Red Rooster and SumoSalad join forces

SumoSalad will now be served in over 350 Red Rooster locations in the country, a partnership in the name of health.

Initial conversation about the partnership started about ten months ago, Anna Jones, Marketing Manager of Red Rooster told QSR Media. "SumoSalad is clearly the market leader when it comes to real, healthy and freshly made food for pick up. They have worked very hard to build that reputation."

“This partnership shows how serious we are about our real food credentials at Red Rooster. Our famous Roast Chicken paired with these fresh, high quality salads is the perfect answer for Australians who want tasty and nutritious food made easy."

Red Rooster has introduced two custom designed SumoSalads now being rolled out at all of the chain's locations nationally. The Zesty Pumpkin Couscous Salad and Red Pesto Penne Salad have been specifically created based on the expertise and know-how of SumoSalad’s chefs to match the flavours of Red Rooster’s Roast Chicken.

Jones explained that both brands have aligned values. SumoSalad CEO Luke Baylis noted that their brand is always looking to expand its influence and help Australians eat healthier food with purpose and this works well with Red Rooster’s mission to provide their customers with a variety of delicious, wholesome menu items.

Adding, "at the moment SumoSalad has been doing brand collaborations such as our partnershp with Peter Evans. I am a big believer that the industry is moving toward these kinds of parterships in the future."

"Our purpose is to provide healthy convenient quality fast food, we don’t believe that has to be restricted by a food court, it can be through other channels." He further noted that there is not much store overlap between Red Rooster and SumoSalad making it a good opportunity to give both brands exposure.

MOVING FORWARD

For the initial launch, Jones shared that customers will find the SumoSalads in the chain's fridges beautifully set up and in each store's POS menu board, coasters and banners.

A campaign is also set out to be launched on TV and Nova partnership with Fitzy and Wippa, adding the main three elements will include:

• The announcement of the initiative
• Talking about products
• Bundle deals

Jones emphasized that the partnership is not short-term and they are committed to at least 12 months. " Then we'll have a conversation where to take it from there."

Adding, "It's difficult to predict exactly what to expect. Red Rooster is attracted to Sumo Salad because they're a category leader in freshly made and healthy, fast food that is good for you. It's a journey, with a purpose to make it easy for people to eat well. Offering easy ways to get food and offering nourishing and wholesome food to people with busy lives."

One challenge Jones noted is that SumoSalad is well known in CBD areas while Red Rooster is well known in regional areas. "Red Rooster will need to educate rural customers on SumoSalad's positioning and what it has to offer. Red Rooster will hold “Sumo Sundays” which involves product sampling on Sundays. We'll be giving customers the opportunity to try the product and see how it complements the chicken before they get the bundle deal."

"I think its a great opportunity to get the brand into regional Australia. It would take 5-6 years to get into these towns, so this partnership fast tracks our exposure to these markets," added Baylis.

ON RED ROOSTER'S BRAND REFRESH

Last September, Red Roosted announced that it was steering itself to a healthier direction. Taking the proactive role of removing all artificial colours, flavours and added MSG from its menu.

"On the messaging side, the message has been received with the relaunch of the brand via the Tender Loving Chicken campaign. There are lots of facets to its, it's about promoting real food credentials, roast veggies, roast chicken, and creating a better customer experience in totality," said Jones.

She added that internally, the brand's task force is focused on the core products and continually working on how to be the best possible version of itself.

An interesting statistic she shared is that before the relaunch, Red Rooster would get approximately 10 compliments per week but after the relaunch, it has gone up to about 110.

Jones noted there is a lot more to expect from the chain this year. "Look out for some interesting work in the store design, it will be much more modern, more different. We are hoping to get 25% to 30% of the network refurbished in the next 12 months.