BK Keeps It Simple

Burger King’s modest approach to menu tweaks is working.

August 04, 2014

NEW YORK – Burger King isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel with its menu items. The QSR’s approach is a minimalistic one, writes Bloomberg BusinessWeek, noting that instead of “creating items that need new ingredients, over the past year it’s simply rearranged foods its restaurants already have in their kitchens.”

This modest approach to menu changes, notes BusinessWeek, is working. Burger King’s comparable-store sales increased 0.4% in the U.S. and Canada in Q2, the third consecutive quarter of growth.

“This was driven by our strategy of launching fewer, more impactful products and by the continued popularity of our core offerings,” Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz said on an earnings call last week.

The QSR’s innovation strategy hasn’t always been simple, however, previously focusing on seasonal launches that proved to be complicated in the kitchens. But today, keeping it simple means better execution. In Q2, Burger King launched five items that required just one new product not already on-hand for other menu items.

“We believe that these types of operationally simple products are the key to increasing franchisee margins,” said Schwartz.

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