Burger King regional mobile app

This is a regional mobile app launched by Burger King, this app allows Burger King lovers to view the menu, find the nearest Burger King, stay tuned with the latest offers and promotions and finally most important to order from mobile.

This app includes:

Mobile commerce: We can use this app to achieve online order.

Mobile advertising: The app updates frequently with new products and activities of BK.

Interactivity: This app provides also the navigation which we can always find the nearest BK restaurant.

Brans objectives:

With more and more mobile users, what most of the companies did was to develop mobile commerce to increase sales. For a retailer like Burger King, it can be very effective way to create possibility for consumers to order via mobile. Consumers can take time to look through products with details instead of feeling a lot of pressure when making a phone call to order. Consumers can purchase via mobile whenever and wherever they want.

Within this app, Burger King always updates with new products and activities. When consumers open the app, it’s the main page they’ll see. This kind of mobile advertising is very effective and the brand can show consumers that they make efforts to meet their needs. This way Burger King may want to develop consumer loyalty by letting them know more about the brand.

The navigation to find the nearest Burger King restaurant is also another way to facilitate and attract people keep coming to the restaurant.

For this app, the majority of end users are those who use the app to order. On the other hand, they also can be the ones who try to find the nearest restaurant via the app.

The ranking and rating in App store are two KPIs that are very representative. We can know also the usage numbers from download times. They are directly from users. Other possible KPI could obtain from the restaurant: orders are taken via the app. We can also measure form monthly active users or daily active users who are your key users. We need to learn everything about this cohort and how they’re using your app so you can create a more engaging app and convert more users into active users.

But comparing other fast food brands’ app like McDonalds and KFC. Burger king has a lot of improvement to make. It can add online delivery for certain country like others do and provide special offers for mobile users.

Bingying Zhang

McDonalds and new devices

McDonalds proceed in changes over the years in order to satisfy its consumers: a new logo was designed, the drive-thru see the light in 1975, the company started a new approach by installing seats in their restaurants…The biggest innovation was in 1996 when the company launched http://www.mcdonalds.com : the firm is offering its website to a large number of country in which it is located. In France, McDonalds launched http://www.mcdonalds.fr and adapted this website to mobile version. In addition, the company go further to satisfy customers’ needs in creating a mobile application.

McDonald’s application allows customers to order directly on their smartphone by creating an account first and pay it online, thus we can talk about M-Commerce solution. Furthermore, the goal is to make people come to a McDonald’s restaurant, we can talk about use of Mobile to Store tool. Information about the client are required while opening the account: email address, name, surname, date of birth and favorite restaurant. By collecting theses information McDonalds can improve its CRM. It is also a mobile content delivery strategy because customers can find the nearest McDonalds restaurant thank to the GPS location, scan products, see menu and actuality of McDonalds (new product, promotion, advertising campaign), create a wish list according to what they want to eat the next time and they can also find on the application movies selected by McDonalds in the closest movie theater.

Through the application, McDonalds give permanent access to its portfolio and offers‐products and establish a durable loyalty relation with its consumers.

The objectives of the brand

McDonald’s is broadly popular to everyone as a fast food brand which has been presenting its “M” logo all over the world with the very high brand recognition. However, although the presence of McDonald’s is highly dense in many big cities over the world, problems remains problematic to both McDonald’s and its customers. We identified those following problems:

• Long queue and long waiting time
• Slow counter services make customer wait at counter desk for orders after waiting in line
• Not enough cashiers are opened
• sold-out/unavailability of food items,
• quick and inconvenient order making under pressure of salesperson and other customers in line: make them ordering quickly
• For big group of customers coming to the store: time and crowd pressure while ordering even increases and not all of them have a chance to see thoroughly the menu and consider carefully their orders, time of waiting increases proportionately with the number of people

McDonalds’ objective is to combat those problems in order to maintain the advantages and comfort of a fast-food brand, McDonald’s think of an innovative solution to maximize the convenience, quickness and quality of the service and products and bring back as many values and benefits as possible to the customers. Therefore, the concept of a new innovative application coming up seems to be a perfect solution to the situation.

Who is the end user target?

Generally speaking the end user target is young adults, aged from 18 to 35 years old. They own a smartphone with internet access and/or a computer so as to enjoy the application online service. They are already McDonald’s customers and they live in city.

