The Next Restaurant Battle Is Bigger Than Food: McDonald’s, Red Bull and the Fight for Consumer Occasions

 

McDonald’s is getting into the energy-drink business with Red Bull, but from my perspective as the Grocerant Guru®, the bigger story is not caffeine.

The bigger story is consumer evolution.

Consumers are no longer willing to define a restaurant visit by the traditional three meals a day, a limited beverage menu and a single transaction. They want more choices, more convenience, more portability and more reasons to visit—or order—from the brands they already know.

Restaurants that evolve with those expectations can create new revenue streams.

Those that don't risk losing customers to competitors, convenience stores, coffee chains, grocery stores and increasingly sophisticated foodservice retailers that are willing to give consumers exactly what they want.

McDonald's is betting that Red Bull can help open another door.

Beginning August 17, participating McDonald's restaurants will offer the Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer, combining Red Bull with raspberry syrup and freeze-dried dragonfruit. Customers looking to reduce calories can substitute Red Bull Zero, and participating restaurants will also sell an 8.4-ounce can of Red Bull.

McDonald's is simultaneously expanding its "dirty soda" strategy with the Vanilla Swirl, which combines Coke, Diet Coke or Coke Zero with vanilla and cold foam.

That may sound like two beverage launches.

I see something much bigger.

McDonald's Is Expanding the Day, Not Just the Menu

The restaurant industry has historically thought about dayparts in fairly rigid terms:

Breakfast. Lunch. Snack. Dinner. Late night.

Today's consumer does not.

An afternoon customer may want an energy drink rather than coffee. A teenager may want a customized dirty soda. A parent may want a meal and an energy drink for the road. A worker may want something cold and caffeinated at 3 p.m. without sitting down for another traditional meal.

That creates an enormous opportunity for restaurant chains.

Energy drinks are particularly interesting because the category has experienced significant growth at retail since 2020, with sugar-free products helping drive the expansion. Consumers increasingly view energy drinks as an alternative to coffee, and afternoon consumption gives restaurants an opportunity to create a new occasion between lunch and dinner.

That is precisely where daypart expansion becomes strategically important.

McDonald's isn't simply selling another beverage.

It is attempting to create another reason to visit McDonald's.

CPG Is Becoming Restaurant Foodservice's New Frontier

The other important piece of this strategy is the blending of CPG and restaurant foodservice.

For years, the restaurant industry largely separated itself from packaged consumer products.

Restaurants sold prepared food.

Grocery stores and convenience stores sold packaged food and beverages.

That distinction is rapidly disappearing.

Today, restaurant consumers increasingly expect recognizable CPG brands inside restaurants—and restaurants are increasingly recognizing that CPG partnerships can provide credibility, variety and incremental occasions.

Red Bull is an especially powerful example because McDonald's doesn't have to convince consumers what Red Bull is.

The consumer already knows.

That dramatically lowers the educational burden.

The restaurant gets the traffic opportunity while the CPG brand gets another distribution channel.

That is a powerful symbiotic relationship.

McDonald's Needs More Than Traffic—It Needs More Transactions and Bigger Baskets

The timing is also important.

McDonald's reported only 0.8% same-store sales growth in the second quarter, despite beverage initiatives and marketing promotions, while restaurant traffic remained weak.

That makes this beverage expansion more than a menu experiment.

It is an attempt to create incremental demand.

And that is exactly how restaurant executives should be thinking.

The question shouldn't simply be:

"What new food should we add?"

The better questions are:

What new occasion can we own?

What existing customer need can we satisfy?

What product can bring a customer into the restaurant who might not otherwise come?

What product can increase the average check without substantially increasing labor or complexity?

Those are very different questions.

The Drive-Thru May Be the Most Important Asset in This Strategy

There is another opportunity hiding in plain sight.

The drive-thru isn't simply a faster restaurant entrance.

It is a high-speed distribution platform.

Most chains continue to think about the drive-thru as a way to fulfill one order at a time.

The Grocerant Guru® sees an opportunity to think much bigger:

How many meals can one vehicle deliver?

A consumer picking up dinner for a family could potentially leave with meals for four people, an afternoon snack for tomorrow, beverages for the car and packaged products for later.

That turns the drive-thru from a transaction point into a mini foodservice distribution center.

And CPG partnerships can help make that possible.

Imagine ordering a family meal and adding an energy drink, packaged dessert, snack, bottled beverage or another ready-to-eat item for later.

The restaurant has just expanded the transaction beyond the immediate meal.

That is daypart expansion, basket expansion and channel expansion happening simultaneously.

