Restaurant Trade Area Research

This is a move that could, could, really shake up the breakfast daypart - especially for anyone looking for a NON-Biscuit breakfast choice. I do have a problem with the suggested 7AM planned start time. That said, I can see Subways with successful breakfasts begin to cut into the morning traffic at NON-Biscuit brands/bakeries. Finally, why NOT use ones property in all dayparts - only common sense - but, with the new normal - this will need a long term view to be successful.  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iIXB-1yC23zyltFqu3kHqI5_PBwwD9ELQBM00

Speaking of the new normal - here’s a link predicting - correctly - that the 1 dollar menu price point is here to stay - until things improve at the discretionary spending levels of consumers feeling poorer - regardless of what the media says (from the low return on savings rates to the reduction in home values to the unemployed neighbor). http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/1-fast-food-deals-tied-to-the-economy/19413284/

More on my research background here - http://streetlevelviews.com/5.html and here is an example of `street level views’ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRO81RR7DA

This is a copy and paste from my blog at http://streetlevelviews.blogspot.com — Check it out.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Restaurant Top Of Mind Fast Food Awareness - Atlanta July 4th, 2009

Hello, and welcome back to Street Level Views. As you may be aware, on July 4th I spoke with a number of random people in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Each of them were asked to name restaurants off the top of their heads and ultimately were also asked to name Fast Food Brands in a top of mind fashion. And, the seven folks in the demonstration taping were a mix of races, ages, and represented both sexes about equally.

Which makes the results even more interesting as they were anything but random. Indeed, 4 of 7 respondents named Chick-fil-A FIRST when mentioning Fast Food brands - with 5 out of seven naming them unaidedly. The other FIRST mentions were Moe’s, Subway and Burger King.

Only four FF restaurants had more than one mention unaidedly McDonald’s (3), Wendy’s (2), Subway (2), and Burger King (2). Other FF brands mentioned unaidedly included 5 Guys Burgers, Taco Bell, Jayson’s Deli, Moe’s, Quizno’s, Checkers, KFC, and Publix Subs.

Commenting on the top of mind mentions —— It is striking that Chick-fil-A `won’ in such a hands down manner (even with such a small sampling). Even more striking is the best `top of mind stories’ told by the respondents involved Chick-fil-A too. One story was told by a under 35 year old woman of she and her friends talking about how they would love to be on the `ad account’ - and - another woman, the heaviest fast food user of the seven - went into GREAT lengths to `show what she appreciates’ about Chick-fil-A. Obviously, the cows, humor and service seem to set Chick-fil-A apart from the everyday FF crowd.

The question is - will that awareness hold up in the first (beta) sample to be gathered citywide over the next month or so - bookmark and return for more information.

And, see the sample interview here http://streetlevelviews.blogspot.com/2009/07/street-level-views-about-restaurants.html and links to the other six interviews on YouTube.