Restaurant Trade Area Research

Last year, I personally interviewed several thousand fast food customers (in-store and drive-thru) in a variety of fast food brands for Trade Area Research purposes. (Do you need trade research before expanding your market?) This was normal for me as I have  personally interviewed thousands of fast food customers for dozens of years. And, as you might know, certain questions are nearly standard on questionnaires trying to understand customer behaviour - such as the fast food restaurant that the customer uses `most often’.

In the 1980’s and even into the late 1990’s - when adults answered that question for me — when the answer was McDonald’s - they would immediately offer a `reason’, in an apologetic tone, which invariably was `the kids’. That is not to say that I didn’t hear `they are everywhere’ and `they are cheap’ on occasion. Nevertheless, the interesting thing was that `other brands’ such as Wendy’s or Arby’s or Chick-Fil-A  or others (such as sandwich chains Subway) - most often users ALMOST NEVER offered up `embarrassing’ reasons for their usage of a particular brand most. Only McDonald’s. It was almost a case of doing `marketing’ too well.

Then, McDonald’s focused less on kids and more on product and product quality. I began to hear folks say that they liked a `particular new product’ at McDonald’s that they went for `most often’. Kids, as a reason, was definitely fading quickly (I informed my clients who at first seemed surprised in the early 2000’s — it was the kind of information that only came from literally being on the ground for multiple brands for decades) - the return of McDonald’s was approaching.

The moral - If the biggest can change a negative perception — other brands, most of which have neutral images, can also build a positive one - like McDonald’s has done.

Today’s Restaurant Links

“People are requesting kids premiums that are more socially responsible,”

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/08/16/restaurant_toys_educational.html Wendy’s and Chick-Fil-A jump on `Educational’ kids toys. Strong feedback. Three minute read.

Individual Responsibility And Its Enemies

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005122089  Bringing ethics into the fast food discussion with force. Shows how `choices’ and having a restaurant business are related. Three minute read.

Parking Mad At McDonald’s

http://icwestlothian.icnetwork.co.uk/courier/news/tm_headline=parking-mad-at-fast-food-chain&method=full&objectid=21526230&siteid=92284-name_page.html After the positive McDonald’s opinion above - here is an example of not respecting the customer. Probably.

Arby’s Expands Savings Potential With Cellfire Mobile Coupons

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/200808130900PR_NEWS_USPR_____AQW047.htm Here’s a new coupon niche.

Are Restaurant Stocks A BUY?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/chi-ym-restaurants-0817-cpaug17,0,4787885.story Article says yes if you have a longer time horizon of 2-3 years; while detailing how over stocked the trade areas are with restaurants. Predicts store closings. Four minute read.

Many Many more - current links below. Bookmark and return please. Leave a comment if you wish.