However, the core target are professional workers, aged from 26 to 35 years old, with a middle income. They don’t have much time during their lunch break (around 45 minutes), so they have to be very quick and they don’t want to waste their time queuing. The fact they are constantly under time pressure, this application really fits to their needs, because they could order their meal from their smartphone while they are waiting for the elevator for example and then go directly to the nearest McDonald’s and take its order. So, they will not waste 15 minutes and sometimes even more in the queue.

The secondary target is students, aged 18 to 25 years. They represent the most important penetration rate among McDonald’s customers. They can order during their lunch break or after school.

What are the expected results?

McDonalds is expected a proximity with its customers thanks to this convenience service: whenever the customers want and wherever they are, they can order McDonald’s products. It could be in the transportation, in an elevator, in the working office or while they are walking, just with a few clicks, they could order the products they want. In this way, McDonalds insure facility and simplicity during the purchase of orders.

There is no time wasting in queuing at the restaurant because the order is already registered and employees can anticipate order so this will lead to a better performance in the restaurant.

Customers have an overview of products availability and they make order without pressure from the salesperson and the customers isn’t disappointed from the unavailability of the product he wanted to buy.

Author: Sandra Essafi

Editor: Maya Al Chaarani

Are Burger King and McDonald Lovemarks?

    First of all, you are probably wandering what is a Lovemarks.

Well, a Lovemarks is a marketing concept that is intended to replace the idea of brands in the long run. The idea was generated by Kevin Roberts, the Corporate Executive Officer of the well known advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Who besides detailed the concept  in a book of the same name: The future beyond brands : Lovemarks (2004). In the book Roberts claims, “Brands are running out of juice“. Actually, he considers that love is what is needed to rescue brands. He asks, “What builds Loyalty that goes Beyond Reason? What makes a truly great love stand out?” . A concept which can be related with the new form, tools and concept of marketing, meaning crowdsourcing, marketing responsible or 3.0 and also with the co-branding with customers. A concept which explain how brads can become more that just a tag name. How marketers can create relationships with their customers by involving them and raising emotions. Indeed, a love brand is a brand which is able to reach the heart and the brain of consumers in the same time.

With the aim to discover if Burger King was or not a Lovemark, we conduct the test on 88 subjects. We can read here bellow the details of this study.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Performance:  Quality and innovation are the strongest characteristic of Burger King in term of performance.

Trust:  Security and ease scored hight in this area. However, the brand does not appear to be sustainable and open enough.  Even though she is reliable.

Reputation:  This part is the one in term of respect which is the lower. In fact, the people who take this test seems to think that the fast food is efficient but lack of leadership.

 

L-O-V-E

Mystery: This part of the Lovemarker is the one which have the highest score. In fact, Burger King is a brand which inspire people regarding our sampling of study . Moreover, The myths and icons on which the brand is built seems to be clear to the customers.Therefore, the brand do not make them dream or feels nostalgic.

Sensuality: In term of sensuality the Burger King scored poorly even though the smell and touch are appealing. Some how, people are not enough touch trough their senses. Which is a shame for a restaurant.

Intimacy: And it is worst when it come to intimacy. Actually, people doesn’t feel so connected with the brand.

To conclude, Burger King is indeed a Lovemark since the fest food chain have the respect and the love from his customers. Nonetheless, the brand identity and the emotional part of the brand need to be more deeper. Actually, they have to work on the LOVE part  and more precisely the mystery and sensuality aspects. But in the other hand the RESPECT part is strongly represented and show the trust that the clients have for the brand.

Source: http://www.lovemarks.com/index.php?pageID=20015&lovemarkid=309

This is a screen shot from the website lovemarks.com which, clearly show us that indeed the brand is considered as lovemark with more than 41 point. Actually, the fast-food restaurant score here 88 points. Regarding, Lovemarks.com, is a place for promoting and perpetuating awareness of Lovemarks around the globe and creating emotional connections with consumers by allowing them to share their Lovemark stories. Lovemarks are the future beyond brands, in fact they are those brands that customers respect and end up loving. Because, they deliver beyond their expectations of great performance. In definition, a Lovemarks have to reach their heart as well as their mind, creating an intimate and  emotional connection that they can’t live without.
Author: Marvy Lungyeki

