NEW YORK – After years of trying to appeal to a more health-conscious crowd, Burger King is moving away from wraps, salads and smoothies to focus on what it knows best: inexpensive burgers and fries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that BK is returning to its roots, along with the addition of hot dogs, after figuring out “what it wants to be: a fast-food chain.”
BK hasn’t focused on U.S. expansion for several years, with roughly 7,100 locations, mainly because of a menu that had grown too complicated, notes the news source. Now, according to Alex Macedo, president of Burger King North America, the QSR has the potential to add thousands of new locations in the United States over the next five years.
“In a moment when a lot of brands in quick service are trying to become more fast casual, we’re taking an opposite view,” Macedo said in announcing the addition of hot dogs to the menu.
Management changes at BK’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc., are also helping the company become more focused on its core competencies. In 2010, the chain launched more than 30 limited-time offers and 20 permanent items to its menu, which complicated kitchens and failed to attract new diners. “At some points we were launching so many things we didn’t have time to talk about them on TV,” Macedo told the news source.
In 2013, BK offered lower-calorie “Satisfries,” which barely lasted a year due to poor sales. And in 2014, the chain stopped selling apple cranberry salads due to lack of customer interest. “We made a bunch of mistakes and we learned a lot,” Macedo told the news source. WSJ continues that through focus groups and surveys, BK executives found that customers wanted the chain to stick to its original identity. “Two years ago you didn’t see any mention of flame-grilling in the restaurants. It’s what made us special but we took it for granted,” Axel Schwan, global chief marketing officer, told the WSJ.
Customer feedback also revealed something BK has struggled with: providing fast-food fast. The chain is working to reduce the average drive-thru wait time to less than three minutes from order to pick-up, writes WSJ, adding that the process to make fries alone was taking more than three minutes.
The process of going back to its fast-food roots won’t deter BK from continue to try out new things in the future, but franchisees seem to be more comfortable with the new approach. “We know who we are now,” David Harper, a franchisee who operates 72 Burger Kings in several states, told the news source.