At Brinker International Focused Food Marketing Drives Virtual Restaurants Sales

Success does leave clues.  At Brinker they have collected curated brand marketing clues and it’s those clues that are driving the success of It’s Just Wings Brinker’s new virtual brand restaurants that is collocated within existing units according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Brinker has long understood driving top line sales and bottom-line profits required clear, focused, branded messaging that was continually evolving consumer touchpoints with relevance.

Back in the day when chain restaurant takeout sales were averaging 2.5% to 3.25% of sales it was Brinker that was the first casual dining restaurant to invest $30,000 per store to add takeout windows all based on data insights from within the chain and CyberMeals online ordering research of which our Grocerant Guru® played a big role. Today, the    

Brinker International, Inc’s CEO Wyman Roberts stated, “Sales at Brinker's It's Just Wings virtual brand are "highly incremental,".  So, get this, the concept is delivery-only. The sales at It’s Just Wings are posting $3 million in average weekly sales since debuting the last week of June, according to Wyman.

Brinker expects It’s Just Wings, the virtual delivery brand introduced by the Chili’s Grill & Bar parent in the last week of June, can grow into a $150-million-a-year business in its first year, according to Wyman. Let’s look back again, they were first to develop takeout windows for pick-up and carryout. 

Brinker has for years had some of the very best food marketing professionals on staff driving the growth of the brand, units, top line sales and bottom-line profits according to Johnson. Virtual brands driving by a consistent brand message with relevance consumer touchpoints will drive multiple concept types and food delivery formants according to Johnson.

Brinker knows this space well.  Here are some clues that will help you know some of what Brinker knows:

1.       60% of U.S. consumers order delivery or takeout once a week.

2.       31% say they use these third-party delivery services at least twice a week.

3.       34% of consumers spend at least $50 per order when ordering food online.

4.       20% of consumers say they spend more on off-premise orders compared to a regular dine-in experience.

5.       Digital ordering and delivery have grown 300% faster than dine-in traffic since 2014.

6.       70% of consumers say they’d rather order directly from a restaurant, preferring that their money goes straight to the restaurant and not a third party.

7.       57% of millennials say that they have restaurant food delivered so they can watch movies and TV shows at home.

8.       59% of restaurant orders from millennials are takeout or delivery.

9.       33% of consumers say they would be willing to pay a higher fee for faster delivery service.

10.   87% of Americans who use third-party food delivery services agree that it makes their lives easier.

11.   45% of consumers say that offering mobile ordering or loyalty programs would encourage them to use online ordering services more often.

12.   63% of consumers agree that it is more convenient to get delivery than dining out with a family.

13.   Americans who have not used a third-party restaurant delivery service say fast delivery (31%), restaurant selection (28%), low order minimums (27%) and first-use coupons (26%) would motivate them to try it.

14.   60% of restaurant operators say that offering delivery has generated incremental sales.

15.   Orders placed via smartphone and mobile apps will become a $38 billion industry by 2020.

16.   Pizza chains reported an 18% increase in customer spend from online/mobile orders vs. phone orders.

17.   Working with a third party delivery service has been found to raise restaurant sales volume by 10 to 20%.

18.   Delivery sales could rise an annual average of more than 20% to $365 billion worldwide by 2030, from $35 billion.

19.   43% of restaurant professionals said they believe third-party apps—many of which withhold data—interfere with the direct relationship between a restaurant/bar/pub and its customers.

20.   Customers who place an online order with a restaurant will visit that restaurant 67% more frequently than those who don’t. 

21.   It’s estimated that mobile orders will make up close to 11% of all QSR sales by 2020.

22.   Visits to U.S. restaurants where guests paid by mobile app increased by 50% from 2017-18.

Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.