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How one fast-food chain
found its niche serving breakfast to its faithful customers and
offering ‘young, hungry males' the big burgers they craved
The Johnson City Press - July 28, 2005
By Keisha Bratton
Press Business Writer
kbratton@johnsoncitypress.com
Hardee's has taken quite a turn in the past five years or so. Along
with its bigger-is-better burger menu, the company's racy marketing
campaign has drawn a more youthful demographic.
Restaurant Management
Group's Jack Mangan at Hardee's on West Market Street. (Ron
Campbell / Johnson City Press) |
The
heart of Appalachia, however, is different from the rest of
the country. Here, Hardee's-goers are older. They appreciate
more conservative advertising and prefer breakfast — which
represents half of some local Hardee's business.
It's Jack Mangan's job to make sure those customers are kept
happy while drawing in the “young, hungry male,” as intended
by Hardee's corporate. |
Mangan is president
and chief operating officer of Restaurant Management Group, the
fifth-largest Hardee's franchisee in the country. RMG owns and
operates 45 Hardee's in Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and
Pennsylvania. With 18 restaurants, the Tri-Cities area is RMG's
largest market.
“It truly is crucial to our success,” Mangan said while visiting
area restaurants this week. “Every program initiated and new
offerings tested are done here.”
Plenty of those have been done in the past few years. Hardee's,
which lacked a true place in the fast-food industry before, now is
known for its variety of Angus beef Thickburgers. Still strong at
breakfast, now with a low-carb bowl and loaded-with-meat burrito,
the chain's hand-dipped milkshakes also are gaining popularity.
“The Hardee's system has a really great story,” Mangan said. “It was
a tired brand that had no identity, no marquee products.”
RMG was formed in 2000, at the outset of the revamp. The company
first acquired the Tri-Cities restaurants, adding the others in 2002
— the same year RMG was named Hardee's Franchisee of the Year.
Mangan said the makeover was marked by the Star logo, which
represented the marriage of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands. Both
belong to parent company CKE Restaurants Inc. Hardee's restaurants
everywhere were updated, with those in the Tri-Cities being among
the first. Self-serve beverage bars, progressive at the time, were
added, and orders were taken out to tables to accommodate a
prepared-to-order format.
Some aspects were sacrificed for the positive changes. Since nothing
is pre-cooked, the speed of service slowed. Mangan said Tri-Citians
don't seem to mind — 60 percent of customers here use the
drive-through service.
Menu variety also decreased, but the offerings were random before.
Mangan said that while Hardee's was searching for its niche, a
smattering of foods were added to the menu but none were removed.
“We deleted a lot of peripheral items like fried chicken,” he said.
According to Mangan, research has shown that food quality,
temperature and taste have improved along with restaurant
cleanliness and overall experience ratings.
Industry magazine QSR recently named Hardee's the No. 15 chain in
systemwide sales, up one place from the 2003 ranking. At the end of
the first quarter, CKE reported earnings of $16 million or 24 cents
per share — a 52 percent increase over the prior-year quarter but
short of expectations. Nationally, Hardee's same-store sales
declined 0.1 percent. In the Tri-Cities, overall sales have been
positive since 2000, Mangan said.
“We've retained our breakfast audience, which tends to be a more
mature consumer, while attracting a younger customer, too,” Mangan
said. “The growth has been in the lunch and dinner over the past
four years.”
Though Hardee's has been known for bucking the health-conscious
trend other fast-food entities have followed, Mangan disagrees.
“If you look at all the research, the No. 1 item ordered in the
fast-food industry among men is hamburgers; no. 2 is french fries,”
he said. “One would think women would have different choices like
chicken or salad, but actually their No. 1 is french fries and No. 2
is hamburger.
“Customers today are driven by convenience, and quality is much more
important than ever before. People are willing to pay for quality,
so we've been bucking the media trend, but not necessarily the trend
of the consumer. People are eating more quality things in
moderation. Their eating habits have not changed in the past 20
years.”
For more information on RMG or local Hardee's, visit
www.rmgrestaurants.com. |
