Bracketology Meets the Grocerant Economy: How Jollibee Turns March Madness into a Loyalty Marketing Power Play

 

Every March, the frenzy surrounding the NCAA basketball tournament transforms television viewing, snacking habits, and restaurant traffic patterns across the United States. The tournament itself—NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament—generates billions in food spending as consumers gather at home, order takeout, or visit restaurants to watch games.

Smart restaurant brands don’t simply ride that wave—they engineer marketing programs designed to capture it.

That’s precisely what Jollibee is doing with its March Madness-style menu bracket promotion, which pits eight menu items against each other in social-media voting while rewarding customers through the brand’s loyalty program. On the surface, it looks like a fun fan engagement stunt. In reality, it’s a well-timed marketing tactic that intersects three powerful food industry growth drivers:

1.       Loyalty program expansion

2.       Digital engagement and gamification

3.       Portable, craveable meal occasions tied to live sports viewing

In today’s rapidly evolving “grocerant economy,” those three factors are increasingly determining which brands win market share.

 

March Madness Is a $20+ Billion Food Occasion

Basketball fans may be focused on brackets, but food marketers are focused on consumption patterns.

Industry data shows:

·       Americans spend more than $20 billion on food and beverages during March Madness, according to estimates tied to viewing events.

·       Roughly 48 million Americans host or attend watch parties during the tournament.

·       Nearly 60% of viewers order takeout or delivery during games.

·       Chicken, pizza, burgers, and handheld snacks dominate the menu mix.

That consumption pattern is precisely where Fried Chicken brands thrive.

Few companies are better positioned to capitalize on that demand than Jollibee, whose signature product—Chickenjoy—is already engineered for group sharing, portability, and social eating.

 

Gamifying the Menu: The Bracket Strategy

Jollibee’s promotion mirrors the competitive structure of the NCAA tournament.

Eight menu items compete in head-to-head matchups through voting on the brand’s Instagram stories. Each week, fans vote to advance their favorite item until a champion emerges. The winning product ultimately becomes part of a BOGO (Buy One, Get One) promotion for loyalty members.

From a marketing perspective, this format accomplishes several strategic objectives simultaneously:

1. Social Media Engagement

Platforms such as Instagram have become essential for restaurant discovery and menu promotion. Polls and voting tools create micro-engagement moments that increase algorithm visibility.

2. Loyalty Program Growth

The promotions require participation through the Jollibee Rewards program, converting casual followers into identifiable customers with trackable purchasing behavior.

3. Menu Data Insights

Every vote becomes market research. Brands can identify which products resonate most with consumers, which items trigger impulse demand, and which may benefit from additional promotion.

In other words, the bracket isn’t just entertainment—it’s crowdsourced menu intelligence.

 

Loyalty Programs Now Drive Restaurant Traffic

Across the restaurant industry, loyalty programs are rapidly becoming the backbone of digital marketing.

According to industry data:

·       Over 80% of major quick-service restaurant chains now operate loyalty programs.

·       Loyalty members typically spend 15%–25% more per visit than non-members.

·       Personalized promotions increase repeat visits by as much as 30%.

Companies like McDonald's, Starbucks, and Chipotle Mexican Grill have proven that loyalty ecosystems can generate billions in incremental sales.

For rapidly expanding brands like Jollibee, loyalty programs also help introduce new consumers to the brand while building habitual purchasing behavior.

 

Why Chicken Dominates Game-Day Dining

The menu items featured in Jollibee’s bracket include premium sides and burgers made with Angus Beef, but the hero category remains chicken.

That’s not accidental.

Chicken is now the fastest-growing protein category in foodservice, with several structural advantages:

·       Lower cost volatility than beef

·       High portability for takeout and delivery

·       Strong appeal across multicultural consumer segments

In fact, chicken-centric chains are among the fastest-growing restaurant concepts in the U.S.

