Fast Food & Beverage Brands Are Using Data to Grow Profits

Fast Food & Beverage Brands Are Using Data to Grow Profits
By Dwayne Reno

In the age of information having the right data can help almost anyone grow their business into a major success story and many fast food brands already know this. With competition on the rise many fast food chains and beverage companies have started to use data to help them increase profits. This month I would like to look at the different ways foodservice and beverage companies are using data in their day to day operations.

Acquiring other brands
Acquisitions are on the rise. Over the past few years many food and beverage companies have started buying up smaller competitors. Recently RBI (Restaurant Brands International) the parent company of Tim Hortons and Burger King made headlines when they announced it would be acquiring the American fried chicken franchise, Popeyes. While the details surrounding the deal are still hush, a very recent report titled “Fried Chicken is taking over the Fast Food Industry," may give us some insight into why RBI has decided to spend US$1.8 billion to acquire Popeyes.

The report stated that “of the 100 biggest restaurant chains in the US, three of the five fastest-growing are chicken concepts.” The report also stated that “the chicken sector has been the No. 1 category in the fast-food business by purchase consideration since last April, when it eclipsed the burger sector.” So it’s safe to say that the Popeyes acquisition will give RBI a huge percentage of the growing fried chicken market.

Expanding into new markets
Apart from data helping with acquisitions we are also seeing brands use data to help them find new markets to setup shop. We know Fried chicken concepts are all the rage so it’s no surprise that we are seeing an increase in fried chicken restaurants and menu items popping up everywhere! In late 2015 Jollibee, the largest Asian restaurant company and global fast-food chain announced it would be officially coming to Canada. Jollibee has since opened its first Canadian location in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It also plans to open three more stores in Canada at Winnipeg Northgate, Scarborough, and Mississauga.

Launching new products
In Feb 2017, beverage giant Coca Cola announced the addition of two new flavors to their product line. The beverage giant also admitted that the new flavors were a result of data collected from their Coke Freestyle machines. It seems that as customers are making their purchase the Coke Freestyle machines have been collecting that data for Coke.

However, Coca Cola is not the only well know brand using machines to collect consumer data. Recently David Trimm, Wendy's chief information officer, announced that Wendy’s will be adding self-ordering kiosks at 1000 U.S. locations. He also said that mobile ordering and payment via smart phone will eventually takeover kiosks and cash registers.

Trimm’s announcements come as no surprise since McDonald’s and others have already implemented self-ordering Kiosks at many of their U.S and Canadian locations. Pressure to grow profits and adhere to changing consumer behavior has since shifted many fast food brands towards mobile pay and ordering because of its data collection implications.

The collection of data may well have been the reason why Starbucks was the early leader in mobile pay and ordering. Great move for Starbucks, as mobile pay and ordering now represents 18% of all in-store transactions for Starbucks Canada with over 1 million active users.

Until next time your customers want to know why they should spend money at your restaurant, bar or cafe. So give them the goods!