QSR April 2023

EDITOR’S LETTER

Restart the Connection

A few weeks back, I made the (maybe ill-advised) decision to share two charts on social media. Both were maps of America you often see where each state gets highlighted by a winner. In this case, a breakdown of which casual-din ing chain was America’s favorite, market by-market. That one stirred light-hearted debate. But then, came the fast-food one. Comment after comment every one disagreed—except for In-N-Out in California—with roughly 97 percent of people informing me I was personally off-base, despite a disclaimer I had no stake in this data. “There’s no chance Chick-fil-A doesn’t win Georgia!” “How can Whataburger not reign in Texas!” And on it went. Ultimately, I deleted the post to save some shred of sanity after somebody suggested that, even for an ex sportswriter, I should of known better. Once that combative dust settled, though, I think you’re left with some important takeaways. For one, as some body told me years ago, fast food is the heartbeat of the American consumer, and you can’t tell me otherwise. But it is interesting to watch how regional bias has evolved as scale has. It’s one reason I’m not sure In-N-Out or White Castle will ever try to become truly national. There’s upside in exclusivity. Or why a brand like Whataburger can be so well received in Florida (a state the chart claimed it won) as demographic migra tion connects markets. Are younger consumers as tied to brands as older ones were? In other words, many of us, at least in my generation, favored restaurant chains our parents brought us to as we grew up. Yet will we now take our chil dren there? I’m not sure it’s so simple. This was a topic that came up recently

when I was chatting with Duncan Smith, the U.S. CEO of Journey Further, a brand agency working alongside Sizzler on revamping its media. It’s a story this industry has witnessed on repeat. Siz zler was a 700-unit-plus brand globally. There’s now about 73 in the U.S. When it arrived in the late 1950s, this accessible and affordable service model was a trail blazer that drew a roadmap competitors would follow for decades. However, these same markets and communities the chain planted flags in changed around Sizzler faster than Sizzler could adapt. Everything from the makeup of local diners to how they access information (and restaurants). And so, the task of tak ing Sizzler from memory bank, “our par ents took us here when we were kids” to action—“and now I’ll take my kids here, too” is a multifaceted journey a lot of leg acy chains find themselves on. The good news is the industry has more connec tive tissue than ever. We’re well past just broadcast TV, radio, posters, and placing coupons in the mailbox—not that these don’t still work. But the ability now to find and speak to guests where they are is broader than even pre-COVID days. And the channels are more accountable. Digital media can tailor toward users, and restaurants have the power to tap CRM for things like reorders, one-to one offers, and really the ability to antici pate when people are going to want to connect and, in turn, data to capitalize on that moment. For generations old and new, familiar and discovery, it’s a chance to bring them all in.

Brand loyalty is hardly dead. Yet activating it

might need a second look.

DKLEIN@WTWHMEDIA.COM QSR MAGAZINE

Danny Klein, Editorial Director

ROSIE ROSENBROCK

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APRIL 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com