Examples include:

·       Chick-fil-A

·       Wingstop

·       Raising Cane's

Jollibee’s differentiation lies in its global flavor profile and cult-favorite fried chicken recipe, which has helped the brand build passionate fan bases in both Asia and North America.

 

The Rise of the “Second Screen” Marketing Economy

Another reason this campaign works is timing.

Today’s sports viewers rarely watch games with a single screen. Instead, they move constantly between television and mobile devices.

That creates a perfect environment for real-time marketing interaction.

While watching a tournament game on television, consumers can simultaneously vote in the bracket, check promotions, or place a mobile order.

That behavioral shift is redefining food marketing.

Consumers are no longer passive viewers—they are active digital participants.

 

The Grocerant Guru® Perspective

From the viewpoint of the Grocerant Guru®, Jollibee’s March promotion reflects a larger transformation in how food brands drive demand.

Restaurants are no longer just selling meals. They are selling experiences, engagement, and participation.

The most successful brands now operate at the intersection of:

·       Entertainment

·       Digital community

·       Food convenience

Jollibee’s menu bracket taps all three.

 

Grocerant Guru® Insights

1. Gamification Will Become Standard in Food Marketing

Expect more restaurant brands to adopt tournament-style promotions, voting competitions, and social media “food battles.” Consumers increasingly want to participate in brand storytelling, not just consume products.

2. Loyalty Ecosystems Are the New Marketing Currency

In the future, the most valuable restaurant asset won’t be store count—it will be loyalty membership scale and engagement frequency. Brands that build strong digital communities will dominate both traffic and data-driven marketing.

March Madness may crown a basketball champion each year.

But in the evolving grocerant economy, brands like Jollibee are proving that the real winners are the companies that turn cultural moments into interactive food experiences.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Time to Get Krystal Side Chik Bracket Challenge on Tiktok

 

College hoops are driving office conversations once again, family debates, and friendships. So, you know that Krystal, is the home of the original slider.  Now Krystal is heating up March brackets by launching its Side Chik Mania. Starting March 28, (in two days), TikTok will be heating up with a debate on the ultimate Side Chik. Joining in on the debate will be Victor Cruz, who will crown his Ultimate Side Chik through his TikTok bracket.

In case you did not know, the bracket starts with four Side Chiks; Spicy Chik, Donut-Glazed Sweet Chik Biscuit, Donut-Glazed Spicy Chik Biscuit, and of course the Classic Chik. After the initial matchup, the filter puts the winner to the final matchup. Fans of the fast-food chain can submit their picks, rating their favorite versions of the slider-sized chicken sandwiches. All users must do is tilt their head to the Side Chik of their choice.

Now, the Ultimate Side Chik will be chosen by fans and is based on the Side Chik that is the winner of the greatest number of brackets on TikTok. Pending guest responses, Krystal will crown the ultimate Side Chik on April 3.

Here pay attention; as Fans should be sure to cast their vote using the TikTok filter by April 3 and keep their DMs open. Pending which Chik is crowned the Ultimate Side Chik, Krystal will be DMing fans whose brackets had the same Ultimate Side Chik and “shooting their shot” with Krystal-themed surprise and delight gifts.

Ajona “Jax” Camile, Creative Marketing Director for Krystal, stated, “We’re always aiming to tap into cultural moments, and we refuse to always ‘play by the rules.’ Getting our audience talking is the ultimate goal at Krystal,” ... “So of course, we had to put our own spin on March basketball by bringing our Side Chiks courtside for their own competition.”

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? 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.

Free Throw Bucket Yes 'Basketball Buckets' at Auntie Anne’s

 

Will you be stuck in the office with friends, as family gather together to watch the NCAA Tournament College Basketball Tournament.  March Madness as it is known has become a platform for restaurants to leverage the unique skill set to sell fresh full-flavored food for delivery, leveraging technology aka App’s that digital natives and Millennial’s love.

Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, stated, branded hand-held- food for immediate consumption is the perfect way for restaurants and all food retailers to drive top-of mind- awareness with NCAA Tournament enthusiast.

