Yext, Inc. , the AI Search Company, and Fazoli’s, a leading Italian restaurant chain, announced their joint work to advance Fazoli’s digital transformation with AI search.

The restaurant chain has worked with Yext for several years to leverage its Marketing Answers solution set, which includes local listings optimization and reputation management. Given the success of those efforts, Fazoli’s recently decided to launch Yext’s AI-powered site search to make it easier for customers to get accurate answers to questions about its menu, locations, online ordering, and more on its website. Powered by multiple advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithms, Yext’s site search can understand complex questions and return results in dynamic forms, like maps and call-to-action buttons.

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Since launching Yext’s site search on its website in the spring of 2020, Fazoli’s has seen a 21% reduction in bounce rate on the restaurant’s website compared to the same period of the prior year. 88% of searches have returned direct results from Fazoli’s knowledge graph (the restaurant’s official database of facts, also powered by Yext), which has improved user experience and streamlined the online path to conversion.

All told, Fazoli’s has seen 3.6x growth in online sales since starting work with Yext.

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“Yext has always been there to support us with whatever we’ve needed to grow our business,” said Will Hanrahan, Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at Fazoli’s. “It really does feel like an extension of our own marketing department. We have a pretty small team where we’re trying to get a lot done with limited resources, so being able to leverage the power of Yext has been huge.”

“It’s been incredible to witness the digital transformation of Fazoli’s as a Yext champion over the past few years,” said David Rudnitsky, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Yext. “With each solution of the Yext platform that Fazoli’s has tapped into, the restaurant chain has been able to supercharge its customer search experience in new and powerful ways — from optimized listings to reviews to an on-site search experience — and see a significant lift in revenue and traffic as a result. It’s a shining example to all restaurants who want to succeed in this digital-first world.”