Blaze Pizza Rolls Out Optimized App and Loyalty Program, Combining Streamlined Tech with Enhanced Guest Engagement to Drive Profitable Growth
San Francisco, CA, April 14, 2025 – Blaze Pizza, one of the fastest-growing fast-casual pizza brands in the U.S., has just launched a new app and loyalty program to power the next step in their digital transformation. In partnership with Thanx, the new solution creates a frictionless in-store and digital experience for both guests and staff, making it easier than ever for customers to engage with the brand while driving increased traffic and revenue for franchisees.
Since opening its first store in 2012, Blaze Pizza has grown to over 270 locations, known for its high-quality, custom-built pizzas made with fresh ingredients. As consumer expectations evolve, Blaze Pizza is investing in technology that enhances both the guest experience and simplifies franchisee operations, ensuring a seamless and engaging journey across all touchpoints.
With Thanx, Blaze Pizza has seamlessly transitioned over five million existing rewards members to the enhanced, modern loyalty platform designed to elevate and personalize the guest experience. The platform makes it easier for guests to engage with the brand through a more dynamic and rewarding mobile and web experience while streamlining in-store interactions for staff.
“Our partnership with Thanx is about delivering an effortless and rewarding experience for our guests while giving our franchisees the tools they need to drive growth,” said Christian Kuhn, Chief Marketing Officer at Blaze Pizza. “With Thanx, we can create deeper connections with our customers, ensuring they feel valued every time they visit—whether online or in-store.”
Key enhancements include:
- Seamless in-store experience – A frictionless checkout process means guests no longer need to scan receipts or remember passwords, and they can link their credit cards for automatic rewards.
- Same great rewards, plus more to come – Loyal members will continue to enjoy the perks they love, with exciting new benefits on the horizon, including benefits like exclusive access and members-only swag.
- Fast, flexible digital innovation – The app experience will continuously evolve with fresh features and branding updates—without the costly development fees of a fully custom-built system.
Looking ahead, Blaze Pizza is planning exciting innovations for the program, including secret menus, app-exclusive items, and potential merchandise offerings. The loyalty program will also leverage guest behavior and preferences to deliver more personalized experiences.
The technology upgrade represents a significant shift for Blaze Pizza, which has transitioned from a fully customized tech stack to a streamlined platform that reduces costs and development time. What previously took months to customize can now be done in days, allowing Blaze to quickly iterate and enhance digital offerings. Future updates will focus on enhancing app branding and flexibility.
Franchisees benefit from these digital investments, which reinforce Blaze’s brand pillars: Fast Fire (180-second cook time) and Customization (Build-Your-Own model). The new loyalty platform strengthens Blaze Pizza’s first-party digital ordering channels, helping drive higher-margin transactions and long-term customer loyalty. Franchisee communication focuses on how these new features enhance the guest experience and drive engagement.
Thanks to its deep integration with the Qu Unified Commerce Platform, Thanx powers a seamless loyalty experience across all Blaze Pizza locations—empowering staff to instantly recognize and reward guests while maintaining lightning-fast service. The result is an effortless, data-driven experience for guests and teams, built on real-time insights, strong reliability, and operational precision.
“Our goal is to create a loyalty experience that feels as effortless and customized as ordering a Blaze Pizza,” added Kuhn. “By leveraging Thanx’s technology, we’re making it easier for guests to engage with our brand while ensuring franchisees see tangible business impact.”
“Blaze Pizza created an entirely new category by prioritizing the guest experience,” said Zach Goldstein, CEO of Thanx. “We’re excited to partner on their next iteration of loyalty and digital that does the same, strengthening and personalizing every guest interaction to drive sustainable growth for franchisees.”
By investing in innovative digital experiences, Blaze Pizza reinforces its leadership in the fast-casual industry—delivering value for guests, simplifying operations for staff, and driving long-term success for franchisees.
About Blaze Pizza
Founded in 2011, Blaze Pizza is the nation's leading fast-casual pizza franchise concept, with 284 restaurants across 38 states and three countries. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Blaze Pizza is committed to delivering a one-of-a-kind customer experience and unparalleled high-quality products. Known for its savory artisanal pizzas and customizable made-to-order menu, Blaze leads the industry in menu innovation and product excellence. The rapidly growing franchise has received numerous accolades, including Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, as well as #1 spots on Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers and Shakers and Franchise Times' Fast and Serious list. Visit blazepizza.com for additional information and stay connected on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn @BlazePizza.
About Thanx
Thanx, Inc. (www.thanx.com) is the leading loyalty and guest engagement platform for restaurants. Thanx helps brands grow customer lifetime value with easy-to-use lifecycle marketing campaigns and automations, focusing customer loyalty tools on access, status, and personalization over rote discounts. Thanx’s proprietary credit card tokenization technology drastically increases the volume and accuracy of purchase data, which sits at the core of our CRM and marketing automation suite of tools. Thanx was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
About Qu Qu is evolving restaurant POS to create a truly connected restaurant experience for guests and operators at quick service and fast casual restaurants. Qu’s industry-leading, cloud-native Unified Commerce Platform fuses the ordering, operations and guest engagement functions, delivering the real-time data needed to drive loyal, repeat guests. Based in Arlington, Virginia, Qu is backed by leading restaurant entrepreneurs and investors, including Cota Capital, Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), Bobby Cox Companies and NRD Capital. Visit qubeyond.com and stay connected with LinkedIn.
