Alpaca Chicken grows its customer base with genuine service and quality food

Located in North Carolina's Triangle Area, Alpaca Peruvian Charcoal Chicken is more than a popular restaurant group; it's a family legacy.

Known for their delicious rotisserie chicken, cooked perfectly over natural wood charcoal, Alpaca Chicken promises an authentic Peruvian taste in every bite. Besides their famous rotisserie chicken, Alpaca's menu boasts Latin-inspired delights such as Arroz Chaufa, Lomo Saltado, and tempting side dishes like yuca fries and maduros. It’s a menu that reflects the family's unwavering commitment to quality food, affordable prices, and great service.

Alpaca was founded in 2007 as a family business by a mother-son-daughter trio, Nora Palma, Ranbir Bakhshi, and Ruby Bakhshi. Today, siblings Ranbir and Ruby actively oversee the day-to-day business, which has grown from a single establishment to 13 stores, with plans to grow to 20 stores within the next year.

Their mission is straightforward: Exceed each guests’ expectations through genuine service and quality food. Technology is playing an important role in that mission. “Digital tools are essential for our growth,” shares Sanjay Patel, Alpaca’s Director of Operations. As a restaurant industry veteran Sanjay was drawn to Alpaca’s family leadership and strong core values, which include a willingness to innovate. “From the POS to food inventory, delivery and online ordering” the team is looking at all the ways technology can be used to help run things more efficiently. Technology decisions are one of the contributors to the company’s strong same-store sales growth of over 25% year over year.

“We want to be seen as an elite brand and a household name.” says Sanjay, and forming the right partnerships is key to that strategy. “It matters which other brands you associate with” he contends, as he describes Alpaca’s choice last year to go exclusively with Uber Eats at ten of their locations. “Uber Eats was the right choice. As a well-known brand, Uber Eats has more sophisticated drivers, and they help us reach new customers with marketing banners and special offers that increase our visibility.”

Online orders represent 30% of Alpaca’s business, so it’s critical they keep that channel strong and growing. Alpaca runs weekly Ads & Offers on the Uber Eats app to help them attract new customers and to stay top of mind with current customers. “Working with our account manager Daniel is a big thing for us.” says Sanjay “we are a small company, so it’s great that Daniel helps” set up the right campaigns to increase visibility and conversion on the Uber Eats app.

It’s a marketing investment that has paid off for Alpaca Chicken, with an average $10 in sales for every $1 spent on Uber Eats Offers in the first half of 2023. Sanjay and Daniel regularly review performance metrics across all of Alpaca’s stores, and compare his team’s performance to benchmarks. “Uber Eats helps us set appropriate performance goals as we strive to always meet or beat the Top Eats standard.” says Sanjay.