Editor: Bingying Zhang
Editor:Viriginie Mialon

In order to know if McDonalds is a Lovemark we decided to administrate this study towards 85 person. The results show that the brand is a Lovemark with an average of 41 points. Below the detail of this analyze:

– Performance: The average is about 7,5/10. What greatly influence the result is the innovation and the identity of the brand which are highly scored.
– Trust: The average is about 7/10. Most of people think that it is easy to reach the brand because it is an open and easy brand, nethertheless, we can noticed a kind of skepticism regarding the security. People don’t always feel secure regarding the way Mcdonald’s product are made.
– Reputation: The average is about 5,5/8. For a lot of the people we interviewed the brand is leader in its sector. It can however increase it share of responsability towards the quality of the brand.
– Mystery: The average is about 7/10. Mcdonalds is viewed as a mysteric brand with a strong history. But unlike some of its competitors (eg Burger King) the mystification and the dream are less impacting.
– Sensuality: The average is about 9/10. This results show that the customer’s experience is almost perfect. The client recognizes that he had a specific experience when he is in a McDonalds’ restaurant.
– Intimacy: The average is about 5/6. McDonalds has its own community with client whose follow the brand and its trends. A real passion appears.

In conclusion, McDonalds has the two characterics of a lovemark (Respect + Love) but few progress still have to be made in order to attrack more and more fans.

This is a screen shot from the website love marks.com. The fast food restaurant scored 163 point which is huge McDonalds is a love mark. A lot of customers respect it and love it and a lot of good expectations are delivered. Nevertheless, even if a lot of customers seem to love the brand, the website scored 211of lose it which is higher than the points according to the love it part. In fact, this site is american and we can see how interesting is the differences between reaction of people toward their emotion and intimacy to the brand. It seems that mcdonalds has a lower good image in other countries specially countries in which we can found burger king.It is a controversial brand : this is due to the fact that Mcdonalds is more perceived like junk food than quality food.Burger king really communicate on the quality of their product unlike McDonalds.
McDonalds is trying to reach easy targets [children for example] in the expense of other important point in conclusion, Mcdonalds should reconsider its strategy of love mark specially when their are competing with other fast food like burger king.

Author: Sandra Essafi
Editor: Maya Al Chaarani

Keller’s Brand Equity Pyramid

We chose to make a questionnaire about Fast food and more particularly about McDonalds and Burger king in order to report experiences and opinions of people towards this two brands.

Here is the questionnaire’s link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1P1YUoRhBeu_NTILUZvtUC_kDajEZ65XLFe7cbkTD6tc/viewform

We started the questionnaire with questions that are related to habits of consumption for example: “How many time per year do you eat in a fast food?” or “How much do you spend each time you go to a fast food restaurant?”

Thanks to those kind of questions we were able to construct a profile of McDonald’s customers. The result we had about burger king wasn’t efficient enough to dress a profile. In fact, we administrated questionnaires in France and more precisely in Paris where there is no Burger King restaurant yet so results about people who chose burger king over McDonalds are distorted.

Profile of McDonalds consumers: they go to McDonalds at least once a month (72.2%), they go to the restaurant for most of them with friends (80%), they prefer to eat McDonalds food during the evening ( 45% ), they spent around 5 to 10 euro and stay there for about an hour.

For McDonalds we discover that the 3 mains criteria that bring people to this fast food are:

1) Choice of products : 36,4%

2) Location/quality : 27,3%

3) Price : 9,1%

The reasons that drive people to McDonalds are:

1) Practical aspects: 45,5%

2) Low price: 43,6%

3) Fast service: 36,4%

4) Taste: 29,1%

5) Experience: 9,1%

The second part of our questionnaire was based on the experience of customers in restaurant: those questions allow us to dress an elusive consumer study:

First of all, we asked people to grade the atmosphere, the product presentation and the signalization from poor to excellent. The results show that most of the consumers of McDonalds think that the atmosphere in the restaurant is good (54.5%). People like the presentation of products, the signalization is clear and well categories according to them, they can find the new recipes, prices, clear images of products to know how they look like, this helps them in their choices.

On the contrary, people showed their disappointment regarding the service in restaurant: In fact, to the question: “Did an employee approach and ask if you had question?” 90,9% answered No and to the question “Did an employee give you an accurate information on product?” 81,8% said No.

In conclusion of those scores we can say that people aren’t really satisfied by the type of service the restaurant has. The company could, in order to respond to customer’s needs, put in place a more efficient service with employees whom care more about the satisfaction of their clients ( ask question, give information…)

Finally, McDonalds customers are loyal, 100% of them will return to this fast food again. They like the brand and 82% recommend it to a friend and family members.

Brands’ awareness 

Globally, Burger King is a well-known fast food brand. Regarding the first level of brand awareness,  we can see from different international rankings that Burger King is always on top 100 and even top 10 in the fast food industry (rankingthebrands.com). According to our survey which is based in France, every participants have the basic brand awareness of Burger King while the brand is not yet in France. As we know the King is going to come back to Paris soon, this could be a good sigh for the brand.

But if we go deep into the next level: the brand recall thanks to the survey we made. the result it’s not a optimistic. Indeed, only few people took Burger King as their top of the mind. But as we did this research in France where Burger King is not present, the result is fairly reasonable. So besides the questionnaire, we tried to ask some people we know from other countries and Burger King is still not their first choice. This result shows what we discussed in previous posts that Burger King is highly concentrated in the United States. The brand is also facing the problem that its main competitors McDonalds and KFC are always top of minds for consumers. So, the brand really needs to make a lot of efforts to catch up with its rivals. As Burger King has a low brand recall awareness based on our questionnaire, we can know the result of brand recognition. Again, it is mainly because the brand is not present in France. So we don’t really have any added value analysis. Hopefully that this situation will change with the coming back of Burger King in Paris.

Actually, McDonalds has the highest brand awareness according to our questionnaire. If we look into international vision, the brand is also always the leader in the fast food industry and remains on top 10 in most of the rankings (rankingthebrands.com).

On the recall level, McDonalds is still the top of minds. It is generally easier to recognize a brand rather than recall it from the memory. Even though in France, McDonalds has strong competitors like Quick and KFC, it is the major choice for french consumers. McDonalds changes constantly the menus and invent different products for french consumers. This can be a main reason for the brand to be top of minds. Comparing to Burger King, McDonalds is also a USA based brand, but it is not concentrate just in the US. The brand always tries to adapt national needs and traditions. Another thing worth mentioning is that even we put non-burger choices like Subway and Pizza Hut, McDonalds still won.

Regarding the brand recognition level, most people know “le menu best of” and often it’s their first choice when go to McDonalds. And they have some special products in mind like sandwich baguette. On this level, McDonalds does a fairly good job for people to keep in mind their products.

Keller’s Pyramid for McDonalds

 

Keller’s Pyramid for Burger King 

Salience:

• Who are you? Burger King is a global chain of hamburger fast-food restaurant started in 1953 and  headquartered in Florida, United States. Burger King reported it had over 13,000 outlets in 79 countries in 2013.
• The main objective is willingness to tailor each and every hamburger ordered to ‘have it your way’.
• Characteristics of the service are quick-service with mobile delivery.
• Distinctive sighs: The famous slogan ‘have it your way’ and The king.

Performance:

• Primary characteristic: offering reasonable priced quality food, served quickly, in attractive, clean surroundings.
• Secondary characteristic: rapid service, mobile delivery, motorway service, drive thru, kids area, oder machine.
• Efficiency: Burger King always try to improve efficiency with new technology such as a Two-Phase Kitchen Upgrade and use renewable energy.
• Price: BK will reverse its course over the last year and embrace a new ‘value-pricing’ strategy. The new menu will be three-tiered and attempt to combat chains that have used value pricing to boost sales and customer counts.

 Imagery: 

• User profile: Burger King try to reach everyone in each category with low price food and quick service. The brand make efforts especially to communicate with children and family.
• Purchases and usages: At the end of September 2012, Burger King reported it had 12,667 restaurants in 73 countries which 66 percent are in the United States.The brand also ranked the 5th in Top 100 Global Franchises rankings.Burger King is second only to McDonalds and holds a 15% share of the United States among fast food restaurant chains.
• Personality and values: Compared to McDonald, Burger King is more family-oriented and customer-focused. It created a unique niche and allows customer to make their own burgers.
• Experiences: Once established, expansion and growth happened quickly for the Burger King restaurant chain. The brand believes improving the customer experience in “each and every” restaurant is a key aim for the business. Burger King improved the speed of service and quality of food at restaurants by rolling out a nationwide customer insight program.

