Popeyes Stumbles with LTO’s Sales Increases Slip

Updated 10/14/2017 

Popeyes Continues to Disappoint

 Updated 10/14/2017 Once again request from Mom too go to Popeyes and get $4.00 Popcorn Chicken she saw on TV.  Once Again No Popcorn Chicken two different employees said sorry we are OUT at 11:31 AM on 10/14/2017. 

Wasted advertising dollars! Yes, however LOST my mom as a Customer for LIFE cost more than more than $4,000.  I can hear her telling her friends at church, at cards, at quilting, O’ and I might add she will be telling me every time she sees a TV ad for Popeyes that she won’t be back.   

Success does leave clues and when companies Dare to take their eyes off of the customer, no one is ever surprised when sales increases regress.  That just might be the case at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.  Within the past 6 months several of the Limited Time Offers (LTO’s) Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rollout with national advertising missed the standard of operational execution.

During three separate LTO’s this year, the staff at Foodservice Solutions® when conducting channel checks  on Advertised LTO’s by Popeyes our team was informed that the product offered was ‘Sold Out’.  Our team was persistent knowing that is was the first week of the promotion; we went back twice each week to three different locations in one ADI and all were sold out?  

The POP was up in the stores and the Ad’s kept running on TV but no product?  We wondered were franchisees upset with forced LTO offering pricing.  Dare we ask if corporate simply miss fired?  When we submitted questions to the CEO about availability, supply, TV advertising, and franchise relationships we heard nothing back.  Dare we ask if anyone has taken the eye of the customer? 

We know that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen LTO promotions helped first-quarter same-store sales increase 1.6 percent globally, but the pace of growth slowed somewhat compared with last year.  We think it might have something with product availability, marketing, messaging and respect for customers.  

The team at Foodservice Solutions® understands that with success comes growing pains. While Popeyes executives said the chain increased its domestic market share of the quick-service chicken segment to 26.3 percent, rising from 24.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015. We think that had they executed in the US consistently they could have done much better.  

The battle for share of stomach continues to expand and all retailers must be mindful that marketing, messaging, and respect for customers all must occur simultaneously. Organizational execution or lack of it cannot be justified.  Organizational execution is a brand promise that must be upheld.  

Success clue take care of your customer today. Then you can begin  Looking a Customer Ahead? Are you interested in having a Grocerant ScoreCard conducted for your retail outlets?  Contact:  Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  or Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  for more information on the booming Grocerant niche.