As College basketball’s biggest tournament is approaching and Auntie Anne’s is helping fans celebrate by upping their game day snacks with the return of the guest-favorite Basketball Buckets. Available for purchase in-store and via pick-up or delivery through the Auntie Anne’s mobile app from March 10 - April 6, customers can choose from: 

·         Free Throw Bucket – The limited-edition Basketball Bucket is filled with your choice of Original Pretzel Nuggets, Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Nuggets, or Mini Pretzel Dogs; and serves up to five people.

·         3-Pointer Bucket Trio – Includes three limited-edition Basketball Buckets with one bucket each of Original Pretzel Nuggets, Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Nuggets, and Mini Pretzel Dogs; and serves up to fifteen people.

 Plus, Auntie Anne’s Buckets to Buckets Sweepstakes is back! For every bucket scored during the March college basketball men and women’s tournament, Auntie Anne’s will award one free Pretzel Bucket to a Pretzel Perks Member – giving away up to 10,000 buckets. All you have to do is be a Pretzel Perks Member before the championship game ends, and you’ll be entered into the sweepstakes. 

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

Jersey Mike’s Partnering with FanHub for College Football Season

 

Fall football season garners college sports fans from a bygone era to today’s students. Restaurant chains with a goal to expand their brands relevance while driving new electricity are wise to follow the lead of Jersey Mike’s this fall according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

With college football season is underway, most of you know that Jersey Mike’s Subs has teaming up with FOX Sports to celebrate by offering a College Football Trivia and Rose Bowl Stadium Sweepstakes when it hits the road this fall for the multi-city Jersey Mike’s Tailgate Tour. The tour will feel better than two shots in the arm so you can attend.

Partnering with FanHub to drive incremental relevance to many and clearly a sense of immediacy, Jersey Mike’s will celebrate its return by releasing trivia games for 49 participating NCAA football schools, including five questions for each developed by team insiders. Fans can download Jersey Mike’s app to play.

So, upon completion of the trivia quiz, fans will be automatically entered in a sweepstakes for a chance to win a VIP trip for four to Rose Bowl Stadium to celebrate America’s New Year’s Celebration, which includes game tickets, round trip airfare, hotel, Rose Parade presented by Honda tickets, pre-game hospitality area and private tour of the FOX Studios in Los Angeles. In addition, trivia players will be rewarded with six Shore Rewards points to redeem in store, in-app or online.

Rich Hope, Chief Marketing Officer, Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems, stated, “We are looking forward to working with FOX Sports and connecting with hungry college football fans across the county”…  “Our goal is to deliver a fun, interactive game day experience and introduce fans to our mobile app.”

With this partnership FOX Sports has agreed to air 30-second commercial spots promoting the sweepstakes. The Jersey Mike’s Tailgate Tour will also visit local FOX affiliates in tour locations, providing staff members with a free lunch and a chance to participate in the tailgate experience in the days leading up to select games. In-store display signage will remind guests to download the app and play the sweepstakes/trivia game.

Robert Gottlieb, Executive Vice President, Marketing, FOX Sports, stated, “We are thrilled to team up with Jersey Mike’s for what promises to be an exciting college football season,”… “As we welcome fans back into stadiums and tailgates, we are eager to elevate the college football fan experience in unique ways across this multi-city tour.”  

Get this, in addition to its first stop at the University of Minnesota, the 14-week college tailgate tour will make stops at Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Rutgers, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Florida State, Clemson, Arizona State, Texas, USC and Washington, culminating in the final stop at Rose Bowl Stadium on Jan. 1, 2022.