Three Drive-Thru Ideations From the Grocerant Guru®

1. The "Add One More" Drive-Thru

Build the ordering experience around one simple question:

"What else do you need for later?"

At the speaker, app or kiosk, customers could receive highly targeted add-ons based on the order and time of day.

Breakfast could trigger an afternoon beverage.

Lunch could trigger a snack.

Dinner could trigger tomorrow's breakfast.

A family meal could trigger additional beverages or desserts.

The goal isn't to push more food.

The goal is to anticipate the next consumption occasion.

2. Multi-Meal Drive-Thru Bundles

Restaurants should create bundles specifically designed for customers picking up food for multiple people or multiple occasions.

For example:

Tonight's Dinner + Tomorrow's Breakfast + Road Beverages

The customer orders once and receives multiple consumption occasions in one drive-thru transaction.

That could increase average check while requiring relatively little incremental selling effort.

It also gives restaurants an opportunity to compete more directly with grocery stores and convenience stores for the consumer's next meal.

3. The Drive-Thru "Grab-and-Go Market"

The final opportunity is to turn part of the drive-thru experience into a miniature CPG marketplace.

Imagine a designated pickup area containing high-margin, highly portable products that customers can add to their order:

·       Energy drinks

·       Bottled beverages

·       Packaged snacks

·       Desserts

·       Breakfast items

·       Family-size add-ons

·       Ready-to-eat products

·       Limited-time CPG collaborations

The restaurant doesn't have to become a grocery store.

It simply needs to recognize that the consumer's need doesn't end when today's meal is consumed.

The Grocerant Guru® Bottom Line

McDonald's move with Red Bull is about much more than energy drinks.

It is another signal that the restaurant industry is becoming increasingly channel-blurred, daypart-blurred and occasion-blurred.

Consumers don't think in restaurant categories.

They think in needs, occasions, convenience, value and experiences.

The winning restaurant chains will increasingly look outside their traditional menus for ways to satisfy those needs.

CPG partnerships can provide restaurants with recognizable brands, incremental occasions and potentially attractive margins without requiring the restaurant to invent every product itself.

And the drive-thru may ultimately become one of the industry's most underutilized assets.

The restaurant industry spent decades teaching consumers that the drive-thru was the fastest way to get one meal.

The next generation of restaurant operators should be asking how to make it the fastest way to get several meals, beverages and consumption occasions at once.

That is where the real growth opportunity may be.

The consumer is evolving.

Restaurant chains must evolve with them—or risk watching those customers evolve right out of their brand.

Three Grocerant Guru® Takeaways

1. Own more occasions.
Don't just compete for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Build products and partnerships that create afternoon, snack, beverage and "for later" occasions.

2. Use CPG to expand the menu without reinventing the kitchen.
Strategic CPG partnerships can add recognizable products, new consumption occasions and incremental revenue while potentially limiting operational complexity.

3. Turn the drive-thru into a multi-meal distribution channel.
The next evolution of the drive-thru isn't necessarily serving more cars faster. It is serving more consumption occasions per car. The brands that learn how to put multiple meals and occasions into a single transaction could discover a powerful new source of top-line sales and bottom-line profit.

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

Burger King’s Comeback: 7 Food Marketing Lessons Restaurants Can Learn in 2026

 

BURGER KING IS EATING ITS COMPETITORS’ LUNCH, The Whopper, Better Operations, Smarter Marketing and a Return to Consistency Are Turning Burger King Into One of Fast Food’s Most Important Comeback Stories according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Burger King didn't win the second quarter of 2026 by inventing a new category.

It won by doing something much harder:

It made the familiar better.

While much of the restaurant industry is fighting for traffic, defending value perceptions and trying to convince consumers that eating out is still worth the money, Burger King delivered an 8.5% increase in U.S. comparable sales in Q2 2026.

That is not just a good quarter.

It is a warning shot.

Burger King's 8.5% U.S. comparable-sales growth was more than 10 times McDonald's 0.8% U.S. increase in the same quarter.

And the story gets even more interesting.

Burger King's results came after years of restaurant closures, franchisee changes, remodels, operational problems and a massive effort to rebuild the brand.

The company is not claiming the turnaround is finished.

In fact, Burger King executives have repeatedly indicated there is still substantial work to do.

But consumers are beginning to notice.

The Whopper is selling.

Restaurants are improving.

Families are returning.

And marketing is once again creating cultural conversation.

That combination is what makes Burger King's performance important to every restaurant operator—not just burger chains.