Judgement 

• Quality: Burger king is perceived as one of the best fast food restaurant in term of quality. People usually remember the good quality of the steak and the singular fries’ taste. Also Burger king put the accent on the fact that it is committed to quality and the freshness of the products.
• Credibility: Burger Kings has a good credibility regarding the quality of the food but less in term of healthy food for young population despite big advertising campaigns. This does not look sincere and decrease its credibility for future advertisings. Moreover, recent scandals about burgers containing horse meat decreased significantly its credibility regarding the provenance of its products.
• Consideration: Burger King is second on the market behind McDonald’s and there are more than 13000 restaurants dispatched in 89 countries. 11 millions of people eat Burger King every day and more than 56 millions of fries portions are served daily. Consideration is lower for Burger King than McDonalds but Burger King’s fries and whopper are a significant advantage to attract people.
• Superiority: Burger King is catching up with a strategy of differentiation and increases its presence around the world by penetrating new markets or by reinvesting where it had failed (France)

 

Feelings 

•  Warmth, fun: Young, colorful, cosy and playful.
• Excitement: People like spending time at Burger King because they offer very often new products (seasonal or permanent) and lot of promotion, especially for people with the Crown Card.
• Security: People used to feel secure regarding the provenance of products and the quality. However, Burger King went through several legal issues with food composition and especially this year during the horse meat scandal in the UK. Despite of two weeks of denials, Burger King admitted that it has been selling burger and whopper containing horse meat  This had a huge consequence on the security perception of consumers.
•  Social approval, self-respect: Burger king is approved and recommended by its consumers and especially by the “burger’s experts”.

Resonance:

• Loyalty: Strong loyalty of the fans. Burger King advertises massively to keep its best consumers and attract people that can make the difference among all burgers because they are potential future fans.
• Attachment: Burger king is number two on the market and increases its presence around the world. There is a visible attachment in France for example regarding the level of excitement for the reopening.
• Community: Burger King has an increasing community but does not interact enough with its consumers. Consequently the Facebook page is mainly for advertising but there is a lack of two-way communication. Today the number of Burger King’s Facebook likers is 5 times less than McDonalds and its has 3 times less followers on Twitter. However, burger King started to engage with consumers via Instagram so they can post pictures if they are satisfied.
• Engagement: Burger king uses the loyalty card system (Crown Card) to reward its consumers and encourage them to come back more often. This offer leads to a strong engagement from consumers because they can get products for free or discount on menu.

Authors: Viriginie Mialon, Bingying Zhang, Marvy Lungyeki, Maya Al Chaarani, Sandra Essafi

New sandwich for McDonalds in France!

Today in France, McDonalds launch new sandwiches: the Grand Bagel Cheese, Double Shiny Bacon and the Double Cornbread Barbecue.
This strategy reinforces the will of the company to make consumer live the american way of life. We can see it through their tag line: “So good that even Americans want to taste it!”

Burger King is coming!

The American fast food giant Burger King will make a long awaited return to Paris, just in time for Christmas!

4Ps: McDonald VS Burger King

McDonald

Author: Maya Al Chaarani

Editor: Sandra ESSAFI

Burger King

Product

 As a fast food chain, Burger King produces, hamburgers, cheeseburgers as well as Fries, Salads, Hash browns, Onion rings, Coffee, Juice, Shakes, cookies and pies.

Burger King sets itself apart from competition with its “have it your way” theme which allows individualize each orders with many options including fries or onion rings, cheese, bacon, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion.

The nation’s No. 2 burger chain will add Starbucks Corp.’s Seattle’s Best Coffee to all its U.S. restaurants in a phased roll-out that begins in the summer of 2010. Under the effort, more than 7,000 Burger King Restaurants will begin selling the coffee along with iced varieties that also come with a choice of plain, vanilla or mocha flavors and whipped toppings.

Burger King has signed a licensing deal with ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston which will result in offering a retail line of microwaveable Burger King Brand French fries at select retailers in the United States, including Wal-Mart.

