PHOTO: ENVATO
CAN TARGETED, DISCOUNT-DRIVEN MARKETING HELP TURN THINGS AROUND?
size-fits-all messaging. Here’s the problem: Broad-based marketing campaigns can still work really well. McDonald’s Grinch meal is flying off the shelves. Burger King’s SpongeBob meal appears to be having similar results. Starbucks’ “Bearista” cups were a huge hit. Much of Chili’s success has come from advertising $10.99 meal deals and from an appetizer platter going viral on TikTok. Sure, those brands may not be able to trace all of those transactions back to known customers and email them next week with a special offer. But at the end of the day, traffic is far better than no traffic. Ultimately, this isn’t an either/or situation. To succeed right now, restaurants have to appeal to the masses and to their most frequent, valuable customers. Neither is easy, and both come with risks. But some brands are putting an awful lot of faith in loyalty programs that still have a lot to prove.
market to them in the future. It’s not necessarily a bad strategy. Dave’s Hot Chicken did something similar earlier this year, offering a free chicken sandwich to new loyalty members, and its mobile app jumped to the top spot in the Apple app store as people flocked to sign up. But gaudy membership numbers don’t make a loyalty program effective. And if people join only for a one-time freebie or deal, they may not be all that loyal in the long run. So is leaning into loyalty the right strategy, right now, for Sweetgreen, which is suffering from a negative value perception that is having a real impact on its traffic? Again, it’s a big if. Cracker Barrel is facing a multitude of issues, all stemming from its unfortunate logo debacle. It needs to cut costs, and it will spend less on traditional advertising. But it hopes its loyalty program can help it stay in
touch with its biggest fans while it focuses on fixing things in its restaurants. The chain is in a uniquely difficult situation, and this move is somewhat understandable. But it’s not the only brand taking this approach. The Cheesecake Factory is also devoting more marketing dollars to its loyalty program, in part because it can more easily measure the ROI. (With a loyalty program, “I’m going to know whether or not you came back in. I’m going to know what I offered to you,” explained President David Gordon at a recent investor conference.) Cheesecake believes it can get an extra one or two visits per year from frequent customers by dangling offers through its program. It’s part of a growing focus on personalization in restaurant marketing, with the general thesis being that tailored offers and ads are more effective than one-
JANUARY 2026 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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