 

THE BURGER KING SCORECARD

7 Food Marketing Facts Burger King Is Getting Right

Food Marketing Factor	Burger King Score	What Consumers Are Seeing
Hero Product	★★★★★	Whopper improvements are driving renewed demand
Product Consistency	★★★★★	Greater alignment between advertising and actual food
Restaurant Operations	★★★★☆	Remodels and operational improvements are becoming visible
Value Strategy	★★★★☆	Value without completely surrendering the brand to discounting
Family Marketing	★★★★☆	Kids Meals and entertainment partnerships broaden the customer base
Consumer Listening	★★★★★	Direct customer feedback is influencing operations
Cultural Marketing	★★★★★	Authentic moments are generating earned attention

Overall Burger King Food Marketing Score: 32/35

Grocerant Guru® Assessment: A+

The most important word in that scorecard is consistency.

Because consumers don't reward a restaurant simply because it has one great advertisement.

They reward a restaurant when the advertisement, food, service, price and experience all tell the same story.

 

1. BURGER KING FIXED THE WHOPPER INSTEAD OF FIXING WHAT WASN'T BROKEN

This may be the smartest decision Burger King has made.

The company didn't abandon the Whopper.

It improved it.

Burger King has made changes to elements including the bun and mayonnaise, while also updating packaging and presentation. The objective was not to create a completely different hamburger. It was to make the company's most recognizable product better.

And consumers responded.

Burger King said Whopper sales increased approximately 20% during the quarter.

That is an extraordinary marketing lesson.

Consumers don't always want something new.

Sometimes they want the thing they already love—only better.

The Food Marketing Lesson

Improve the icon before replacing it.

The same principle applies to grocery deli prepared foods, convenience-store foodservice and restaurant takeout.

Find the product consumers already know.

Make it better.

Make it more consistent.

Then tell them about it.

 

2. BURGER KING IS TURNING PRODUCT QUALITY INTO MARKETING

The famous Tom Curtis Whopper-bite video became an unexpected social-media moment.

The Burger King president took a very enthusiastic bite of the Whopper at a time when McDonald's was receiving social-media criticism over how its own executive sampled a burger.

Curtis said Burger King did not create the video specifically to contrast its product with McDonald's.

The internet made the connection.

That is exactly what makes the moment valuable.

Authenticity is becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture.

When the food is genuinely good, the executive genuinely believes in it and the marketing doesn't feel overproduced, consumers can become the media channel.

Burger King didn't simply tell consumers:

“Our Whopper is better.”

It showed an executive eating it.

Then the internet did the rest.

 

3. BURGER KING UNDERSTANDS THAT VALUE DOESN'T MEAN CHEAP

Burger King is competing aggressively on value, including multi-item offers designed to give consumers a reason to choose the brand when household budgets are under pressure.

But there is an important distinction:

Burger King is not trying to make “cheap” the entire brand.

It is combining:

Price + Product + Experience + Convenience + Consistency

That is a much more sustainable equation.

Consumers want value.

But value is not necessarily the lowest price.

Value is:

What did I receive for what I paid?

That distinction will become increasingly important as restaurant prices remain elevated.

 

4. BURGER KING IS FIXING THE RESTAURANT, NOT JUST THE ADVERTISEMENT

A great hamburger served in a tired restaurant is still a tired experience.

Burger King has spent years investing in restaurant remodels and operational improvements, supported by significant franchisee investment.

The objective is bigger than making restaurants look better.

It is about improving the complete customer journey:

Parking → Ordering → Waiting → Receiving → Eating → Leaving

Burger King executives have also acknowledged that there are still restaurants that do not represent the brand as well as they should.

That admission is actually encouraging.

A turnaround is not complete because the corporate office declares victory.

A turnaround is complete when the consumer notices the difference at the restaurant level.

 

5. BURGER KING IS FINALLY MARKETING TO THE WHOLE FAMILY

For years, Burger King was often perceived as a brand heavily focused on younger male consumers.

That is not enough.

Families are one of the most valuable restaurant customer groups because one transaction can represent multiple meals and multiple future visits.

Burger King's kids-meal initiatives, including entertainment partnerships such as The Mandalorian and Grogu, helped increase Kids Meal sales while giving the brand another reason to attract families.

This is more than a promotional partnership.

It is customer acquisition.

A child who has a great Burger King experience today can become tomorrow's repeat customer.

The Grocerant Guru® Marketing Question:

Are you marketing to the person buying the meal—or everyone sitting around the table?

That distinction matters.

 

6. BURGER KING IS LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS DIFFERENTLY

Burger King President Tom Curtis began taking customer calls.

