi-unit brands | Not published | Not published | Software |
| SevenRooms | CRM, email and text automation, reservations, loyalty, reputation, ordering, voice AI | Reservation-led and hospitality groups | Not published | Not published (quote only) | Software |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
"Not published" means the vendor's own page did not show it in October 2026.
Where they beat us, and where we are different
Where competitors are stronger
- SevenRooms is far deeper on reservations and guest profiles for full-service groups.
- Thanx and Bikky are built for brands with dozens of locations and data teams.
- Owner.com gives you a website, app, loyalty and campaigns for one published monthly price, today.
- Tools with Google posting access can publish review replies for you. Ours drafts them; you tap to post.
- Our win-back texts are new. We hold back 10% of guests to measure them honestly, and there is no lift result to quote yet.
What AZ does differently
- Every guest, not just loyalty members. One guest list from the POS, tickets and old lists, with each guest's full order history.
- Texts on the guest's own rhythm, at their usual hour, in the language they chose. No discounts to regulars. STOP covers every channel.
- Ads judged on real profit: food money minus free items minus ad cost, tuned daily.
- Found by AI assistants. We measure how often ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity name the restaurant, and fix the gaps.
- One connected system. The same guest list feeds the phone host ("your usual?"), the table and the texts.
What it does today
guests known by name, 90% reachable by phone.
Google reviews at 4.5 stars, read every few hours. The system knows how many five-stars move the rating.
AI-assistant answers to local food questions name the restaurant, across 4 engines (Oct 14).
Google profile views in six months, tracked twice a day.
personal catering notes to 113 local offices, clinics, mosques and schools in four days.
percent-off or buy-one-get-one offers. Campaign offers are a free side, once per guest.
Wok & Karahi, Spring TX, checked Oct 15, 2026.
Where these facts come from
- Owner.com pricing and what's included - read Oct 2026
- Owner.com POS integrations - read Oct 2026
- Popmenu pricing tracker (PricingSaaS) - third party, 2026; Popmenu's own page blocked automated reading
- Popmenu onboarding (partner page) - search summary, Oct 2026
- Thanx pricing - read Oct 2026; no prices shown
- Bikky - read Oct 2026
- SevenRooms pricing - read Oct 2026; quote only
- Toast IQ Grow - vendor site blocked automated reading; $499 figure from news syndication only, unverified
Questions owners ask
What is the best marketing and loyalty software for a small restaurant?
For a single independent, the realistic choices are an all-in-one like Owner.com or Popmenu, or the marketing tools of your POS such as Toast. Thanx, Bikky and SevenRooms are built mainly for multi-location brands and reservation-led groups, and none publish prices.
Does Owner.com include marketing?
Yes. Owner.com's pricing page lists AI-powered email and text campaigns, loyalty and rewards, automated SEO pages and a branded app on every plan, from $249 a month plus 5% per order, or $499 flat. Guests pay a 5% order support fee on both plans.
How much does Popmenu cost?
Popmenu's own pricing page blocked automated reading in October 2026. A pricing tracker lists $179, $299 and $499 a month tiers, and notes Popmenu removed its AI phone answering price in July 2026. Other review sites list different tiers, so get a written quote.
Can AZ post review replies for me?
Not automatically. Google did not grant us posting access to the Business Profile API, so the system drafts each reply in your voice and you post it in two taps. Some tools with that access can post for you.
Do you send discounts to win guests back?
No percent-off and no buy-one-get-one, and never to regulars. When a campaign needs an offer, it is a free side on a minimum order, through its own link, once per guest. Regulars are reminded, not discounted.
What does AZ charge for marketing?
We do not publish a price list. We quote the jobs you want covered, and we take no commission from any vendor.
Tell us what is hurting. We show you it working on your menu.
Same-day reply. No vendor commissions, so we recommend whatever fits, including a tool on this page that is not ours.
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