More restaurants are discovering that targeting consumers in the workplace has become a vital part of their marketing strategy to spark new-product sales, generate repeat business and introduce concepts in new markets.
Though that’s not a new tactic, chains are recognizing the growing importance of reaching consumers where they work, as Arby’s Restaurant Group did this summer. Because nearly 60 percent of U.S. office workers spend lunch breaks at their desks looking for distractions, according to Los Angeles-based Kelton Research, Arby’s partnered with NBC Universal to become the sole sponsor of
In late August, KFC delivered its new “$2.99 Deals” to office workers in three cities to generate product awareness of the meals, which are intended for employees looking for a bargain-priced lunch.
Franchisees of such chains as Dairy Queen, Dave & Busters and Subway have targeted office workers with gift certificates. Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchisee with 345 units, and a three-unit Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers franchisee in Columbus, Ohio, recently launched programs geared to employees.
The programs are particularly important for stimulating trial of new products and building relationships with consumers to generate repeat business, said Jerry Allsbrook, chief marketing officer of Boddie-Noell, based in Rocky Mount, N.C.
Last fall, the company partnered with Cleveland-based WorkPlace Media, a marketing firm specializing in employee-targeted initiatives, to distribute gift certificates for the new Jalapeno Thickburger. The program produced a 10 percent redemption rate, which Allsbrook called a “pretty good return on investment.”
Boddie-Noell also uses employee-targeted programs for its Texas Steakhouse & Saloon, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Café Carolina and Bakery franchises, with redemption rates running as high as 15 percent to 20 percent, he said.
The company’s current program targets employees with certificates, distributed in paycheck envelopes, for the Hardee’s Patty Melt Thickburger, Blueberry Biscuit and Big Chicken Fillet Sandwich.
Boddie-Noell uses WorkPlace Media’s mapping system to target companies of about 25 employees and more within three miles of its Hardee’s units.
The employee-focused program is a “pretty important piece” of Boddie-Noell’s media mix, which includes TV, radio, print and outdoor advertising, Allsbrook said.
The three-unit Raising Cane’s views employee-targeted campaigns as a way to zero in on customers more effectively than mass marketing, according to co-owner Tim McCarthy Jr.
“It cuts through everything else and goes directly to a particular individual as opposed to the masses,” he said. “It gets to a person we believe is more of a repeat customer, someone with more potential to have disposable income.”
The initial offering for Raising Cane’s, which also works with WorkPlace Media, was a free meal called The Box Combo, containing four chicken fingers, French fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and a drink, McCarthy said.
“It’s such a powerful way to get to the employee, and that’s why we do a free box with no strings attached,” he said. “It’s much more of an incentive to get someone in the door.”
About 30,000 certificates were sent to employees within three miles of one of the Raising Cane’s units, and 30 percent were redeemed, he said.
“[Normally] you send out something and you hope to get 2 or 3 percent redemption,” McCarthy said.
He has no hard data on how many of those customers came back again—to spend money for a meal—but “we certainly talked to everyone who came in after their first experience, and we did have a majority of the customers repeat.”
Raising Cane’s doesn’t want to overdo meal giveaways, McCarthy said, but will consider them as it expands throughout central Ohio and into Cincinnati and Cleveland.
“When we open up new locations we certainly would love to introduce ourselves that way,” he said. “A consumer with a new brand like us doesn’t want to risk their hard-earned money to come in and check you out, especially if they don’t know the brand.”