Leaders from Craveworthy Brands, Freebirds World Burrito and Velvet Taco outlined their approach to value in the promotionally competitive marketplace on Tuesday.
Sharing their approaches Tuesday at the CREATE Dallas Road Show, sponsored Johnsonville Foodservice, were: Becca McKintyre, vice president of culinary and supply chain at Chicago-based Craveworthy; Alex Eagle, CEO of Austin, Texas-based Freebirds World Burrito; and Clay Dover, CEO of Dallas-based Velvet Taco.
Among a wide range of topics, the leaders discussed how their restaurants provide value without discounting.
McIntyre of Craveworthy, which has 14 brands from Mongolian barbecue to cookies, said quality is important.
“It’s knowing what your guest base is,” McIntyre said. “It is finding the quality that matches what the guest wants. I had a former boss who said it’s selling a Lexus when they want a Toyota or Ford. If you are trying put out a product at a price point the customer doesn’t want to pay, you’ll find yourself discounting to get those guest in.”
Eagle of Freebirds World Burrito said value is something that guests will tell the brand.
“In our case, some of the shift has been 40% of our sales are off-premises now,” Eagle said, comparing it to less than half that before for coronavirus pandemic, which was declared in March 2020.
“We did some technology stack changes that that did cause us to struggle a bit with accuracy,” Eagle said. “So in our case value comes in the form of the order has to be on time and has to be accurate. We've tried to plus that experience up as well with getting people's names on each item.”
Service is a component of value, in Freebirds case, he added, as well as portion size.
\“We feel like we have a moment right now,” Eagle said. “We specialize in Mexican burritos and bowls somewhat a direct competitor to Chipotle [Mexican Grill]. Fifty of our 64 restaurants operate next to Chipotle, which is taking a lot of heat on the topic of portion.”
Large portion size is something Freebirds has always provided, he added, and the company has had success in promoting that.
Dover of Velvet Taco said the brand’s Weekly Taco Feature, or WTF, has been important in providing an “experience” as value for customers.
The company has offered such special weekly offers such as cricket or Mardi Gras alligator tacos.
“That's an experience that creates a connection with the brand,” Dover said. “You can create those experiences without having to discount.”
Those experiences are part of Velvet Taco’s DNA, he said. “It's a traffic driver for us as well as an opportunity for us to try new things,” he said.
The Weekly Taco Feature, which limits added skews in the back of the house, creates an opportunity to try new items as well as enhancing value, he said.
While the average taco price is $5 to $5.50, the Weekly Taco Feature can be a premium-priced item as well, such as a recent Millionaire steak and lobster taco priced at $8. “It was not discounted but priced to the market,” he said.
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