Jack in the Box to debut ‘Brunchfast’Jack in the Box to debut ‘Brunchfast’

Jack in the Box hopes to shake up the increasingly competitive breakfast daypart with the launch this week of a new platform: Brunchfast.

In a presentation Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Retail, Restaurant & Consumer Forum, Jack in the Box brand president Frances Allen unveiled the platform of premium brunch items that she said would “blaze a new trail for a so-far-untapped daypart.”

The new items, which will be available all day, every day, include:

The bacon-and-egg chicken sandwich. Photo: Jack in the Box

• A bacon-and-egg chicken sandwich on a toasted English muffin with Jack in the Box’s homestyle chicken filet, hickory-smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, bacon mayo and a fried egg.
• The Brunch Burger, served on a croissant with mayonnaise, a fried egg, bacon, cheddar and a beef patty.
• The Southwest Scrambler Plate, with scrambled eggs and roasted peppers, diced green chiles and pepper Jack cheese, served with homestyle potatoes and a choice of bacon or sausage.

“And, while we won’t offer a mimosa, we are offering a delicious blood orange cooler to wash it all down,” Allen said.

Pricing for the new platform was not immediately available, but Allen described the items as more premium in price. In tests, the products sold well all day, she said.

The new platform comes after Jack in the Box upgraded its core menu and launched a successful line of Buttery Jack burgers, as well as a Brewhouse Bacon Burger and garlic fries earlier this year. Those upgrades have won high marks from consumers, Allen said, and improved the chain’s value perception.

But with McDonald’s offering breakfast all day in some units, and Taco Bell growing its breakfast business, the morning daypart has become a battleground. Starbucks is also reportedly testing brunch items on the weekends, like Belgian waffles. 

The Southwest scrambler plate. Photo: Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box’s new brunch items “will be a wonderful counter to some of the aggressive breakfast activities that are going on in the marketplace, and that we believe will continue to go on,” Allen said.

“We see Brunchfast as a real alternative. It’s zigging when others zag,” she added. “It’s something no one else is doing in this segment, just like we did with late night.”

The new items play to Jack in the Box’s strengths, she said. Breakfast, which has long been available all day, and late-night items account for about 40 percent of Jack in the Box sales.

The Brunchfast platform will be supported by TV advertising featuring the brand’s giant-cueball-headed Jack mascot, Allen said.

For the July 3-ended third quarter, Jack in the Box reported a 1.1-percent increase in systemwide same-store sales, including 1.5-percent growth at franchised locations.

Earlier this year, Lenny Comma, Jack in the Box Inc. chairman and CEO, said consumers were suffering from “deal fatigue,” and discounting efforts in the quick-service world were not penetrating as they once were.

Although the new brunch items are upgraded products at a higher price, Allen said the platform will include both limited-time offers and value items down the road.

San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. operates and franchises 2,254 Jack in the Box units and 688 Qdoba Mexican Eats restaurants across the country.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected]
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout