How Keke’s Breakfast Cafe Doubled their Organic Visibility & Scaled to 82 Locations with Forki
Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, a beloved breakfast and brunch chain known for its fresh, made-to-order meals and regional American flavors, had already built a strong presence in Florida with 56 locations. However, the brand saw an opportunity to expand beyond Florida and attract new diners organically—without relying on paid ads.
That’s where Forki came in. With our restaurant-focused SEO strategy and RCMS framework, we helped Keke’s scale to 82 locations, doubling its organic impressions, website clicks, and Google Business Profile interactions. In 2024 alone, SEO-driven traffic contributed $27 million in revenue, proving that a strong organic search strategy fuels long-term restaurant growth.
The Story of Keke’s Breakfast Cafe
Founded in 2006 by brothers Keith and Kevin, Keke’s Breakfast Cafe is a multi-location restaurant known for serving fresh American breakfast, brunch, and lunch. With a menu that captures the flavors of different U.S. states, a dedicated kids’ menu, and a commitment to quality—no microwaves, just fresh food cooked daily—Keke’s quickly became a go-to breakfast spot.
Operating from 7 AM to 2:30 PM daily, Keke’s built a strong reputation for fast and friendly service, becoming a staple in Florida’s breakfast scene. By the time Forki started working with them, Keke’s had grown to 56 locations across Florida, generating 700K monthly Google Business Profile (GBP) impressions and 950K website impressions, primarily from branded searches.
However, the brand had bigger ambitions—to expand beyond Florida and attract new diners through non-branded searches. Today, Keke’s has scaled to 82 locations across California, Colorado, Texas, and Delaware, with a significant increase in non-branded search traffic. Their GBP impressions have soared to 2 million per month, while website traffic has climbed to 2.5 million impressions, bringing in 80K monthly website clicks and 100K GBP interactions—without any ad spend.
With steady month-over-month growth, Keke’s continues to attract new diners while retaining loyal customers, proving that a strong organic strategy can drive both expansion and sustainability.
The Challenge: Competing in a Crowded Market Without Ad Spend
Explain the challenge or opportunity in front of the customer before they did business with you. This could be either a reactive reason (i.e. the customer had an issue that needed to be addressed) or a proactive reason (i.e. there was untapped potential that was unleashed by working with your business).
Why Keke’s Breakfast Cafe Chose Forki
Despite its strong presence in Florida, Keke’s Breakfast Cafe faced several challenges in scaling its organic reach and competing with well-established breakfast chains like First Watch, IHOP, and Another Broken Egg. Expanding beyond Florida meant going head-to-head with both local and national brands—without relying on paid ads.
Key challenges included:
Breaking into Non-Branded Search Traffic
While Keke’s had strong brand recognition in Florida, its organic visibility was primarily driven by branded searches. To attract new diners in new markets, it needed to rank for non-branded queries like "best breakfast near me" or "top brunch spots in Tampa".
Lack of Business Potential Analysis for SEO
Keke’s had no clear SEO strategy or framework to measure its growth potential in new locations. Without a structured analysis, it was unclear where the biggest opportunities for organic traffic and diner acquisition existed.
Ensuring Brand Consistency Across Locations
Each Keke’s location had different menu offerings and availability, making it difficult to maintain brand consistency across search, listings, and digital platforms. Customers needed a clear, accurate experience whether they were searching in Florida, California, or Texas.
Competing in Local Markets as a New Entrant
Every new Keke’s location was stepping into highly competitive local food scenes, where diners already had favorite breakfast spots. The challenge was to quickly establish authority in these new markets and drive foot traffic despite competition from both national and independent restaurants.
Limited Operating Hours, Maximum Search Performance
Since Keke’s operates from 7 AM to 2:30 PM, it was crucial to optimize for peak search times to capture customers actively looking for breakfast and brunch options during those hours.
A Website Lacking SEO Context & Structure
Keke’s existing website was too simple, with no content strategy to help search engines understand its offerings. A redesign was necessary to provide context, improve user experience, and support SEO growth.
How Forki Responded?
To help Keke’s Breakfast Cafe expand beyond Florida and dominate non-branded search queries, Forki implemented a structured SEO approach tailored for multi-location restaurants. Our strategy focused on business potential analysis, structured keyword targeting, and a scalable growth framework to ensure long-term success.
Here’s how we tackled the challenge:
Comprehensive SEO Business Potential Analysis
We conducted an in-depth SEO potential analysis to identify high-value non-branded queries that Keke’s could rank for. This allowed us to pinpoint key opportunities for organic growth in new markets.
Strategic Keyword Targeting on Website & GBPs
We optimized Keke’s website and Google Business Profiles (GBPs) with high-impact local keywords, ensuring that each location was ranking for relevant searches like "best pancakes in [city]" and "top breakfast spots near me."
Implementation of Forki’s RCMS Framework
Forki applied its proprietary RCMS (Restaurant-Centric Marketing & SEO) framework, designed specifically for restaurants. This structured approach helped enhance local search visibility, GBP engagement, and website discoverability for each location.
Quarterly Growth Plans for Each Location
To maintain consistent expansion, we developed quarter-on-quarter SEO growth plans tailored to each Keke’s location. This ensured steady visibility increases, ongoing optimizations, and long-term search dominance.
Tracking Diners’ Behavior & Competitive Analysis
We set up tracking tools to monitor diner patterns, ranking trends, and competitor positioning. This helped refine our strategy in real-time to capture more organic traffic and increase foot traffic.
Custom KPI Dashboard for Performance Analysis
We built a centralized KPI dashboard to track each location’s organic growth, rankings, traffic, and diner interactions. This allowed stakeholders to easily analyze performance data and make informed decisions to sustain long-term SEO success.
The Results
Forki’s strategic SEO implementation transformed Keke’s Breakfast Cafe’s organic visibility, diner acquisition, and revenue growth. By leveraging our RCMS framework, keyword strategy, and structured tracking system, Keke’s saw measurable success across all locations.
Key Outcomes:
With continued month-over-month organic growth, Keke’s is on track to sustain its expansion and further solidify its position as a leading breakfast and brunch destination.
53% Increase in New Diners Across All Locations
Keke’s significantly expanded its customer base, with over half of its new diners coming from non-branded search queries.
Doubled Impressions, Clicks & Direction Requests
Website traffic surged to 2.5 million monthly impressions, while GBPs interactions hit 2 million per month. Clicks, direction requests, and overall engagement also doubled, driving more walk-ins and reservations.
$27M Revenue from SEO in 2024
Through organic traffic alone, Keke’s locations generated $27 million in revenue, proving the power of a strong SEO strategy without relying on ads.
Weekday Walk-In Customers Doubled
A key focus was ensuring weekday diner traffic remained high, strengthening franchise stability and ensuring consistent revenue—even outside peak weekend hours.
Be the Next Crowd Favorite with Forki
Keke’s Breakfast Cafe transformed its organic growth, expanded into new markets, and scaled to 82 locations—without spending on ads. If you want to drive more diners, dominate local search, and grow your restaurant sustainably, Forki will help.
Get a free SEO strategy call today and see how we can help your restaurant achieve the same results.
Let’s turn your restaurant into the next big success story!
