Making the right bet: Both Taco Bell and Chipotle introduced special menu items during the quarter. But while Taco Bell’s reintroduction of the Mexican pizza menu item helped propel the company’s growth, Chipotle’s launch of the garlic guajillo steak menu item failed to meet the company’s expectations, which it attributed to the challenging economic landscape.
- “We tested [garlic guajillo steak] in a very different environment than when we rolled it out,” CEO Brian Niccol said during the company’s earnings call. While it drove some consumers to spend more, it didn’t lead more people to order it.
- Yum CEO David Gibbs noted that throughout the quarter the company saw increased interest in value-oriented menu items across its brands, such as Taco Bell’s cravings menu and $2 burritos, Pizza Hut’s melts products, and KFC’s wraps.
Rewarding customers: Looking ahead, Chipotle aims to drive growth by bolstering its rewards program with more targeted offers and gamified badges.
- The program, which grew 20% to 31.6 million people last year, in January began offering each member 10 personalized rewards throughout the year.
- The push aims to drive more people to engage with the rewards program and to use personalization to boost order frequency.
- That’s a good bet given that many QSR chains have found that loyalty programs are more effective at driving traffic than broad-based deals or promotions.
The big takeaway: QSRs that can effectively communicate the value of their offerings stand to benefit from consumers trading down from more expensive restaurants. But that’s easier said than done given that food and labor prices continue to rise.
- QSRs need to be judicious when they consider raising prices to avoid dampening demand.
This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.