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How burger franchise Wayback Burgers taps into food holidays for marketing successHow burger franchise Wayback Burgers taps into food holidays for marketing success

President Pat Conlin explains how holidays like National Cheeseburger Day lead to record sales

Sam Oches, Editor in Chief

November 14, 2024

If you feel like there is a holiday for everything, it’s because there is a holiday for seemingly everything.

According to timeanddate.com, there’s Old Rock Day (January 7), Barbershop Quartet Day (April 11), and Uncommon Musical Instrument Day (July 31). The day this story is published is both Spicy Guacamole Day and Pickle Day.

While it may be easy to dismiss these bogus holidays as silly and unnecessary, at least one restaurant chain has found big opportunity in them. Wayback Burgers, a better-burger franchise with about 150 locations in the U.S., has built marketing campaigns around both National Hamburger Day (May 28) and National Cheeseburger Day (September 18) with big results: According to company president Pat Conlin, Wayback Burgers boasted a 29 percent sales boost on this year’s National Cheeseburger Day by offering a buy-one-get-one deal for customers.

Conlin joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches to talk about why marketing around things like food holidays has become such a boon for Wayback Burgers and how the company taps into its franchise community to drum up some of its best marketing ideas.

In this conversation, you’ll learn more about why:

  • If quality can’t be a differentiator, then service must be

  • Bogus holidays are low-hanging fruit for your marketing efforts

  • Engaging kids in your marketing — and even your R&D — is a win-win

  • Guest acquisition is a churn you have to constantly work on

  • The smallest marketing touches can make a big difference

Related:CEO of Houston based franchise Crust Pizza Co. is setting chain up for major growth

Contact Sam Oches at [email protected].

About the Author

Sam Oches

Editor in Chief

Sam Oches is an award-winning Editorial Director with Informa Connect Foodservice and editor in chief of Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. A graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Sam previously served as Editorial Director of Food News Media, publisher of QSR and FSR magazines. He’s a past president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC) and a past board member with the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). His foodservice insights have been shared in national media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, and CNBC. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three kids.

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