The company says more than 100,000 incoming calls have provided direct consumer feedback.

That is an extraordinary amount of unfiltered qualitative research.

One customer reportedly told Curtis that he couldn't believe the Whopper looked exactly like it did on television.

Think about the significance of that statement.

The consumer wasn't praising the advertising.

He was praising the alignment between the advertising and the product.

That is the Holy Grail of food marketing.

Advertising says:

“This is what you're going to get.”

Operations delivers:

“This is what you actually got.”

When those two statements match, trust increases.

7. BURGER KING IS REBUILDING TRUST ONE MEAL AT A TIME

This may ultimately be the biggest Burger King marketing story.

Consumers are overwhelmed.

They are hearing conflicting messages about inflation, food prices, the economy, politics, health, tariffs, wages, restaurants and virtually everything else.

They don't necessarily know which information to believe.

But they know what they experienced.

They ate the burger.

They saw the restaurant.

They paid the bill.

They received the order.

And they decide whether to return.

That makes consistency a powerful form of marketing.

In an uncertain world, consistency creates confidence.

 

THREE RESTAURANT BRANDS STILL SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT RECIPE

Burger King's success becomes even more interesting when compared with several major restaurant brands that are struggling to generate comparable momentum.

1. McDONALD'S: THE VALUE GIANT WITH A VALUE-PERCEPTION PROBLEM

McDonald's remains one of the world's strongest restaurant brands.

But its Q2 2026 U.S. comparable sales increased only 0.8%, dramatically behind Burger King's 8.5%.

McDonald's has also acknowledged execution challenges in the U.S. and changed U.S. leadership, with Skye Anderson named the company's new U.S. president.

The lesson isn't that McDonald's is suddenly weak.

It isn't.

The lesson is that even the strongest restaurant brand in the world cannot take consumer value perceptions for granted.

What Burger King is proving:

A smaller competitor can gain momentum when consumers perceive its product and experience as improving.

2. WENDY'S: THE TURNAROUND THAT HASN'T TURNED YET

Wendy's has publicly described itself as being in the early stages of a turnaround.

The numbers demonstrate why.

In Q1 2026, Wendy's U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 7.8%. Global same-restaurant sales declined 6.8%, while U.S. systemwide sales fell 7.3%. The company also ended the quarter with 164 fewer U.S. restaurants on a net basis.

Wendy's has new leadership and is working on menu, marketing and operational improvements.

But there is an enormous difference between:

“We have a turnaround plan.”

and

“Consumers are responding to our turnaround plan.”

Burger King currently has the latter.

3. PAPA JOHNS: THE CONSUMER IS TRADING DOWN—AND TRADING AWAY

Papa Johns provides another warning.

In Q1 2026, North American comparable sales declined 6.4%, while global comparable sales declined 4%. The company maintained its 2026 outlook calling for North American comparable sales to decline 2% to 4%.

That illustrates how difficult today's foodservice environment has become.

Consumers don't have to stop eating pizza.

They can simply decide that another pizza company, restaurant, grocery deli, convenience store or prepared-food option offers a better combination of:

Price + Quality + Convenience + Experience.

That is the real competitive battlefield.

 

THE BIGGER FOOD MARKETING STORY

Consumers Aren't Abandoning Restaurants—They're EDITING THEIR RESTAURANT PORTFOLIOS

This is where restaurant executives need to pay attention.

The consumer hasn't necessarily decided:

“I don't eat out anymore.”

Instead, the consumer is increasingly asking:

“Where is my money going to create the best experience today?”

That means a household may:

·       Eat at a restaurant less frequently.

·       Order takeout instead of dining in.

·       Use the drive-thru more often.

·       Buy prepared food from a grocery store.

·       Visit a convenience store for a meal.

·       Order delivery only when the occasion justifies the fees.

·       Trade down on some occasions.

·       Trade up on others.

This is the essence of the Food Channel Blurring phenomenon.

The competition isn't simply McDonald's versus Burger King.

It is every food channel competing for the same eating occasion.

 

FOUR GROCERANT GURU® INSIGHTS FOR 2026

1. CONSUMERS WANT STABILITY MORE THAN ANOTHER PROMOTION

Inflation creates uncertainty.

Consumers want to know:

What will it cost?

Will it be good?

Will I get enough?

Will my family eat it?

Will it be what the picture promised?

Brands that consistently answer those questions can reduce consumer anxiety.

Grocerant Guru® Insight:

In inflationary times, consistency becomes a form of value.

 

2. QUALITY IS BECOMING THE NEW PROMOTIONAL CURRENCY

Restaurant operators cannot discount their way to prosperity.

