drive thru market share qsr side item importanceimportant supporting role in fast-food chain and...
TRANSCRIPT
QSR Side Item Importance
November 2017
Source: Quick-Track
Sandelman surveyed 2,775 restaurant users to learn
more about attitudes and opinions on side items. The
takeaway? Do not overlook your supporting cast!
Although not often the main draw, side items play an
important supporting role in fast-food chain and
entrée selection — and ultimately in a consumer’s
overall satisfaction with a dining experience.
More than half of all QSR users report that side items
are very or extremely important in selecting a chain,
while only 15% report that side items are not very
important in selecting a chain. For entrée selection,
the number reporting that side items are extremely
important is 3 in 10.
Find out more about QSR usage trends online at www.sandelman.com or email [email protected].
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In This Issue...
Drive-Thru Market Share
QSR Side Item Importance
Casual Dining Side Item Importance
Emerging Chain Last Purchase Occasion
2018 Renewals/Special Reports
Drive-Thru Market Share
Sandelman’s syndicated studies track at the
market level, because it is important to recognize
that individual markets can behave quite differ-
ently. The following provides the top five markets
in drive-thru share of occasions, in addition to the
percent change from a year ago. Drive-thru
accounts for 52-55% of all occasions in these
markets:
Change vs YAG
Florence, SC +9.5%
Baton Rouge, LA +5.2%
Lafayette, LA +4.3%
Lexington, KY +3.4%
Peoria, IL +10.4%
Inversely, the following provides the bottom five
markets in share of the drive-thru occasions.
Drive-thru accounts for 21-31% of all occasions in
these markets:
Change vs YAG
Los Angeles, CA-Hispanic +7.5%
San Francisco, CA +3.6%
Washington, DC +2.3%
Duluth, MN +1.9%
La Crosse/Eau Claire, WI +2.4%
These bottom five markets of drive-thru share still
experienced growth vs a year ago.
The availability of healthy side items seems
to be more important than having indulgent
options, perhaps as consumers try to offset
indulgent main meal items with healthy
sides. There are significantly more males
than females for whom healthiness is not
important, but it is still a factor for many
males.
Less traditional, more trendy sides like kale
salad and sweet potato options could also
help provide variety and news with a nod to
healthiness.
While health is found to be important,
French fries are the clear winner on popular-
ity. However, giving consumers other options
may give a chain the extra edge it needs to
win visits, particularly visits from heavy QSR
users. Interesting variations on standard
favorites like French fries and salads may
give consumers the best of both worlds.
Once consumers are in the restaurant, oper-
ators may be able to encourage higher check
and/or higher overall meal satisfaction by
promoting well-matched pairings of entrees
with side items by way of employee sugges-
tions as well as POP showcasing side items.
A complete special report on QSR side items
is available—Please call/email Clay for more
information.
(888) 897-7881, ext. 2
Source: Quick-Track
Popular Sides in Casual Dining
Sometimes side items are a crucial part
of the CDR dining experience, not only in
the actual choice of an entrée but also
for more than half of CDR users in the
choice of chains.
A relatively small portion of CDR users
(13%) often or always order side items as
their main meal. Winning over these
“side item fanatics” could win the veto
vote in group chain choice.
Some side items with very small raw pop-
ularity have passionate followers who
report that they’d be inclined to visit a
restaurant more often if it served up
their favorite side. A chain that could
consistently exceed expectations on a
few of these unusual favorites could steal
share from others offering standard fare.
Standard fare side items shouldn’t be
ignored however. House/Caesar salads,
potato options and broccoli garnered
highest popular vote. If these are a
chain’s only choices, however, each
needs to be consistently excellent to win
the day.
Golden Corral and Cracker Barrel are
highly recognized from their past 3 month
users as the favorite for side item selec-
tion, while IHOP and Waffle House are
rarely chosen as favorite by their users.
A complete special report on Casual Din-
ing side items is available—Please call/
email Clay for more information.
(888) 897-7881, ext. 2
Source: Casual-Track
2018 Subscriptions
It’s time to subscribe or renew for 2018! Our syndicated studies provide continuous tracking, and quarterly reporting to keep you apprised of market-level trends on satisfaction, usage levels, awareness and much more.
We can also meet your needs through cus-tomization of our syndicated studies or by developing a completely new proprietary program for your chain.
To talk about a subscription that best fits your needs and budget, please contact Clay.
Sandelman produces special reports on a variety of topics throughout each year. This newsletter high-lights recent special reports on side items. Some other special report topics include:
Salad Bar Resurgence?
Delivery Trends
Value
Home Meal Delivery
Visit www.sandelman.com for a complete list of special reports, and call/email Clay to get one free special report mentioned here of your choice!
(888) 897-7881, ext. 2
Free Special Report
Tracks November 2017
257 La Paloma, Ste. 1 (888) 897-7881, ext. 2
San Clemente, CA 92672 [email protected]
Emerging Chain-Track Last Purchase Occasion
Emerging Chain-Track is a syndicated, quantita-
tive study tracking key consumer behavioral and
attitudinal measures for high-growth and devel-
oping fast casual chains. The study is tracked
across the nation in micromarkets where many
fast casual chains exist. Micromarkets are defined
as a 3-5 mile radius surrounding a group of
emerging restaurants.
Examples of chains tracked with the Emerging
Chain-Track syndicated study:
ECT Last Purchase Occasion—Spending Per Person