At the same time, Burger King has plenty of healthy choices like Wraps, Garden Salad, Fresh Apple Slides.

Recently, the brand also introduce Satisfries, a new great tasting crinkle-out french fries with 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories. They held a contest on Instagram to promote the new product.

Price

Burger King recently joined McDonalds in offering value menus like the $1 double cheese burger or the $1.29 Whopper Jr., 50¢ Cones, $1 Frozen Lemonades and the “Mix and Match” 2 for $5 deal which is suitable with the increase of the demand for cheaper meals due to the economical environment.

The fast-food restaurant vowed to maintain the balance between value and premium products, but more budget-friendly offers can be expected.

The company also will continue to sell its new premium burger, the Steakhouse XT, for $3. Indeed, the company has focused on its “Penny pincher” value menu and “Stunner deals” discounts.

Place

Burger King operates its business through franchises, under a franchise arrangement, the franchisees invest in the equipment, signage, seating and decor, while the company owns or leases the land and building. The company generates revenues from three sources: sales at company restaurants, royalties and franchise fees and property income from those franchises that lease or sub lease property from the company.

At the end of September 2012, Burger King reported it had 12,667 restaurants in 73 countries which 66 percent are in the United States, others are established in international locations such as Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

In Europe, Burger King usually locate near traveling points such as train stations and airports. The up-coming restaurant in Paris will be located near the station Saint-Lazare. On the other hand, in Asia, the brand has another strategy to put its restaurants in shopping centers and concept stores.

Promotion

Burger Kings Big Value Menu $1 “Talent Show” invites customers to display their talent via videos they submit with the goal of winning a menu item. The firm applies a promotional strategy which involves the consumer which can reinforce and raise the number of the fan club.

Burger King is always looking for ways to offer affordable menus and items for their customers. Moreover, the company uses heavily the social medias networks in order to encourage the customers to win gift which maintain the activities of the fan community.

The company had program also another advertising campaign named “The next best move” in 2010 to feature scheduled promotional tours with stops in urban communities around the united state. A costly basketball event targeting young African American males. They used basketball as a cultural entry point because it’s such a part of the urban framework of these consumers that go to Burger King. The effort is augmented by a special website where participants can describe community service contributions a digital tactic which helps collect data. These informations will probably be use in order to sharp and improve the knowledge of the target. A promotional action which targeted a specific target segment with the goal to shows the fast food links with the urban music industry and gather a larger community.

You will find here bellow, the videos of both campaigns:

The company continues to respond to consumers seeking affordable meals with value promotions like the six-month launch of the $1 double cheeseburger. Burger King also launched a line of holiday greeting cards that gave the recipient a dollar bill to be used to purchase the cheeseburger. Plus, Burger King backed the launch of the Tendercrisp premium Chicken burger, with a promotion theme encouraging consumers to “cheat on beef”’, an offer which aim to raise the sales volume. But, it is also a good tool  to push the sales of new product. Moreover, these kind of actions can generate word-of-mouth, an informal way of communication which can measure the success of a campaign and drive more attendance in the restaurants.

Author: Bingying Zhang

Editor: Viriginie Mialon
Editor: Marvy Lungyeki

Targets

Author: Sandra Essafi
Editor: Maya Al Chaarani

Burger King’s targets

 -Young children: Burger King wants to attract children by offering complimentary toys with different menus. Burger king offers four different menus adapted for children from different ages and with different taste. (For example menus that include burger or 4 or 6 nuggets). By attracting children, Burger Kind also attract the parents that want to spend some quality time with their children and make them happy.

 -Students: Students usually eat with their friends during the break and look for fast food restaurant due to the small amount of time they get. They tend to look for facility to respond to their basic eating and drinking needs. Students prefer cheap food but want to have different alternative so Burger King targets these groups of people by offering several menus for similar prices. This type of consumer does not have a specific time to eat so Burger King is open the whole day. It fits to their life style and correspond to the general social trends touching this target.

 -Working people: This target includes Burger King’s main target, 18-35 year old men that like burger King for the big size and quality of its burgers. Burger King also targets working people with different preoccupations such as time, quality and quantity. This people do not have time to think about new places so they develop habits and go to restaurant where they will find the same standards. A large part of people from this category looks for take away food in order to eat at their work place. They reserve a small amount of time for eating and are usually alone so burger King offers delivery in certain countries such as the US. This group is mainly composed of male but burger King also target working female via healthier food such as salads and fruits.

