Chain Leader

David Farkas

Whole Foods and Burger King do a good job of appealing to their core demographics.
July 7, 2006

I was digging around the Web sites of Whole Foods Market and Burger King Corp. today and discovered two recent press releases that point out (to me, anyway) how “politically” different the companies are.

Targeting young males, the burger giant has recently introduced the BK Quad Stacker, a sandwich made with four beef patties, four slices of cheese, eight slices of bacon and sauce. It’s only $3.99, a buck less than an order of beef tacos at Chipotle.

Then again, Chipotle customers are likely to fit the profile of a Whole Foods customer, who prefers naturally raised and organic products. The Austin, Texas-based grocery store chain announced last month that it would stop selling live lobsters.

According to a vice president: “At this time, we believe it is too difficult to maintain consistent conditions throughout the entire supply chain to ensure the health and well-being of lobsters outside their natural environment for such a long period of time.”

To be sure, Whole Foods sells ground meat; BK is undoubtedly concerned at some level about cruelty to animals. Yet each company has a core constituency that they must appeal to. Both, in these cases, do a fine job of appealing to them.

Posted by David Farkas on July 7, 2006 | Comments (0)