Fishbowl

What is Fishbowl

Fishbowl is a Guest Relationship Management (GRM) platform built specifically for restaurants. It combines capabilities commonly found in a customer data platform (CDP), customer relationship management (CRM), loyalty solution and marketing automation tool into a single product targeted at restaurant groups, multi-unit operators and franchisors.

The platform ingests transaction, reservation, web, mobile app and loyalty data to build unified guest profiles. Those profiles include purchase history, visit frequency, channel engagement and demographic signals. With that unified data the system enables segmentation, offer orchestration, and measurement tied back to revenue and visits.

Fishbowl is designed to replace fragmented marketing stacks where guest data lives in separate systems (POS, reservation platform, mobile ordering, loyalty). It provides tools for automated campaigns, scheduled and triggered messaging, A/B testing of offers, and reporting that ties marketing activity to guest behavior and revenue outcomes.

Fishbowl features

Fishbowl bundles several feature areas that restaurants typically need to manage guests and campaigns. Key capabilities include:

• Data ingestion and CDP: connectors to POS, mobile ordering, web, reservations and loyalty systems to ingest transactions and behavioral events.
• Unified guest profiles: consolidated transactional, behavioral and demographic attributes to create 360-degree guest records.
• Segmentation and audience building: rule- and query-based segments (e.g., lapsed high-value guests, weekday lunch regulars).
• Marketing automation: triggered journeys, scheduled campaigns, multi-step offers and drip sequences tied to guest events.
• Multi-channel messaging: email, SMS, push notifications and coupon generation for integration with POS systems.
• Loyalty management: point accrual, tiering, reward fulfillment and reporting directly integrated with GRM data.
• Reporting and ROI tracking: campaign attribution, visit lift, incremental revenue tracking and cohort analysis.
• Integrations and APIs: pre-built connectors to major POS and reservation systems and an API surface for custom integrations.

The platform also emphasizes privacy and compliance controls common to customer data platforms, such as consent flags, data retention policies and the ability to purge or export guest data on request.

What does Fishbowl do?

Fishbowl ingests guest signals from transactional and engagement systems, consolidates those signals into persistent guest profiles, and enables marketers to create targeted campaigns based on behavior and lifecycle stage. It orchestrates multi-channel marketing and tracks outcomes so restaurants can measure the impact of offers, loyalty incentives and acquisition spend.

Operationally the platform is used to:

• Build segments for acquisition and reactivation campaigns
• Deliver personalized discount codes or coupons that integrate with POS for redemption
• Run loyalty programs with tiers and points that encourage repeat visits
• Automate lifecycle campaigns (welcome series, win-back, VIP offers)
• Report on campaign ROI and lifetime value changes by segment

Fishbowl's value proposition is practical: reduce manual campaign work, reduce data silos, and make guest-level targeting and measurement repeatable across a restaurant portfolio.

Fishbowl pricing

Fishbowl offers flexible pricing tailored to different restaurant needs, from single-unit operators to enterprise restaurant groups. Their pricing typically includes options for monthly and annual billing with discounts for longer commitments and customized enterprise packages for larger multi-unit customers. Pricing varies with data volume (number of guest profiles and message volume), the number of integrated POS locations, and feature set (loyalty, advanced analytics, dedicated support).

Typical commercial models for GRM platforms like Fishbowl include:

• Per-location or per-unit fees: pricing scales with the number of restaurant locations that send data
• Per-profile or data-volume tiers: charges based on the total number of unique guest profiles stored in the CDP
• Message or MAU limits: tiers that limit monthly messaging volumes (email/SMS/push)
• Add-on modules: separate fees for loyalty, advanced analytics, and enterprise security or SSO

Because contract terms and implementation services are often required, Fishbowl frequently negotiates direct enterprise quotes for mid-market and larger customers. Visit their official pricing page for the most current information.

How much is Fishbowl per month

Fishbowl offers flexible monthly plans that are adjusted to the size of the restaurant group, number of locations and message volumes. Smaller restaurants and single-unit operators can expect entry-level monthly fees, while multi-unit operators typically receive volume-based pricing that reduces per-location cost. For an exact monthly rate and to see sample tiered pricing, consult their official pricing page.

How much is Fishbowl per year

Fishbowl offers discounted annual billing for customers who commit to yearly contracts, with savings applied relative to monthly billing depending on negotiated terms. Annual contracts commonly include implementation services, onboarding and a defined set of integrations; enterprise contracts may include Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and dedicated support. For exact annual pricing and savings percentages, check Fishbowl’s official pricing page.