 -Lower and middle class families: Families with low revenues look for tasty food at a low price in order to spend quality time with their children. Burger King has though about this families by offering very cheap meals and toys for children. The parents can eat and find entertainment for affordable price.

 -Burger Fans: Some people are passionate about burgers and they represent one of the most exigent targets for Burger King. They are specialized and can easily compare quality, quantity and flavor of different burgers from fast food chains.

Author: Viriginie Mialon

Editor: Marvy Lungyeki
Editor: Bingying Zhang

SWOT Analysis

 

McDonald SWOT Analysis

A. Strengths 

• McDonalds has strong global presence and is considered as a market leader in both the domestic as well as the international markets, it is known as one of the world’s most recognized logos, which has built up huge brand equity.
• A global brand that owns 34,000 restaurants serving in 119 countries. Of these 34,000 restaurants at least 14,000 restaurants are situated in the US. It is the No. 1 fast-food company by sales. 5.6% sales growth located itself in major airports, cities, highways, tourist locations, theme parks. Large amounts of investment have gone into supporting its franchise network, 75% of stores are franchises.
• It uses economies of scale for reducing the cost, as its huge expansion diversifies the overall risk involved with the economic performance. It also adapts to the cultural differences regarding the region where the restaurant is set up.
• They own an active children’s charity by the name ‘The Ronald McDonald House’. It has branded menu items such as Big Mac, Chicken Mc Nuggets, which further promote McDonalds
• It takes steps in adjusting the ingredients and product offerings in order to comply with the upgraded health standards so it is recognized as a socially responsible and community oriented firm. It takes food safety extremely cautiously It was the first to provide the customers about nutrition facts.
• It has an efficient food preparation style that follows the process in a systematic way, it has loyal staff and strong management team, good innovation and product development. It continually innovates to retain customers in the business with a variety of choices

B. Weaknesses 

• It uses advertising that mostly targets children, which is a vulnerable and sensitive target
• There is a high employee turn-over.
• It has not yet accomplish going on the trend of organic food. Core product line out of line with the trend towards healthier lifestyles for adults and children. Product line heavily focused towards hot food and burgers.
• Price competition with the competitors results in low revenue.
• There is a lack of disruptive innovative products.
• Few of the products are seasonal (salad, ice-cream)
• There is a rise of quality issues across the franchise network.

C. Opportunities 

• It can adapt to the needs of the societies and undergo an innovative product line by optional items. It can create new product offerings, use mobile text messaging to offer services that appeal to consumers. McDonald’s also responds to social changes – by innovation within healthier lifestyle foods for example it moves into hot baguettes and healthier snacks (fruits) have supported its new positioning. The new “formats”, McCafé, having Wifi internet links should help in attracting segments, also installing children’s play-parks and focusing on educating consumers about health, fitness
• It may continue focus on corporate social responsibility, reducing the impact on the environment and community linkages by researching ways to use ‘green’ energy and packaging which will work as a part of their promotional effort as well as fulfill their social responsibility.
• It can upscale some of its restaurant settings at luxurious locations to attract more customers.
• It can slow down the level of expansion in order to increase the profitability of the organization.
• It may increase joint ventures with retailers (e.g. supermarkets) and offer better locations for franchisees.
• Use of CRM, database marketing should be used to more accurately market to its consumer target groups. It could identify likely customers (based on modeling and profiles of shoppers) and prevent brand switching. Strengthen its value proposition and offering to encourage customers who visit coffee shops into McDonalds.
• It can implement deeper international expansion into emerging markets of Asia

