[[CASE 5.1 Burger King’s Whopper-Sized Portions

[[CASE 5.1 Burger King’s Whopper-Sized Portions

Burger King is bucking a trend. While other chain restaurants are catering to health- and fitness-conscious

diners, Burger King is serving up meals to those who want their food filled with the flavors that only fat and salt

can provide. Under pressure from the media and consumer advocacy groups as the biggest fast-food restaurant, McDonald’s is trying to appease critics with more healthful menu offerings. Applebee’s—which offers both eat-in and take-out meals—has joined forces with Weight Watchers to offer meals for consumers who want to trim their waistlines. But Burger King feels no such pressure. Instead, the company has regular fast-food eaters, these customers accounted for 49 percent of Burger King’s business. Company executives call them Super Fans—men age 18 to 34 who are avid football fans and whose “gray collar” jobs aren’t the most important aspect of their lives. These guys like spicy chicken sandwiches smothered in pepperjack cheese and jalapeños. They want a hot jolt of joe in the morning, so Burger King has introduced a new brand of coffee with 40 percent caffeine. And they are downing the 760-calorie Enormous Omelet Sandwich—no less than two omelets and cheese slices, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty in a bun—in record numbers. “It’s designed for people who like to start the day with a hearty breakfast,” remarks Denny Post, chief product officer for Burger King. Priced at $2.99, it seems like a bargain. The new omelet sandwich has helped increase breakfast sales 20 percent.

Burger King hasn’t stopped there. In conjunction with the launch of Universal Pictures’ King Kong film, Burger King

offered up a new Triple Whopper. With three beef patties, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayonnaise, pickles, and onions on a bun, the new sandwich weighs in at a monstrous 1,230 calories and 82 grams of fat. Long after the movie went to DVD, burger fans are still loving the Triple Whopper. The sandwich sells for around $3.99, but that’s still much less than a burger would cost at the average eat-in restaurant. Why do people love these high-calorie, high-fat foods? They taste good.

Another reason that Burger King is so hot these days is that people’s busy schedules have only gotten busier. A mom who picks up her kids at soccer practice at 6:30 P.M. doesn’t have time to cook dinner. A young professional who usually works through lunch doesn’t have time to go to a restaurant. A carpenter whose job starts at 7:00 A.M. doesn’t have time for a home-cooked breakfast. “People used to eat three squares,” explains Dennis Lombardi, a food consultant. “But traditional eating patterns no longer exist.” So Burger King is figured out who eats at Burger King and what they want. And it intends to serve it to them.

Choosing where and what to eat may not seem like a huge decision, but it involves a number of factors. Consumers

may be influenced by cost, by their friends and family, by the location of the restaurant and how much time the meal will take, and by their perception of or attitude toward the restaurant and its food. Thinking that its customers wanted a low-fat menu, Burger King struggled to sell several such items before changing course altogether. A marketing survey revealed that although only 18 percent of the population called themselves

reaching for consumers who need to eat on the run. That means meals as well as snacks—which may also turn into

meals. One survey discovered that 20 years ago, 45 percent of consumers said they did not eat snacks. Today, only 26 percent fall into this category. To meet this demand, Burger King introduced chicken fries—spicy, four-inch-long fried sticks made of white-meat chicken. Served in a cardboard box, they look like a combination of chicken fingers and french fries.

The fast-food industry reaps roughly $135 billion a year feeding U.S. consumers, which means that despite nutrition-centered criticism from some groups, consumers like what they are being served. Burger King has figured out who its customers are and what they like to eat, and customers drive the business.

Questions for Critical Thinking

1. What factors are involved in your own decisions about where and what to eat? Is this usually a high involvement

or low-involvement decision? Where do you eat most often? Why?

2. Do you think Burger King is making a good marketing decision to focus essentially on one group of consumers—

the Super Fans? Why or why not?

{{Chapter 6 Business-to-Business (B2B)Marketing}}

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