How much is Fishbowl in general

Fishbowl pricing ranges based on business size and usage: from modest monthly fees for single-location restaurants to multi-thousand-dollar annual contracts for regional and national restaurant groups. Costs are influenced by the number of guest profiles stored, messaging volume (email/SMS/push), loyalty modules enabled, and the number of integrations required. Implementation, onboarding and managed-services options can add to the initial project cost but are typical for enterprise deployments. Review their official pricing page for specific examples and current options.

What is Fishbowl used for

Fishbowl is used to manage guest relationships across the guest lifecycle: acquisition, conversion, retention and reactivation. Practical use cases include:

• Campaign orchestration: run targeted campaigns to specific segments (e.g., new app users, diners who visit only on weekends).
• Loyalty program execution: track points, issue rewards and map redemptions back to guest behavior.
• Personalization: tailor offers based on past orders, visit frequency and channel preference.
• Attribution and reporting: measure campaign lift, incremental visits and revenue contribution by cohort.

Operators use Fishbowl to reduce waste in marketing spend by focusing offers on guests most likely to respond, to measure the true ROI of promotions, and to centralize guest data for more consistent guest experiences across channels.

Pros and cons of Fishbowl

Pros:

• Centralized guest profiles reduce data fragmentation and allow more granular segmentation across channels.
• Integrated loyalty functionality removes the need for separate third-party loyalty tools in many cases.
• Marketing automation reduces manual campaign work and enables event-driven offers that match guest behavior.
• Reporting ties marketing activity to visits and revenue so ROI is measurable.

Cons:

• Implementation requires integrations to POS and reservation systems, which can be resource-intensive for high-location counts.
• Costs scale with data volume and messaging, which can increase total cost of ownership for large portfolios.
• Organizations with custom or proprietary POS systems may require bespoke connectors or professional services.
• Some restaurants may need training to use advanced segmentation and analytics features effectively.

Fishbowl free trial

Fishbowl commonly offers demos and time-limited trials or pilot programs geared toward evaluating the platform in a production environment. For many restaurant groups the recommended approach is a pilot that includes a subset of locations, a data integration scope and a short campaign to measure impact. Pilots typically include onboarding support so the restaurant can validate data flows, test segment definitions and measure campaign redemption.

If you are evaluating Fishbowl, request a pilot that simulates the real messaging volumes, loyalty redemptions and reporting needs you expect at scale. This lets your team validate integration stability with your POS and reservation systems. For details on current trial options and pilot programs, visit Fishbowl’s official pricing page or contact their sales team.

Is Fishbowl free

No, Fishbowl is not free for production use. Restaurants evaluate the platform through demos or pilot projects, but production deployment typically involves a paid subscription or contract reflecting data volume, locations and feature set. Some vendors offer limited free tiers for small users, but for restaurant-grade GRM, paid plans with support and integrations are the norm.

Fishbowl API

Fishbowl exposes APIs and pre-built connectors to allow integrations with POS systems, mobile ordering platforms, reservation providers and third-party analytics tools. The API layer supports data ingestion (transactions, orders, reservations), guest profile queries, segment exports and event triggers for campaign orchestration.

Common API use cases include:

• Real-time ingestion of completed transactions for immediate campaign triggers
• Exporting targeted guest lists to a POS or coupon engine for in-store redemptions
• Pulling campaign performance metrics into a centralized BI stack
• Syncing loyalty balance updates between Fishbowl and a mobile app

For developers, Fishbowl typically provides API documentation, webhook support for event notifications, and SDKs or libraries on request. For exact API endpoints, rate limits and authentication details, consult their developer resources or API documentation linked from Fishbowl’s developer and integration pages.

10 Fishbowl alternatives

Paid alternatives to Fishbowl

• Punchh — Loyalty and CRM platform focused on restaurants and retail with deep POS integrations and campaign automation.
• Thanx — Guest engagement and loyalty platform designed for restaurants with analytics focused on visit frequency and spend lift.
• SevenRooms — Reservation, guest experience and CRM system that combines bookings with marketing and guest profiling.
• OpenTable (GuestCenter + Marketing) — Reservation platform with guest data and marketing tools suitable for full-service restaurants.
• Yumpingo — Guest feedback and CRM combined with analytics to inform menu and marketing decisions.
• Upserve (now part of Lightspeed) — Restaurant management suite with integrated CRM, loyalty and analytics tied to POS data.
• Paytronix — Loyalty, gift and marketing platform focused on restaurant loyalty programs and personalized offers.

