From Feelings to Facts: Taco John’s Boosts Franchisee Relations With Bikky
NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bikky, a customer data platform built exclusively for multi-unit restaurants, announced its partnership with Taco John’s®, the home of Taco Tuesday, and one of the largest QSR Mexican restaurant brands in the country.
The brand started out in the mid-1960’s as a small Cheyenne, WY taco stand. Two local businessmen wanted to share the taco stand’s unique flavors with the world and bought the franchise rights in 1969. From there, Taco John’s restaurants began popping up in the Midwest.
Many Taco John’s restaurants are run by passionate franchisees who have been with the company for decades. This deep experience has been integral to the brand's success, but operators lacked an easy way to access up-to-date information about guests. Decisions were made based on historic knowledge and gut instinct rather than data. “We have franchisees that have been with us for 50 years and they know the brand extremely well,” said Kevin Flaherty, Chief Marketing Officer at Taco John’s. “But as times change, we have to evolve alongside our guests.”
Leadership needed a way to move strategic decision-making from feelings to facts. The brand sought out Bikky to create a single source of truth for guest behavior and align the organization around data. “The biggest thing we’re doing with Bikky is removing the emotion from discussions about the brand,” added Flaherty.
The brand dove into guest and menu analytics to reveal the real dynamics in Taco John’s restaurants. Bikky showed that many locations serve far more new guests than operators expected. This finding flipped long-standing assumptions and helped the brand reorient their acquisition strategy. “How well we know our guests impacts how we bring new folks into our restaurants,” says Flaherty. “Bikky has been super helpful in breaking down ideas that are thought of as truth, but weren’t backed up by the data.”
Bikky’s menu analytics pinpointed opportunities for improvement and highlighted which LTOs actually moved the needle. When a fish taco LTO was being considered for removal, Bikky’s data revealed that it was a strong driver of new guests. The brand made an informed choice to continue with the promotion. “We’re trying to reinvent our menu from a quality equation,” said Flaherty. “Now we have visibility into which items don’t bring guests back and which do.”
With Bikky, Taco John’s now has a unified view of guest behavior and common metrics that simplify decision-making across marketing, finance, operations, and field teams. “We needed a shared language around what is working and what's not working,” said Flaherty. “Guests, as defined by Bikky, is a really great definition of what truly matters,” says Flaherty. “And it's a metric that’s understood and works across the organization.”
Looking forward, the brand is focused on driving profitable traffic, honing their menu, and refining their LTO strategy. “We’re obsessed with figuring out which guests really drive the business from a financial standpoint and the best ways to attract more of them. We couldn’t really do this without Bikky.”
"Taco John's represents the best of what happens when a beloved, long-standing brand combines deep operational expertise with modern guest intelligence," says Abhinav Kapur, CEO of Bikky. "They have franchisees who've been with the brand for decades—an incredible foundation of knowledge and passion. What sets them apart is their proactive approach to evolution, using data not to replace that expertise but to enhance it. This is the kind of partnership that excites us—working with brands that have staying power and are committed to using guest insights to drive their next chapter of growth."
The fastest-growing, most innovative restaurants in today’s competitive market look to Bikky for insight into how their decisions impact key metrics like frequency and traffic. Taco John’s joins a growing roster of brands, including Dave’s Hot Chicken, Long John Silver’s, and Bojangles, who rely on the groundbreaking guest data and analytics platform.
About Taco John’s.
With nearly 350 restaurants in 22 states, Taco John’s® has spent more than 55 years crafting made-to-order favorites with quality ingredients, house-made Pico de Gallo, crispy corn shells and tortilla chips fried fresh in-store daily, and originals you won’t find anywhere else—like hot, crispy Potato Olés® and the award-winning Taco Bravo®, recently named the best fast food taco in America. Founded in 1969 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Taco John’s has earned recognition from Entrepreneur and QSR Magazine as one of the nation’s top chains to watch.
About Bikky
Bikky is a customer data platform exclusively for multi-unit restaurant brands.
With Bikky, brands like Dave's Hot Chicken, Bojangles, and Playa Bowls clearly understand how their marketing, menu, and operations impact guest traffic and frequency. By connecting with your entire tech stack—from POS to loyalty—Bikky delivers insight on up to 90% of your guest base, empowering you to make informed, fast decisions that drive incremental sales.
Bikky is based in New York City and has raised nearly $15 million in funding to date.
Contact:
Abhinav Kapur, Founder & CEO, Bikky
Abhinav@bikky.com
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