Short Term Results Case study – QSR (Quick Service Restaurant)

Company Profile

Burger King is a well-established QSR brand that continues to innovate and evolve to meet the needs of its customers. The company’s commitment to technology and sustainability sets it apart from its competitors in the fast-food industry.

Offering a range of menu items including flame-grilled burgers, fries, and other classic fast-food options. With over 84 restaurants in New Zealand alone, the company is a major player in the fast-food industry, delivering daily sales of over $3 million.

Burger King is committed to providing a high-quality customer experience, leveraging technology and innovation to enhance its operations. The company has introduced digital ordering systems and mobile apps, allowing customers to order and pay for their meals quickly and easily.

CEO’s Mission

The mission of Burger King is to revitalise its business and achieve its sales targets, which have not been met for over 18 months. The company plans to focus on three key areas to accomplish this objective: operations, culture, and supplier support.

To improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the customer experience, Burger King will refocus its operations. This will involve streamlining processes and optimising workflows across its network of restaurants.

The company will also work to improve its culture by fostering a positive and supportive environment that inspires employees to deliver their best work. This will be achieved through employee engagement programs, leadership training, and other initiatives.

In addition, Burger King will leverage the support of its suppliers to ensure access to the highest quality ingredients and products at competitive prices. Building strong relationships with suppliers will be a priority for the company.

Through these initiatives, Burger King aims to strengthen its position in the fast-food industry and deliver consistent sales growth. The company is committed to creating value for its shareholders, employees, and customers, while also prioritising sustainability and social responsibility.

HoM’s Objectives

As the CEO of Burger King seeks to revitalise the business and achieve sales targets, the Head of Marketing has a critical role to play in driving this transformation. The Head of Marketing is responsible for a range of key areas, including menu management, new product development, supplier relationships, and leading the Business Execution team.

The CEO wants the Head of Marketing to align all of these functions to ensure that they are working together seamlessly to achieve the company’s objectives. Specifically, the Head of Marketing is expected to:

1. Drive menu innovation: The Head of Marketing must work with the New Product Development team to create exciting new menu offerings that will entice customers and differentiate Burger

King from its competitors. This will involve analysing market trends and consumer preferences to identify opportunities for menu innovation.

2. Strengthen supplier relationships: The Head of Marketing must work closely with the Supply Chain team to build strong relationships with suppliers, ensuring that Burger King has access to the highest quality ingredients at competitive prices. This will require effective negotiation skills and a focus on collaboration to build long-term partnerships.

3. Lead Business Execution: The Head of Marketing will lead the Business Execution team to ensure that all aspects of the restaurant business are running smoothly. This includes directing Operations, IT, Supply Chain, and Finance teams to ensure that all aspects of the business are aligned to achieve the company’s goals.

4. Develop effective marketing campaigns: The Head of Marketing must work with the Marketing team to develop effective marketing campaigns that resonate with customers and drive sales. This will involve leveraging data and analytics to identify customer preferences and creating campaigns that target specific customer segments.

Overall, the CEO wants the Head of Marketing to play a key role in driving the company’s transformation by aligning all functions to achieve the company’s objectives. This will require a focus on innovation, collaboration, and effective leadership across all aspects of the business.

What the HoM Did

Drive menu innovation:

The Head of Marketing at Burger King played a crucial role in driving menu innovation by leveraging data and insights to remove redundant menu items and bring the best global innovations into the local menu. Working closely with the New Product Development team, the Head of Marketing analyzed market trends and consumer preferences to identify opportunities for menu innovation. As a result of these efforts, Burger King was able to streamline its menu, improving the overall customer experience while also reducing waste and costs.

Strengthen supplier relationships:

The Head of Marketing also worked closely with suppliers to fast forward the production of meat-free products, gaining a first-mover advantage in this growing segment. Additionally, the Head of Marketing sought an exclusive soft drink product for a point of difference from major competitors. By building strong relationships with suppliers, the Head of Marketing was able to ensure that Burger King had access to the highest quality ingredients at competitive prices, while also developing long-term partnerships that supported the company’s overall objectives.

Lead Business Execution:

The Head of Marketing played a critical role in ensuring that the new direction for a smaller menu was well-received and executed without waste or cost affecting the business. By leading the Business Execution team, the Head of Marketing was able to direct Operations, IT, Supply Chain, and Finance teams to align with the company’s objectives, resulting in a streamlined, efficient, and effective business model.

Develop effective marketing campaigns:

The Head of Marketing also led the development of effective marketing campaigns that resonated with customers and drove sales. By working closely with creative agencies and regional brand leaders, the Head of Marketing developed local brand advertising that focused on three key areas: Brands, Value, and Premium. Using data collected from research agencies, the Head of Marketing identified the highest use of QSR by 18-35 year-olds, shrinking the target audience from 18-60+. By tailoring campaigns to specific

customer segments and using data-driven insights, the Head of Marketing was able to develop effective campaigns that drove sales and strengthened Burger King’s brand.

The Results

The Associate drove performance of the commercial management team and the results achieved through their efforts in driving sales growth and improving customer satisfaction. The company made significant strides in utilising advanced data analysis, implementing a customer-focused strategy, and developing new products to achieve our organizational goals.

Commercial Management:

The marketing team focused to improve our struggling daily comparable sales metric, and they successfully transformed it from negative to positive. Through the use of advanced data analysis techniques, they have identified key drivers of the negative sales trend and implemented strategies to address them, this was taking a deep dive into brand tracking analytics, advertising reach vs spend, daily product sales and number of orders. As a result, we saw a substantial $2 million monthly sales increase.

New Customer-Focused Strategy:

We implemented a new customer-focused strategy, which has been instrumental in driving positive comparable sales for the organisation. The strategy involved analyzing item sales and consumer research to streamline our menu and remove 20% of low GP items. This has resulted in a more focused and relevant menu that better meets the needs of our customers, and improved the product delivery through simplified operations. This also contributed to positive comp sales in just one month.

New Product Development:

Liasing closely with the international team and regional leads we were successful in developing a new product, the Mega-Stacker burger, which was a hit with our customers. Selling over 25k units per week, which has increased the average customer spend by 3% per purchase. This has resulted in an additional $500k revenue per week for the six weeks since the product’s launch. This provided the confidence to pursue international products that had previously been shunned.

Conclusion:

My team was able to make made significant contributions to the organisation’s growth and success. Their efforts in utilising advanced data analysis, implementing a customer-focused strategy, and developing new products have resulted in positive sales growth and improved customer satisfaction.