D. Threats 

• Foreign currency fluctuations are regarded to be a major problem as it uses standard pricing for its food items. Recession or turn down in economy may affect the retailer sales, as household budgets tighten reducing spend and number of visitors. The recession also negatively impacts the holding position of the firm regarding its revenue streams, even though they are quite diversified.
• Social changes in consumer groups are encouraging balanced meals, 5 fruits and vegetables per day? “Mangez, Bougez!”.
• Emergence of major fast food competitors: Burger King, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KFC. There are competitive pressures as new entrants are offering value and greater product ranges and healthier lifestyles products. E.g. subway, supermarkets, M&S.
• Pressure of environmental and health issues regarding the fast food chain, McDonald’s was sued various times for unhealthy food, usually addictive. Consumers now focus on nutrition and healthier lifestyles.
• Heavy investments on promotional campaigns which decrease the gaining of market share.
• Some parents criticize the firm for maintaining marketing strategy that focuses on kids, who later on take it as a trend to their adulthood.
• The expansion has made the firm vulnerable to the slow economies of the other countries as more restaurants give a rise to increasing their food offering and declining the price

Author: Maya Al Chaarani

Editor: Sandra ESSAFI

Burger King SWOT Analysis

A. Strengths

• Global brand name: Burger King is a globally recognized fast food brand thanks to the famous hamburger ‘whopper’ and it’s slogan “have it your way”. The grand has a high brand awareness in the fast food industry according to QSR magazine right behind McDonald’s and KFC.

• Franchises diversification: At the end of September 2012, Burger King reported it had 12,667 restaurants in 73 countries which 66 percent are in the United States, others are established in international locations such as Africa, Asia and the Middle East. While the majority of franchises are smaller operations, several have grown into major corporations in their own right. The brand also ranked the 5th in Top 100 Global Franchises rankings.

• Established market share: Burger King is second only to McDonalds and holds a 15% share of the United States among fast food restaurant chains. The company’s profitability has also increased in recent years.
• Growth plan: The company is able to grow while minimizing large capital expenditure, meanwhile it collects fees and royalties from each franchise.

B. Weaknesses

• Heavily concentrated in the United States: Although the company operates in many international venues, the majority of restaurants are in the United States. This concentration of operations in one geographic area company’s exposure to local factors.
• Relies on franchises: The company doesn’t have enough corporately owned stores which means it relies heavily on franchises to excite its promise.
• High calorie food: It’s always an issue that fast food with high fat and high calorie is not good for health conscious people. And there is some indication that Burger King may have been slow to transition to leaner and healthier restaurant to please its long term customers who are fans of the big sandwiches.
• Burger King dose not advertise their products like their competitors.

C. Opportunities

• Rethink the restaurant experience with new design which combine new technologies devises and redefine a clear mantra of the brand to strengthen the position of the brand into the audience mind
• Harmonize the company image and identity worldwide with a strict and unique segment for the restaurant decor and web site
• Possibility to connect their home delivery with an application and improve their clients database
• Involving the customers through digital game in order to raise loyalty (such as a “BK Nation or Lovers”) and implement a crow-funding strategy
• Increase co-branding with different partners for the condiments as for the desserts (ice-cream and cakes)
• Emphasis the new healthier menus like they do with the new “satisfies fries” and highlight the fact that contrary to their main competitors most of their items are more healthier
• They should put a focus on corporate social responsibility, by introducing clean energy and packaging to respond to the social change and  lifestyle. Underline and expand the BK McLamore Foundation worldwide
• Product improvement, tailoring it as per tastes of people around the world, in order to match with their slogan “Have it your way”
• Upgrade the varieties of children menus by making it more appealing (digital games or create co-branding with important brand in the  toys industry and video-games)
• Put forward  value menu featuring six items at less than $1
• Diversification of their services,  for instance with a coffee corner in the most profitable restaurants which will serve Seattle’s Best Coffee (a Starbuck’s brand)- “The King coffee” a possible way to compete with the “Mc Coffee”
• New opportunities in growing economies (India, China, Singapore, and Malaysia)
• Reduce cost of entry for Burger King franchise and under performing outlets

D.Threats

• Changing consumer eating habits towards healthier food alternatives. Campaign against obesity target directly fast food chain such as Burger King.
• Intense competition from other chains such as McDonald’s, Wendy, KFC but also little fast food restaurants targeting specific segments. (ex: delivered food, healthy fast food, fine dining fast food etc.)
• Local fast food restaurant chains.
• Increasing labour cost putting pressure on margins and is a threat to keep low price and quality expected by consumers.
• Slow recovering economy that has slow down Burger King international development.
• Saturated fast food markets in the developed economies
• Currency fluctuations

Author: Bingying Zhang

Editor: Viriginie Mialon
Editor: Marvy Lungyeki