Forget leafy salads and nice little fruit cups. Big, filling, tasty and cheap are the order of the day for fast-food die-hards.
How about one of Taco Bell’s half-pound burritos? Or Burger King’s hefty Angus Bacon and Cheese Steak Burger? No need to skimp on breakfast, either, with Hardee’s Loaded Omelet Biscuit.
Over the last year, fast-food companies have rolled out new items that have hit the sweet spot with the industry’s key customers–guys between 18 and 34 who make fast food a regular part of their weekly dining experience. These power eaters, who care more about filling up cheaply than cutting calories, matter most to the restaurants’ bean counters. Although they represent only a fraction of the dining market, they buy the majority of fast food. One McDonald’s exec estimated that 20 percent of the company’s customers are responsible for 70 percent of the overall sales. Others concur.
“Premium burgers, that’s where our core customer is gravitating,” said Joe Gerbino, a Burger King spokesman. “These are not dollar-menu guys. They want a premium, indulgent sandwich.”
Burger King was among the first of the fast-food giants to flaunt a new bigger-is-better attitude. Last spring, BK introduced its line of Angus Steak Burgers, followed by its calorie-loaded Tender Crisp chicken sandwiches.
A few months later, Taco Bell kicked off its “Big Bell Value Menu,” which includes the Double Decker Taco, Half-Pound Beef-and-Potato Burrito and Grande Soft Taco.
Then Hardee’s made a splash in November with its self-titled “monument to decadence” Monster Thickburger: two-thirds of a pound of beef, four strips of bacon and three slices of cheese on a buttered bun with mayonnaise.
The power-eaters cheered, writing a flurry of e-mails to the company, according to Hardee’s. “While other restaurants were a bunch of nancy boys and became low-carb cowards in the face of moronic they-made-me-fat lawsuits, you did the AMERICAN thing,” 22-year-old burger lover John Frensley wrote to Hardee’s customer service.
The strategy appears to work. In December, Hardee’s reported a 7.3 percent sales increase over the previous year, which company execs largely attributed to the new burger. Sales of burgers made with the one-third pound Thickburger patty increased 20 percent since their introduction in 2003.
Earnings at Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, rose 20 percent in 2004.
Most fast-food companies won’t specify how much they depend on huge menu items to drive overall sales, but analysts say the point is to get consumer attention and draw people to their restaurants.
Especially the power eaters.
“The primary target with these items is the heavier user who tends to be less concerned about health and nutrition and wants to indulge in an item,” said Bob Sandelman of Sandelman and Associates, a restaurant industry research company.
That appears to play well in Chicago, where diners already have a taste for monster servings–deep-dish pizza, loaded polish sausages and “burritos as big as your head” are practically staples here.
And when many diners think fast food, they think big and filling.
“I go to Burger King when I’m craving something greasy, so I wouldn’t get a salad there,” said Daniel Jackson, 17, who eats fast food every week and was polishing off a BK sandwich in the food court at the Thompson Center on Tuesday.
Ashley Canzona, 21, has ordered the Burger King Angus Steak Burger but isn’t opposed to healthier items. “I love Wendy’s Chicken BLT salad, I could have that all the time, but I usually get the fattening stuff,” said Canzona, who was working her way through a personal pan pizza at a downtown Pizza Hut. She says she eats fast food about four times a week.
Some “premium” sandwiches are an industry response to the “fast-casual” restaurant segment, outlets such as Chipotle and Panera Bread, where customers perceive products to be fresher and on average spend more than at a traditional fast-food chain.
Restaurants also added many healthier items to their menus in the last year, mostly in answer to public criticism about their products’ poor nutritional value and lawsuits that blamed them for the nation’s obesity problem.
But even as the health crusaders inch ahead, fast-food companies continue to appeal to what industry types call the “heavy hitters.”
Pizza Hut started offering a 16-inch Full House XL Pizza, reportedly 30 percent larger than its regular pizza, but also rolled out Fit ‘N Delicious low-fat, low-carb options. McDonald’s introduced new salads, then released its beefy McGriddle breakfast sandwiches.
Health-conscious items also may get other types of customers in the door, even if they end up buying a monster burrito instead. In the early 1980s, fast-food restaurants first introduced salad bars and leaner sandwiches. The result?
“They ended up selling more burgers,” said Harry Balzar, who analyzes food trends as a vice president of market research firm NPD Group. “[Healthy options] allowed people to come in and look at the full menu … but you end up selling what you really do sell anyhow.”
At Burger King, D’Lynne Shade, 31, usually orders a Whopper Jr. and onion rings. “I don’t go to places like Burger King for a salad,” said Shade, who lives on the North Side. “Unless they put out better-quality products, it’s pointless.”
Also, fast-food fans are turned off by the price of healthier items, which tend to cost more but don’t seem to provide as much for the money. With oversize items, even if they’re a priced a bit higher, the value is clear.
“You’ve got to give core customers a deal; size is an issue,” Balzar said. “We’re looking for portion control: bigger not smaller.”
Plus, customers get a larger serving without having to make a special “supersize” request, said Paul Crnkovich, managing director at Cannondale Associates, a marketing consulting firm.
“There’s a segment looking for the bigger meal even though it’s off-trend in certain ways,” Crnkovich said. “There is still an audience that says, ‘If you’re not meeting my needs, I’ll go elsewhere.’ “
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Chew on this
Looking for more–and more? Here are some of the biggest players on the fast food block …
McDonald’s
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese
Two one-quarter pound beef patties and cheese.
Calories: 730
Fat: 40 g
Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddles
Two “griddle cake” pancakes with a sausage patty, scrambled egg and cheese.
Calories: 560
Fat: 32 g
Taco Bell
Half-pound Beef and Potato Burrito
Beef, fried potatoes, sour cream.
Calories: 530
Fat: 24 g
Burger King
Angus Bacon and Cheese Steak Burger
Beefy patty with four slices of bacon, two slices of cheese, grilled onions and steak sauce.
Calories: 710Fat: 33
Whopper with Cheese
One beef patty and two cheese slices.
Calories: 800
Fat: 49 g
Hardee’s
Monster
Thickburger
Two one-third pound beef patties, four slices of bacon and three slices of cheese.
Calories: 1,417
Fat: 107 g
Pizza Hut
Full House XL Pizza
16-inch pizza, (assuming 10 slices, plain cheese).
Calories: 4,200
Fat: 150 g
Culver’s
Jumbo Bacon ButterBurger Deluxe
Three beef patties, bacon strips and two slices of cheese on a buttered bun.
Calories: 1,100
Fat: 69 g
Fried Cheese Curds
Yellow and white cheddar cheese curds, breaded and fried.
Calories: 710
Fat: 43 g
Wendy’s
Classic Double with cheese
Two one-quarter pound beef patties with one slice of cheese.
Calories: 700
Fat: 39 g
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asneumer@tribune.com
