Driving Traffic: Mix and Match

Restaurant chains combine different tactics to drive more traffic to their stores.

By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 10/1/2008

Checkers relies heavily on menu updates to drive customer visits.

If Chain Leader's Driving Traffic research reveals anything, it's that restaurant chains try all sorts of ways to increase customer counts and that different methods work for different operators. Sure, there are some methods that operators across the industry seem willing to try. But when asked which method is most effective, no one answer receives more than 11 percent of responses. For the complete research report, see “Keep Customers Coming.”

Menu Manipulation

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., for example, relies heavily on menu updates to drive customer visits. Ryan Joy, director of research and development, says there is always a limited-time offer—about nine per year. About three-quarters of the time it involves a new product; the others are core-menu promotions. “We always like to have new product news out there,” he says. According to the Driving Traffic research, 69.6 percent of operators add new menu items to drive traffic, and 44.6 percent use menu promotions.

The Tampa, Fla.-based parent of double-drive-thru concepts Checkers and Rally's began a limited-time offer of a Buffalo chicken sandwich in July and added the sandwich to its Double Value Menu in August.

The company adds new items to the menu only about once every two years. Joy says the chicken sandwich made the cut because it uses a popular brand of Buffalo-wing sauce, which is part of the sandwich's name. “It's a familiar flavor that people know. It's almost comfort food. And it's a familiar brand. I can easily drive traffic with their brand equity,” Joy says. Only 10.7 percent of Driving Traffic respondents use recognizable consumer brands to increase visits.

Pricing Structure

The sandwich sells two for $3, a common pricing scheme at Checkers and Rally's. Many sandwiches come two for $4 or two for $5. The company defines value as, “how much 'real' food you can get for not a lot of money,” Joy says. “It's about size, flavor. We sell a boatload of two-fers.” Just over 30 percent of Driving Traffic respondents use discounts for bundling or upsizing.

Servers at The Melting Pot play an integral role in the guest experience.

But do new and promotional offers drive traffic? Joy says they do, without quantifying. Checkers asks customers about their visits, including whether they would make an extra trip for a specific product. “We're looking for items that are going to drive people to seek out a Checkers or a Rally's,” he says.

At the same time the chain is trying to increase visits from current guests and bring in new customers, it tries to raise checks, which average $6. Checkers uses its POS system to upsell customers in its 826 stores; when they order certain items, a dialog box pops up on the register, prompting the cashier to ask if they want cheese or whatever is applicable.

Service Model

The Melting Pot also has much in common with the 85.7 percent of Driving Traffic respondents who use service enhancements to increase customer visits.

Bob Johnston, COO of the Tampa, Fla.-based fondue chain, says it's tough to quantify, but good service does create return visits. “There's a correlation between their ability to create a valuable guest experience in the restaurant—if we create value for the guest, they're anxious to return, and they become part of your marketing team,” he says.

Chick-fil-A Taps its Fans

Chick-fil-A is well known for its billboards featuring cows asking customers to eat chicken. Long a buyer of traditional advertising, the Atlanta-based quick-service chain took a step into the World Wide Web with its Biggest Fans video contest. The effort garnered about 100 videos of customers telling why they are the chain's biggest fan, and more than 400,000 hits. Click here for the whys and hows of the contest and what's next for Chick-fil-A's Internet marketing.

The Melting Pot's 138 restaurants, where guests cook their own appetizers, entrees and desserts at the table, lend themselves to celebrations. So the company's mission is to provide the “perfect night out.” The servers try to become part of the experience as they teach guests about the menu and how to cook. “We're not just taking orders and bringing out food, we're actually part of their celebration,” Johnston says. “We try to key into guests on an emotional level as much as a technical level.”

While many chains use frequent menu updates to drive traffic, The Melting Pot doesn't change the menu often. Its loyal guests visit three or four times a year, Johnston says, and average customers come about twice a year.

When it does update the menu or run a promotion, for example the new Big Night Out menu it debuted in September, it gets the word out to its 1 million-plus Fondue Club members, who have signed up for e-mail updates from the chain. “This is a great excuse for talking to them,” Johnston says. Driving Traffic research shows 48.2 percent of respondents use e-mail news or newsletters.

But Johnston stresses that the chain's greatest efforts come when the guests are in the restaurant, and that is what helps customers think of The Melting Pot the next time they have something to celebrate.

He admits that with its experiential dining, Melting Pot has an advantage when it comes to connecting with customers. But he adds, “Any operator who's focused on the guest experience isn't going to be hurt by the effort, no matter what kind of restaurant we're talking about.”

MORE: Chain Leader's exclusive Driving Traffic research asks chain operators which methods they use to keep guest counts up and which ones really work. Click here for the full report.

Benihana Does Well by Doing Good

Kabuki Challenger The Kabuki Celebrity Cookoff brought local politicians, a retired pro football player, a news anchor and other area VIPs to the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Benihana to cook with the chain's teppenyaki chefs. They entertained, showed off their knife skills and competed for tips. The August event raised $33,500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Broward County.

Chairman and CEO Joel Schwartz, who is on the board of the Greater Miami Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, says such efforts not only bring goodwill to the company. “Goodwill is the magic word,” he says. “It brings recognition. It drives traffic.”

Miami-based Benihana, which operates 60 of the teppenyaki restaurants and franchises 19 more, plus owns 20 Ra Sushi and nine Haru units, supports many charities including medical-research and family organizations. It recently became involved with Best Buddies, an organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities build social and work skills.

“It's not only that we feel good, our employees feel wonderful about it,” Schwartz says. “They feel that's part of the organization. They can hold their chest out.” And he adds that consumers like to come to a place where the employees are proud of where they work.

Benihana also involves the customers in the effort. For example, the chain will hold a Best Buddies Roundup in which customers can round their bill up to the next dollar for the charity and Benihana will match the amount. The company could simply donate the amount, but involving the customers promotes Benihana's goodwill and makes them feel part of it.

“It's a way to get awareness and do something good at the same time,” Schwartz adds.