More pig and ice cream, please!
Burger King’s new summer menu of BBQ offerings and a much-talked-about bacon sundae dessert, which debuted on June 14th in the US, initially seemed to have little impact on consumer perception. But over the past two weeks the chain has had a significant run up in its quality perception with fast food eaters.
As a matter of fact, the summer menu introduction coincides with the chain’s highest quality perception level with fast food eaters for 2012, attained on June 25th.
Meanwhile, QSR competitors KFC and McDonald’s have also seen their Quality perceptions improve. KFC, while not seeing as big of an increase as Burger King, actually has a higher score. KFC has recently introduced a “two extra sides with an order of a 10-piece meal or more” promotion, accompanied by TV spots of a boy and his grandfather wrestling over “mashed potatoes” and “mac and cheese” for their order.
Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Quality score, which asks respondents: “Do you think the brand represents good or poor quality?” Results were filtered for adults 18+ who have consumed fast food in the past month.
YouGov BrandIndex measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
On the day it introduced its summer menu, Burger King’s quality score with fast food eaters was 24, while the score sagged over the next two days down to 20, it jumped sharply following that, reaching 58 on June 25th, and is currently at 51.
KFC entered June with relatively higher quality scores than Burger King, coming in at 35 on the summer menu launch compared to Burger King’s 24. Five days after staying at that level, KFC has shot up to 57, six points ahead of Burger King.
McDonald’s also seems to have taken a ride up during this same time frame: rising from 14 to 21 in quality score in two weeks, yet still well behind both Burger King and KFC.
