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Fast Food Restaurant - Marketing
Posted By: Inactive Member on 4/11/2005 8:16 PM (CST) 50 Points
I recently became the Marketing Director for a prominent Chicken Sandwich quick service restaurant. I will have a 5 mi radius around the restaurant as my target and am looking for ideas.

This is my first position in a Director role and I want to make a fantastic impression. Unfortunately my boss is not accessible for my increasingly large list of questions, and I'm left to fend for myself for the most part. I'm getting anxious about the situation and it's imperative that I get the job done without causing major problems.

Posted by: jusedom2 Accepted Answer
4/12/2005 11:29 AM (CST)
Congratulations on your new position. One of the first things you should do is to set some uninterrupted time with your boss where you meet each week. Perhaps it is only a 30 minute meeting, but it will give you and he/she a time to discuss your goals and where various projects stand. It will also provide you with time to let them know where you need their help and/or get approval to do the things you have planned.

If your boss is going to give you the room and monies to run with your ideas, you will be greatly served by making sure they understand not only what you are going to do but also why you are doing it. You should also be sure to have good points of measurement so you will know whether or not your efforts have been successful. Don't rely only upon increased sales as measurement of your efforts. Increased sales don't mean anything if expenses climbed as fast or faster than sales or if customers are not satisfied. Your efforts affect the entire organization, so make sure the staff is ready to handle the increases in business. Keep track of your food quality, your customer satisfaction and your staff morale. If you end up doing coupons or discounting, try to measure the amount of cannibalization you get.

Good luck.
 
Posted by: jong Accepted Answer
4/12/2005 11:59 AM (CST)
How about developing a loyalty rewards program that could be in the form of a punch card? For example, after 10 meals purchased, the customer gets the 11th meal at no charge.

You can advertise your loyalty card program in direct mailers such as ValPack, Money Mailer, etc. that goes out to homes and apartments within a 3-5 mile radius from your location. Your message could be something like, "Bring this flyer in for a free "name of your restaurant" card. Free chicken sandwich meal after "Y" meals. First punch free, no purchase required -- limited to the first 50 (as example) customers." Advertise your loyalty program on a large sign in your window.

You could take the loyalty card program a step further, where every completely punched card is entered into a quarterly drawing to win a chicken sandwich party for the customer's friends and family. The punch card would have space for the person's name and contact info. so that you can track the frequency of purchase.

During holidays, you could have different promotions such as a "guess the number of ______ in the jar" contest. Winner receives a free meal for himself / herself and a guest. For example, during easter, have a jar filled with jelly beans and the person that guesses the correct number / closest number of jelly beans is the winner.

Also, many communities have a "Welcome Wagon" type of organization, where people that are new to the neighborhood receive a packet of information about the community they have just moved to. Check with your Chamber of Commerce to see if you have this type of organization in your area. If so, see if you can include your restaurant's information/incentives in this packet.

Since it is difficult to get meeting time with your boss, perhaps you can communicate via email during the times when you can't get a face to face meeting. You might put together your initial advertising and promotions plan for his / her review and approval if needed. From there, a monthly recap of what was accomplished during that month and what your plans / goals are for the upcoming month is a good way to keep your boss informed.
 
Posted by: tiffanyagroom Member Response
4/12/2005 12:51 PM (CST)
Thanks everyone for your input. Those are some great ideas! Another tricky issue that is presenting itself is that there are 5 other locations (same restaurant, it's a chain) within my 5 mi radius. Each location is run by an individual versus all corporate run, so in a way, it's like working for a very small entrepreneurial company.

One of those locations is inside a mall, that is directly across the street from my store. The operator of this store obviously knows that the opening of our location will have a huge (unfortunately adverse) impact on his sales, however it's unavoidable. Part of my hesitation is not wanting to step on any toes. There's no way I can know what entities ALL of these locations are currently working with ... it's uncomfortable at times.

I was just today able to get my bosses email address! HOORAY! Baby steps, right? ;o)
 
Posted by: jillm Accepted Answer
4/12/2005 3:55 PM (CST)
Given that you have the same chain open accross the street in the mall, what if the two stores got together and did some co-marketing. That is to say that you widened your target market (10 miles instead of 5 miles?) and offered a coupon that is usable at either location. This way you can further the brand name and knowledge of your location(s), but also capture new consumers at the same time.

I suspect that you will be after two different audiences in the end -- the location in the mall is going to have more of the drop-by/shopper clientele, whereas the location accross the street is going to have someone who sought the particular restaurant/cuisine. So, for example, as a person who leaves the office for a quick lunch, I'm more likely to stop by the free-standing location instead of fighting traffic/parking/people at the mall. On the other hand, if I'm already out on a shoe shopping spree (for example), I'll probably drop by the location in the mall because it's convenient. However, if I have a coupon in my wallet, I'm more likely to go to either location! Make sense?

Hope that this helps!

- Jill
 
Posted by: tiffanyagroom Member Response
4/12/2005 4:40 PM (CST)
Thanks for your input! Unfortunately locations don't ever team up unless it's an area wide occasion in which all of the stores in the Metroplex would come together.

It's an interesting situation ... all of the operators are very supportive, but when it comes down to it, they're in competition with each other.

I've got about 40k coupons to hand out, so in the next couple of days I'll be pounding the pavement. Thoughts on ways to make it more than a "solicitation?" I will be creating folders with:
- Menu
- Catering information
- Business cards
- Nutritional brochure
- Coupons

Thoughts on strategy to increase acceptance? I usually have a good reception when I go to locations, but I want people to really see the value in the coupons. They're for scott free food, but you wouldn't believe how hard it is to GIVE people totally free stuff. Incredible ....
 
Posted by: chanbrowns* Accepted Answer
4/12/2005 7:12 PM (CST)
Congratulations on your promotion! I wish you great success, but know that the situation you describe is often a recipe for failure. Both in terms of access to your supervisor and your desire to make a fantasitic impression. There is a great book that I would encourage you to read real fast...."The First 90 Days; Critical Success Factors for New Leaders At all Levels" by Michael Watkins (no I am not him or a friend). You need to contract with your supervisor to meet his expectations and you need to solicite input from your team, peers, and other stakeholders before trying to change the world or you will meet with heavy organizational resistance. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your new role.

And oh yeah, if you focus on your customer and what appeals to them, you will rarely go wrong.
 
Posted by: obrewton* Accepted Answer
4/14/2005 11:07 PM (CST)
I too would like to congradulate you on your new position, but I would also to be prepared to look for other employment opps. , because if your employer is inaccesiable in the beginning, its not likely to change later. Now for your marketing question, do you have a kids club if not start one. Are there a large amount of offices and plants around try offering fax or call in service. The most important things is being creative, don't just look at other restaurants for ideas maybe you need to look at other industries for ideas.
 
Posted by: carrie77 Moderator Response
5/16/2005 4:07 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question since it's more than 2 weeks old. We do this to reward the contributions of participants in a timely manner + to give increased visibility to the newer questions.

Thanks for participating!
Carrie (Production Editor)
 


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