Friday, October 27, 2017

Today's Specials:

WINGS: OWN Football Season with Frank’s RedHot [Sponsored by Frank’s King of Wings]

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DID YOU KNOWS…

The Chip from Hell

A clip of the Denver Morning News team has been spreading on social media after the reporters try the one chip challenge live on the air. The one chip challenge is a tortilla chip made with the world’s hottest ghost pepper, making it the hottest chip known to man. Surprise, it does not go well.

Learning from Fan Engagement

We all know baseball fans are some of the most dedicated sports fans. An Entrepreneur article takes a look at what the MLB playoffs can teach business owners about fan engagement. The writer examines how Game 7 changed her outlook on customer engagement and what to watch for in the World Series.

Reporting Inappropriate Behavior

The executive chef and a general manager at the top Chicago restaurant The Publican have both been fired for not reporting inappropriate behavior. A photo of an employee circulated without consent and both chose not report the incident. This comes at a time as celebrity chef John Best resigns from his restaurant group amid sexual harassment allegations.

DOES DIS-COUNT?

Why it matters to you: McDonald’s is leveraging their recent growth by modifying the Dollar Menu.

You may have heard that McDonald’s is back. That’s right, the world’s largest fast food company has had two-quarters of sales and traffic gains and they want even more. Their newest effort is to reformulate their discount menu to offer $1, $2 and $3 options. Couple this with the changes that we mentioned recently on Buffalo Wild Wings ½ price wings program and you can see a trend in discounting that began in early 2017. Operators are wary of deep discounts to drive traffic and they can totally wreck the bottom line. Consequently, these operators are taking steps to mitigate their discounting.

In McD’s case, they are expanding options to ease the strain on their franchise group from their discount menu. BWW has switched their wing focus from traditional bone-in to less expensive boneless wings/tenders. Both of these moves are relevant to you as well.

It’s time to follow suit. Review your menu and determine where you can adjust pricing or recipe components to your advantage. This doesn’t mean lowering quality, just being thoughtful about your menu mix and ensuring discounting doesn’t put more pressure on your bottom line then already exist. Now, that’s a sound approach.

DRESS AS A CLOWN, EAT LIKE A KING

Why it matters to you: Burger King’s creativity builds their customer loyalty.

Advertising can shape the way people see their favorite brands and recently top chains have gone above and beyond to get their viewers’ attention. Burger King has stepped up their social media game with their new spicy chicken nugget strategy, offering free nuggets to anyone named Wendy just as Wendy’s discontinued theirs. Now with Halloween right around the corner, Burger King took this as an opportunity to poke fun at another one of their top competitors. Anyone dining at Burger King on Halloween dressed as a clown will receive a free Whopper (at participating locations).

As an added kick at McDonald’s, their #ScaryClownNight promotion has generated buzz for its creativity. This idea goes alongside BK’s branding with screenings of Stephan King’s reboot of the clown movie IT in theaters last month.

Creativity is the main way that top chains stand out and can develop customer loyalty. This is an important concept considering customer loyalty is currently being split between the majority of top chains. One aspect that Burger King does fairly well, is taking advantage of opportunities and making them work to their benefit. Creativity in marketing strategies will likely pay off and boost your brand’s exposure if executed correctly. Restaurant operators should consider the added effort of a solid and unique marketing plan as it can also generate more customer loyalty.