Ready When It Counts: How Panchos Rooftop Cantina Turned a Viral Moment Into Lasting Business
Perched above Chicago’s South Loop with views of the Harold Washington Library and the Brown Line, Panchos Rooftop Cantina is one of the newer concepts under the Diamond Hospitality umbrella, a family-owned restaurant group with roots that go back decades. Energetic, colorful, and built for celebration, Panchos had the personality to stand out and the technology to help them make the most of a stand-out moment.
That moment arrived this spring, when a viral soft-serve margarita sent call volume and social attention through the roof almost overnight. We sat down with Olivia Rough, Marketing Director for all five Diamond Hospitality concepts, to learn how Panchos turned a viral spike into lasting business and how having Popmenu’s website, AI Answering, and marketing tools gave them the foundation to make it happen.
Building Panchos From the Ground Up
Diamond Hospitality’s other concepts have built their reputations over years in their neighborhoods, but Panchos, one of the newer additions to the family, is still working to build that same kind of name recognition. Bringing on Rough as the group’s first dedicated marketing director and putting Popmenu’s platform behind Panchos’ website, email, and social media was part of that effort, giving a newer concept the infrastructure to build its own following.
In April, Panchos spotted a trend taking off in Texas, soft-serve margaritas, and moved fast to bring it to Chicago, sourcing not just the ingredients but the machine itself. They launched mid-April and the response was immediate: Rough posted a few videos, and they went viral overnight.
Panchos is only open from 4 p.m. to midnight, with a front-of-house team sized for a normal night, not the 200-plus calls a day that hit that first weekend. “We don’t have the staff or the manpower to answer that many calls — no restaurant does,” shared Rough.
AI Answering, Popmenu’s automated phone answering system that fields calls and sends links for orders and reservations, took on the volume the team physically couldn’t. Because Olivia had already built out custom responses for Panchos, the tool spoke directly to the moment, with callers hearing about the new drink right in the greeting before they even asked.
“AI Answering is how we kept our staff sane.”
Olivia Rough, Marketing Director, Diamond Hospitality
Panchos’ website was already built to maximize discoverability as Popmenu’s platform is designed around SEO and AEO performance. Rough was able to maximize visibility for the viral margaritas by working with the Popmenu team to create a dedicated landing page for the drink, complete with spotlights for the latest flavors and a dedicated menu, serving as a safety net for any who’d seen the drink on social media but didn’t retain the restaurant’s name. When TikTok views started turning into Google searches, the groundwork was in place to put Panchos in front of as many guests as possible.
Popmenu's automated phone answering system took on the volume the team physically couldn't.
Because Olivia had already built out custom responses for Panchos, the tool spoke directly to the moment.
200+ calls a day that first weekend
Open 4 p.m. to midnight
Front-of-house team sized for a normal night
Turning Viral Attention Into Lasting Loyalty
A viral moment gets people through the door once. Olivia understood that capitalizing on one takes a deliberate plan to turn a crowd that showed up for a new drink into guests who keep coming back. Beyond the integration with OpenTable, Popmenu gave Panchos several direct ways to build that list themselves by capturing guest details through online orders, reviews, and site pop-ups, then bringing people back with automated reminders to try something new — turning a guest list that had been close to nonexistent into a real base of returning fans.
“It became one big circle — from social media to our website to OpenTable, and then back around to visiting again and posting about us again.”
That list is now one of the most valuable pieces of the Panchos playbook, serving as a way to reach the restaurant’s most engaged guests directly, rather than hoping they scroll past another social post.
With in-person business thriving, Panchos’ next focus is extending that same energy to online ordering and delivery. “We’ve been so focused on the in-person dining experience, the next half of the year is really about boosting online ordering for Panchos. Popmenu’s going to be with us the whole way.”
The Takeaway
Virality isn’t something a restaurant can plan for, but being ready for it is. For Panchos, having Popmenu already in place with AI Answering, an integrated website, and the tools to turn one-time visitors into a real guest list was the difference between a trend that came and went and one that built lasting business.
“If you own multiple businesses and you’re not sure where to start with marketing, Popmenu’s a great starting point — get familiar with the tools, pick the one or two that matter most, and put someone in charge of actually getting the most out of it. It’s streamlined. Who doesn’t want that?”