At some point, consumers ask:

“Why should I pay even this price?”

The answer must be compelling.

Better ingredients.

Better preparation.

Better portions.

Better packaging.

Better service.

Better experience.

Burger King's Whopper strategy demonstrates the power of putting the product back at the center of the marketing story.

Grocerant Guru® Insight:

Don't simply advertise the deal. Improve what the consumer receives for the deal.

 

3. TRUST IS MORE VALUABLE WHEN INFORMATION IS EVERYWHERE

Consumers are being exposed to an extraordinary amount of conflicting information.

Political claims.

Economic claims.

Food claims.

Health claims.

Inflation claims.

Corporate claims.

Social-media claims.

Influencer claims.

AI-generated claims.

The restaurant cannot control all of that information.

But it can control one thing:

The actual customer experience.

If the consumer sees the advertisement, receives the product and says:

“That's exactly what they promised me.”

the brand has created something much more valuable than another impression.

It has created trust.

Grocerant Guru® Insight:

When consumers don't know what to believe, they believe what they experience.

 

4. THE WINNING RESTAURANT FORMULA IS PRICE–VALUE–SERVICE EQUILIBRIUM

The restaurant industry has spent too much time treating price as the primary definition of value.

It isn't.

The Grocerant Guru® believes the winning formula is:

PRICE + VALUE + SERVICE = CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

PRICE

Is the consumer willing to pay it?

VALUE

Does the consumer believe what they received was worth it?

SERVICE

Was the experience easy, accurate, fast and consistent?

When all three work together, the consumer has a reason to return.

When one breaks, loyalty becomes vulnerable.

 

THREE ACTIONABLE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE GROCERANT GURU®

RECOMMENDATION #1: FIX YOUR HERO PRODUCT

Every restaurant brand should identify its one product consumers most strongly associate with the brand.

Then ask:

Is it actually the best version it can be?

Don't launch another limited-time offer until the answer is yes.

Burger King didn't need to invent another Whopper.

It needed to make the Whopper worth talking about again.

 

RECOMMENDATION #2: CLOSE THE ADVERTISING-TO-REALITY GAP

Take the picture from your advertising.

Put it next to the actual product.

Then ask your customers:

“Does this look like what we promised?”

If the answer is no, don't blame the photographer.

Fix the food.

Fix the packaging.

Fix the operations.

Fix the training.

Fix the consistency.

Because the best food marketing isn't what you say.

It's what the consumer receives.

 

RECOMMENDATION #3: STOP CHASING TRAFFIC—START EARNING OCCASIONS

The restaurant industry needs to stop asking:

“How do we get more visits?”

and start asking:

“Why should the consumer choose us for this occasion?”

Breakfast.

Lunch.

Dinner.

Kids' meal.

Late night.

Takeout.

Drive-thru.

Delivery.

Family meal.

Snack.

Game day.

Work lunch.

The restaurant that wins more occasions wins more customers.

And that is where the future of the Grocerant niche becomes increasingly important.

The consumer isn't loyal to a channel.

The consumer is loyal to the best answer to the occasion.

 

THE GROCERANT GURU® BOTTOM LINE

Burger King's 8.5% comparable-sales growth is impressive.

But the number isn't the real story.

The real story is what Burger King did to earn it.

It improved its hero product.

It invested in restaurants.

It focused on operations.

It used value strategically.

It expanded its family appeal.

It listened to consumers.

And it created marketing that felt authentic enough for consumers to amplify.

That is not simply a Burger King turnaround.

It is a food marketing lesson for the entire restaurant industry.

The next generation of restaurant winners will not necessarily be the companies with the loudest advertising, the biggest discounts or the most complicated technology.

They will be the brands that make consumers say:

“I know what I'm going to get.”

“I know what it will cost.”

“I know it will be good.”

“I know my family will like it.”

And most importantly:

“I trust them.”

In an era of inflation, economic uncertainty, political misinformation and information overload, that may be the most powerful competitive advantage of all.

The future of food marketing isn't simply about winning attention.

It's about earning trust—one meal, one occasion and one consistent experience at a time.

That's the Burger King lesson.

And that's the Grocerant Guru® opportunity.

Success Leaves Clues—Are You Ready to Find Yours?

One key insight that continues to drive success is this: "The consumer is dynamic, not static." This principle is the foundation of our work at Foodservice Solutions®, where Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, has been helping brands stay relevant in an ever-evolving market.

Want to strengthen your brand’s connection with today’s consumers? Let’s talk. Call 253-759-7869 for more information.