Pie Face, Mad Mex, Wendy’s and other QSRs talk about the Health trend
There was a time when restaurants and healthy foods didn't exactly mix together. Restaurants, then, would rather offer their customers quick-served-fried menus to meet the demands of their fast-paced lifestyle.
Today, as consumers are realizing the value of eating healthy, restaurants are also changing their marketing strategy to attract these more health-conscious consumers.
“People want quality, they want to know what they are getting”, said Wayne Homscheck, the Founder of Pie Face.
Nothing stays healthier than foods served with low fat ingredients. And this is what Sunshine Kebabs is now doing with their menu, something which they haven’t done until recently. “We are finding that our Healthy Box range is becoming more and more popular by the day”, says Murat Coskun, GM of Sunshine Kebabs.
Who says burger chains can’t be healthy? For a restaurant that caters more to serving fried meat patties to their customers, Burger Edge is quite unique in saying that the market’s demand for healthy and tasty foods was their basis of the entire business establishment. According to Issam Soubjaki , Frachisor of Burger Edge, customers would now prefer fresh food served to them. “It is more about the public’s peace of mind knowing, and taking responsibility for their health. We have seen an increase rate of patronage from our regulars on the basis of familiarity of our products and ingredients”.
Mad Mex addressed their customer’s madness to maintain a healthy diet through their “nutritional calculator” launched in January 2010. “We launched a nutritional calculator while simultaneously discounting our lowest calorie option, the “Naked” which is essentially a burrito without the tortilla. As a result of this campaign, we saw CBD sales of the “Naked” Burrito jump considerably following months the sales maintained a 20% increase”, says Clovis Young, Founder, Mad Mex.
Wendy’s caters for the needs of health-conscious consumers by adding the detailed nutritional information on every product they offer. “…it’s important our customers are also aware of some of the healthier snacks we offer”, says Rob McKay, CEO, Wendy’s. “ We believe the labelling will help with this – while a customer might choose an indulgent treat one visit, next time they might choose something like our 98% fat free Frozen Yoghurt or one of our Fruit Slushies which are 99% fruit based and contain no fat, added sugar or artificial flavours”.
Nando’s also credits the buyer’s healthy options for their sales growth. They believe that their image as a “healthy alternative” helped their restaurant maintain their good ranking. According to Kim Russell, Marketing Manager of Nando’s, “Nando's ranks incredibly well in terms of our health attributes so we believe the sales growth we are currently experiencing can be attributed at least in part to us being a healthy alternative.”
MYO, on the other hand, gives freedom to their consumers to choose their own health destination. Customers have the option to choose from only fresh and healthy ingredients. John Smith, MD , MYO commented, “Giving customers 100 percent control over their meal really puts the power of watching calories, by removing things like butter on sandwiches, or dressing on salads, into their hands, which they really appreciate”.
While some QSRs focus on the healthy diet, Eagle Boys Pizza takes a different approach. Christine Hooper, Group Executive Marketing of Eagle Boys Pizza explains, “Currently, we're witnessing a trend towards gourmet alternatives, and some of these have obvious health benefits, but our Lighter Choices Range still only makes up 3% of our product mix. We're finding that customers' continue to demand quality toppings and ingredients on their pizzas, and the obvious health benefits that fresh, quality ingredients bring is a bonus.”
In the current generation, quick service restaurants are taking their service to the next level. The way of offering may be different but consumers may now enjoy the healthy food from QSRs.
