CHICKEN FOR BREAKFAST

OVERVIEW

Breakfast was once viewed as the most important meal of the day but that perception has been trending downward, negatively affecting restaurant visitation. Competition for the day part remains fierce.

CHALLENGE

Faced with declining transactions at breakfast and an imminent price increase on the perennial local breakfast offer of “2 for $4 Sausage McMuffin with Egg,” Davis Elen looked to data and research to address the situation.

We did a comprehensive deep dive into secondary data that included:

We also conducted a real-time mobile survey of Southern California consumers to learn if chicken at breakfast was something they did while giving us additional insight into preferences among various ethnic segments.

“Best Bets” from other co-ops with positive two-year comps on breakfast sales and guest counts.
A competitive audit.
Results from markets already offering chicken at breakfast, including weekly-reported units, gross margins and items most often purchased at the same time.

INSIGHTS AND STRATEGY

Offering a non-traditional breakfast item would generate demand, especially in Southern California, an area used to more traditional breakfast items. Leveraging the proven preferred taste of McChicken, combined with the uniqueness of McGriddles at a lower price, would significantly elevate McDonald’s above the competition.

Based on Davis Elen’s analytics and consumer insights, we recommended launching: 2 for $3 Chicken Biscuit & McGriddles with a full advertising window. We had a winning combination of new breakfast news, a favorable flavor profile for the market and an excellent value proposition. This was reflected in our projections for units reported weekly, incremental sales, guest counts and cash flow per week.