Open source alternatives to Fishbowl

• Mautic — Open source marketing automation that can be adapted to restaurant campaigns; requires integration and customization for POS and loyalty data.
• Odoo (CRM & Marketing) — Open source ERP with CRM, email marketing and automation modules; needs connectors for POS and reservations to serve as a full GRM.
• ERPNext — Open source ERP with customer modules that can be extended for basic CRM and marketing automation; suitable when combined with custom integrations for guest data.

Frequently asked questions about Fishbowl

What is Fishbowl used for?

Fishbowl is used for guest relationship management, loyalty and marketing automation for restaurants. It unifies guest data from POS, reservations and mobile apps to build profiles, segments guests for targeted campaigns, automates multi-channel messaging and tracks campaign outcomes against visits and revenue.

How does Fishbowl integrate with point-of-sale systems?

Fishbowl integrates with common POS systems using pre-built connectors or APIs. Integration ingests transaction data and redemptions so campaigns and loyalty rewards can be reconciled with in-store sales; custom connectors are available for proprietary systems.

Does Fishbowl support loyalty programs?

Yes, Fishbowl includes loyalty management as a core capability. The loyalty module supports points, tiers, reward issuance and redemption workflows that tie directly into the GRM and reporting.

Can Fishbowl send SMS and email campaigns?

Yes, Fishbowl supports multi-channel messaging including SMS and email. Campaigns can be scheduled or triggered by behavioral events, and messaging volumes are typically tiered by plan.

Is Fishbowl suitable for multi-unit restaurant groups?

Yes, Fishbowl is designed for restaurant groups and franchisors. It scales across locations, supports location-level segmentation and reporting, and is commonly used by operators who need consolidated guest analytics across many sites.

Why would a restaurant choose Fishbowl over a general CRM?

Fishbowl is purpose-built for restaurants and combines CDP, CRM and loyalty features in one product. This reduces the integration burden of stitching multiple systems together and provides restaurant-specific data models (visits, checks, items ordered) that are helpful for segmentation and reporting.

When should a restaurant implement Fishbowl?

Restaurants should consider Fishbowl when they have multiple guest data sources and a need for targeted retention or loyalty programs. Typical triggers are inconsistent guest data across POS and reservations, measurable spend on generic promotions, or the need to improve lifetime value through personalized offers.

Where can I find Fishbowl support and documentation?

Fishbowl provides documentation, onboarding and customer support through its resource center and customer success teams. Documentation covers integrations, API use, campaign setup and loyalty configuration; enterprise customers often receive a dedicated account manager.

Does Fishbowl offer an API for custom integrations?

Yes, Fishbowl provides an API and webhook support for custom integrations. The API allows ingestion of transactional and behavioral events, retrieval of guest profiles and triggering of campaign actions; consult their integration pages for specifics at Fishbowl’s integration resources.

How much does Fishbowl cost per user or location?

Fishbowl offers competitive pricing plans designed by location, data volume and messaging needs. Costs vary by number of locations, the size of the guest profile store and the messaging volume; for detailed, current rates and typical tier examples visit Fishbowl’s official pricing page.

Fishbowl careers

Fishbowl hires across product, engineering, customer success, integrations and sales to support restaurant customers and partners. Roles often require experience with SaaS platforms, data integrations, and hospitality industry workflows. Candidates typically find role listings on the company careers page or through major job boards; large hires often center on engineering, data and customer success to support integrations and scale.

Fishbowl's growth in the restaurant vertical means teams focused on integration engineering (POS connectors), data engineering (CDP operations) and customer success (onboarding large multi-unit operators) are commonly open. For current openings, check Fishbowl’s careers page linked from their main site.

Fishbowl affiliate

Fishbowl may offer partnership programs for agencies, consultants and technology partners that resell or integrate their GRM platform. Partner programs commonly include referral fees, co-marketing support and technical enablement to implement connectors. To explore partnership or affiliate opportunities, contact Fishbowl through their partner or sales contact channels listed on the company website.

Where to find Fishbowl reviews

Independent reviews for Fishbowl can be found on software review sites and restaurant technology publications. Look for implementation case studies, peer reviews on platforms such as G2 or Capterra, and industry press coverage that addresses ROI on loyalty and campaign outcomes. Also review customer testimonials and technical case studies on Fishbowl’s resource pages for deeper insight into live deployments.