Portillo's Inc. PTLO has unveiled its app-less loyalty program, Portillo's Perks, as a gratitude gesture to reward its customers.

The target membership expected by the company for Portillo's Perks ranges between 1.5 million and 1.7 million signups by midsummer 2025.

PTLO stock inched down 0.07% during trading hours but inched up 0.3% in the after-hours session on Monday.

Benefits of Portillo’s’ New Loyalty Program

Portillo's Perks will be offering a fully digital experience that will adapt to the guests’ behaviors. In contrast to standard point-based apps, Portillo's Perks will be housed in guests' digital wallets and will deliver personalized rewards based on visit frequency and ordering habits.

To realize the perks of this loyalty program, the guests will have to check in with their digital Perks card during visits. The perks include collecting engaging badges and earning targeted rewards ranging from a welcome offer of free large French fries to free retail items and much more.

Notably, the program will work across all ordering channels, including in-restaurant, drive-thru, and Portillo’s website and app.

PTLO’s Traffic Driving Strategies

Apart from the launch of the newly designed loyalty program, this fast-casual restaurant also aims to execute other diversified strategies to drive traffic growth. The strategies include the expansion of kiosk usage and functionality, advertising beyond Chicagoland to increase brand awareness and exercising better operations, including further improving speed in the drive room.

Apart from these diversified key traffic-driving strategies, Portillo's also engages in increasing its new restaurant count. In 2024, the company opened 10 new restaurants, two of which are its new, more compact restaurants of the future format. In 2025, PTLO expects to open 12 new restaurants, all of which will be restaurants of the future. The majority of the new restaurants in 2025 will be in Texas, where the company continues to build scale and awareness.

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Shares of PTLO have gained 16.3% in the past six months, outperforming the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry’s 10.8% growth. Through the execution of these new strategies, it aims to drive traffic, improve margins and deliver value for its shareholders.

PTLO’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Portillo's currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Here are other top-ranked stocks from the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector.

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Brinker International, Inc. EAT currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. EAT has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 24.7%, on average. The stock has surged 109.7% in the past six months.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EAT’s fiscal 2025 sales and EPS indicates a rise of 18.7% and 98.8%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.

Kura Sushi USA, Inc. KRUS currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. KRUS has a trailing four-quarter negative earnings surprise of 70.8%, on average. The stock has tumbled 5.7% in the past six months.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KRUS’ fiscal 2025 sales and EPS indicates a rise of 18.7% and 237.5%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.

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Portillo's Inc. (PTLO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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