News

Famous Brands, Africa’s leading food services business, has partnered with MoEngage, a leading Customer Data and Engagement Platform (CDEP), to unify its customer data, automate customer engagement and drive growth across its portfolio.

The partnership will see three of the country’s most loved brands - Mugg & Bean, Wimpy and Milky Lane - use MoEngage’s AI-powered platform to deliver personalised, omnichannel experiences that build loyalty and drive order frequency.

By integrating data from multiple sources, the collaboration enables Famous Brands to connect the digital and in-restaurant experience. The initial focus is on Mugg & Bean, a brand known for its quality coffee, generous portions, and freshly prepared meals. A key objective of this initiative is to leverage its loyalty programme by connecting the digital and in-store customer journey to encourage both earn and spend behaviour.

Connecting digital engagement with in-store results

Mugg & Bean wanted to move from manual campaigns to a scalable, automated strategy that links online actions, such as receiving loyalty points or a voucher in the app, to in-store transactions. The aim was to create a seamless experience that encourages loyalty points or voucher redemptions and repeat visits.

Using MoEngage, Mugg & Bean has automated its entire voucher engagement process – from generating unique voucher codes and sending them to specific customer segments, to running targeted campaigns via push notifications, in-app messages, SMS and email. This automation saves time, connects point-of-sale data back to the platform for a complete customer view and improves redemption rates.

“As we continue to digitise the customer experience across our portfolio, we needed a partner who could manage the technical complexity of our ecosystem and offer dependable support. MoEngage has helped us integrate different systems into a single, seamless platform. This has enabled us to modernise communications, strengthen the customer lifecycle and give our brands the tools to encourage repeat visits,” says Toni Joubert, Divisional Marketing Executive at Famous Brands.

Targeted engagement for every customer

The impact on Mugg & Bean has been significant. The brand now runs targeted campaigns across the entire customer lifecycle, from promoting a new menu item to offering birthday rewards that encourage repeat visits. The brand also engages customers with loyalty reminders and reactivation campaigns for those who have been inactive, while rewarding its most frequent patrons with special deals and offers.

“The integration of MoEngage into our tech stack has been seamless and has fundamentally changed the way we operate,” says Deeolan Govender, Marketing Executive at Mugg & Bean. “What was once a manual, time-consuming process is now automated and efficient. We can engage customers on their preferred digital channels and see the impact directly in their purchase behaviour.”

MoEngage’s commitment to South Africa

For MoEngage, the partnership reflects its growing footprint in South Africa’s food and retail industry.

“Partnering with an iconic brand like Famous Brands is a strong step forward for our work in South Africa,” said Kunal Badiani, Vice President – Business and Growth, Middle East and Africa, MoEngage. “Their commitment to creating unique customer experiences aligns perfectly with our mission to help brands build lasting relationships. We look forward to contributing meaningfully to their growth journey.”