More Value at Your Fast Food Restaurant

Actually, this blog is more about retreat. We wondered how fast food restaurants could afford to discount food although we understood the purpose. Keep us in the fast food habit, even in tough economic times.

Sonic is keeping its Happy Hour but, at least in my neighborhood, retreating on some other promotions. Of interest, the notice of the change begins with Sorry for the inconvenience, but due to rising food cost, our happy hour, and the addition of the new dollar menu, we are no longer accepting....

Kentucky Fried Chicken found reason to join the dollar menu crowd but with a bit of self-protection. The Ultimate Value Menu features 10 items that begin at 99¢. That causes a let-down for the value meal seeker. Enough so that a friend actually called me to report this menu as not worth the drive-through.

And the retreat that made the news in my town (yes, the news) was a local Quizno's that stopped honoring the free sub intended to be part of the Million Subs Giveaway. This would be akin to Denny's give-away last month of the Original Grand Slam Breakfast during an 8-hour period. The Denny's promotion was a marketing success: the restaurant made Google's top 40 searches list and Twitter's top spots at #1 and #7.

The lessons might be: set your give-aways for a limited time that all your stores can tolerate, sell something for less than a dollar and don't try to lead the customer to slightly higher prices on the same promotional menu, and offer only dollar items that you can maintain for a long while. If the purpose is to maintain the loyal base, hunker down with your customers for the duration.

Actually, I wouldn't mind a Recovery Menu. Maybe tie it to the market. But not yet.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Budget Lunches: $1 Fast Food

In New York you can still buy lunch for a dollar albeit with fewer choices than a few years ago. You'll be buying from a street vendor but a hot pretzel is pretty tasty even if you're holding it with gloves and eating while moving.

In the South, we don't have many (any) food vendors, other than silver trucks at construction sites. And, of course, we don't have many (any) construction sites anymore.

But we do have dollar lunches. At our drive-thrus. Thus, we eat while moving, too. (For the record, New Yorkers have fast food restaurants, too. And they also have the dollar menus. I know, because I've stood in their long lines in order to make Manhattan meals affordable.)

McDonald's very successful $1 menu keeps it the #1 drive-thru chain. (Boomers will remember when the hamburger cost just 15¢.)

Sonic's dollar menu offers a mix of fat and fruit; see image above for detailing of fried foods and.... a banana! Go during Happy Hour and you can even beat the price of the $1 soft drink on the dollar menu. (So, my mid-afternoon lunch today was the $1 hamburger and the half-priced diet Coke. Ah, but then I went and more than doubled the tab when I added the bag of ice.)

Wendy's Super Value Menu highlights its 99¢ Value Trio (burgers and a chicken sandwich). Wendy's also is "auctioning" money, cars, and Xboxes online. (No clear indication of how this works, but I did register so that I can go take a look later this week....)

Dollar menus are offered at Burger King, Taco Bell, and local burger shacks, too. No one can be making a profit on these items (well, maybe a profit on fries) but they do bring in customers who sometimes buy from the regular menu, too. Or, in my case, add a bag of expensive ice. I think the real purpose is to keep Americans in their fast food habit. If tight budgets were to make us give up fast food, we'd fall into other daily patterns.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Fast Food Senior Discount

My first senior discount. (Well, I'm not counting AARP discounts at motels.)

When I reached the pay window at Taco Bueno today (selected for lunch because it has drive-through and the temperature outside was 27 degrees), this sign was visible: If you're 55 or older, you've earned a 10% discount. Just ask about it when you order.

I was past the ordering point but asked anyway. Yes, that's 40¢ off.

I had a fleeting thought about whether anyone is ever carded when claiming senior status. And another thought about 55 being awfully young to be considered senior. And a final thought that I was very happy to save almost a half-dollar.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.