Step inside a QSR, and it's easy to see an industry in flux. DoorDash bags line the wall, prep areas overtake playgrounds, and customers flash mobile apps to claim their next reward.
For restaurants, disruption uncovers opportunity—especially when they tap into data already in their systems. Let’s explore five trends setting the pace in QSR and how market leaders can use data to seize the day.
1 - Franchisees gain flexibility
Local franchisees are gaining the freedom to cater to regional tastes and dining preferences. However, the need for consistency underpins the trend. Every location must meet the same expectations for quality, nutritional transparency, and the overall customer experience.
For example, a global café chain may allow for local drink options or customization — but they still need consistency. Regional products or ingredients must always be presented transparently with the product information—especially nutritional and calorie data—that customers expect (and laws dictate).
2 - Chains pare down menus
Returning to a profitable core menu helps QSRs control their bottom line and attract customers, even in the face of inflation-driven price increases. Take it from McDonald's. The Golden Arches credits menu simplification for boosting operating income by 8% and net income by 16% last year.
QSRs can analyze product, customer, and location data to effectively tailor menus. For example, they can remove less popular items to free up space for the items and meals that hit the ideal mix of customer satisfaction and profitable margins.
3- Suppliers want better collaboration
Today’s diners desire healthy, sustainably sourced ingredients on menus. But this presents a supply chain challenge. By regionalizing the supply chain, QSRs can offer fresher ingredients, reduce their carbon footprint, and meet other compliance and ESG-related goals.
Part of this equation is supplier-QSR collaboration. Since the pandemic, suppliers have gained a more prominent voice and are viewed as integral partners in operational success.
In this environment, tapping into supplier data is a win-win for everyone—the QSR, the supplier, and even the customer. Chipotle, for example, navigated ‘The Great Carnitas Shortage’ with greater ease thanks to its use of well-managed supplier data, keeping its customer loyalty intact.
4 - Loyalty programs play to win
Loyalty programs are trending up. Since the pandemic, most QSRs have either launched a loyalty program or are ramping up programs they already had in place.
Mobile loyalty programs are crucial to communicating non-price value to customers. Market leaders are winning the loyalty game by hyper-personalizing based on customers' preferences for what, when, where, and how they dine.
For example, Chipotle has a thriving loyalty program driven by customer data. Chipotle Rewards has more than 30 million members — one of the largest in the industry. Using data-driven insights, they’ve built a program that helps boost sales and traffic, brings in highly loyal customers, and creates a feedback loop that drives greater optimization.
5 - Reconstructing to meet delivery channel demand
Another aspect driving loyalty is the rise of mobile apps, either brand-owned or via DoorDash / Uber Eats. Digital delivery channels grew 1,3443% from 2019 to 2022 and continue to dominate the online customer experience in QSR.
To adapt, QSRs are pairing digital strategies with reconfiguring the physical establishment to support efficient drive-thru, curbside, and pick-up orders.
This is another area where Chipotle is leading the way. Tapping into data insights, they launched ‘Chipotlanes’ — a method of order pick-up optimized around supply and demand.
Restaurant Dive reports that although Chipotlanes represent about a quarter of the chain’s system, they have hundreds of basis points of higher margins. Chipotlanes typically have about 15% higher sales than a traditional Chipotle restaurant, and the current average unit volume is over $3 million.
Data makes fast food ‘faster’
QSRs can achieve significant and tangible business benefits across domains like product, customer, supplier, location, and more. In fact, there’s so much data opportunity that it’s not always clear where to start. To avoid this analysis paralysis, here's our advice:
First, determine what business objectives you’ll prioritize.
These goals typically come from the top and fall into the buckets of lowering cost, increasing revenue, or mitigating risk.
Let’s say, for example, the C-suite challenges your organization to increase revenue per customer. Meeting this goal may point you to ensuring your customer data is clean, accessible, and actionable to drive hyper-personalized experiences that boost revenue per customer.
Second, align your business objectives with a strategic data roadmap.
Your plan should include achievable chunks or milestones. Once you've achieved adoption and quick wins, you’ll have a clear picture of how the project is going and what you need to tackle next.
Third, focus on enrollment.
The third step—which happens in tandem—is to focus on enrollment. In other words, how can you get teams and employees across disciplines involved in your data program and invested in its success? User adoption is one of the most significant success metrics in MDM for good reason.
In the competitive QSR landscape, tapping into data helps you stand out as a leader. For tangible ideas of how data delivers business benefits, download our new guide, Can Data Make Fast Food Faster? below.