Extending the brands reach, the fully customized tailgate trailer will give football fans a chance to sample Jersey Mike’s authentic fresh sliced subs, download the app to enter Jersey Mike’s College Football Trivia and Rose Bowl Stadium Sweepstakes, and experience other game day fun including:

·         Outdoor lounge with Adirondack chairs and picnic benches

·         “The Juice” mobile device charging station

·         Corn hole lawn games

·         Interactive kiosk display

·         Giveaways

·         FOX Sports “Cleatus” character appearances and live game action on outdoor TV

The branded trailer will be placed in high traffic locations on each campus near tailgaters and stadium entrances for up to five hours before kickoff.  So, how is your branding extending your brand invitation this fall?

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”  That said, what are you waiting for?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? 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.

At Bojangles Fall and Football Go Hand-In-Mouth

 

It’s that time of year when students are returning to college campuses and college football is about to take center stage.  If you are thinking about watching a college football game you are also considering just what kind of hand-held food for immediate consumption you are going to enjoy when watching the game according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The team at Bojangles knows that, if there’s one thing better than college football in the South, it’s Bojangles and college football together.

That said, it's only right that the home of Southern chicken and biscuits is welcoming two of the nation’s most exciting players – quarterbacks DJ Uiagalelei of Clemson and Sam Howell of UNC-Chapel Hill – to Team Bojangles.

Now get this, these two high profile budding superstars have agreed to Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with the Bojangles brand, becoming the first college athletes to say, “It’s Bo Time!”

Jackie Woodward, chief brand and marketing officer for Bojangles, stated, “College football is a huge passion point for Bojangles and our fans, so we are excited to be able to work with the athletes that make this sport so great,” … “These local stars have enjoyed our delicious food to fuel their athletic careers, and we’re thrilled to officially be part of their journey.”

Bojangles, is one of the first major quick-service restaurants to sign endorsement deals with college athletes, and Bojangles doesn’t plan to quit any time soon. Woodward says the company is looking to add more men and women college athletes to “Team Bojangles” across its growing footprint in a variety of sports.

The company said, Bojangles and sports partnerships go together like Cajun Filets and made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits. (you have to love that) The chain already has well-established deals with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). In addition, Bojangles has relationships with Dale Earnhardt Jr., PGA golfer Chesson Hadley, Bassmaster fisherman Guy Eaker and outdoorsman Brad Staley.

Each football season Bojangles also offers enormously popular Big Bo Boxes – family-sized meals perfect for tailgating – in partnership with more than a dozen universities across its territory. This year the team at Bojangles want every football fan to say “It’s Bo Time!”

Woodward continued, “Sam is a known chicken connoisseur and a powerhouse athlete whose love for the game and serving the community line up well with who we are as a brand, and we’re thrilled to have him on Team Bojangles,”. “And DJ is a rising star at one of college football’s most competitive and highly visible programs, so we’re excited to have him on our roster at the same time.”

Keep your eye out for them as both athletes will get to work right away, making appearances on behalf of Bojangles and sharing content on their personal social media accounts. Howell’s recently announced partnership with TABLE, a non-profit that provides hunger relief to children, will be among the first opportunities for Bojangles to support his passion for the community. But fans of the QBs needn’t worry – their brand ambassador duties won’t distract from their efforts to excel on the gridiron or in the classroom.

“Being able to combine my love for chicken with my personal commitment to support great causes in my community like TABLE is a perfect partnership,” says the Tar Heels’ Howell, who will be a third-year starter after breaking UNC’s single-season record with 35 touchdown passes in his freshman campaign. “On gameday, I wear Carolina Blue, but off the field, I’m looking forward to repping a little Bojangles red and yellow.”

“Coming from California, I’ve learned that this area is serious about three things – faith, college football and their Bojangles,” says Uiagalelei, a sophomore expected to claim the starting quarterback role with the highly ranked Tigers. “I’m excited to be working with a brand that has become my go-to since coming down here.”

In case you did not know, the NCAA moved to allow college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness, effective July 1, 2021. The NIL landscape is new and will likely continue to evolve, but with Sam and DJ at the helm, Team Bojangles is destined for greatness. Stay tuned for who suits up for Bojangles next. Is your brand looking a season ahead?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter