Article
Church's Chicken finds opportunity to test breakfast
The chain recently bought and converted 23 Mrs. Winners locations and has adapted that brand's menu to learn about the breakfast daypart.
October 15, 2009
A chain has plenty to consider as it moves into a new market, from the supply chain to media penetration for marketing support. On the menu side, operators like Church's Chicken often also consider regional taste preferences.
Church's Chicken already features different side items in its Western markets than in the Eastern United States. But with its entry into the Nashville, Tenn., market, the company added a whole new daypart — breakfast.
Last month, Church's completed the purchase of 23 Mrs. Winner's Chicken & Biscuits stores in the market. Those stores had a loyal breakfast following. And instead of simply converting the stores to the Church's menu, which focuses on the lunch and dinner dayparts, the company saw the purchase as a chance to test breakfast for the rest of the chain's U.S. stores.
Church's Chicken has tested breakfast items in the past but was far from making a decision about adding the daypart on a national scale, says Mark Williams, senior director of national field marketing for Church's Chicken. When the opportunity to purchase the Mrs. Winner's locations became available, the chain saw it as a chance to test not only the breakfast menu but operations as well.
"This gives us a full view all at one time to see what it would be like to operate in the breakfast daypart," he said.
So how does a chain take over 23 stores from a different brand at one time? Church's started by converting the stores to its own brand and menu. For the breakfast items, Church's reformulated the Mrs. Winner's items to make them the chain's own.
Church's also retained many of the Mrs. Winner's managers and asked them to help approve the new menu formulations. The managers acted as the taste panel to ensure the products were comparable to or better than the former brand's. Williams says consumer response to menu items selected based on the panel's consensus have borne out.
In the Nashville direct market area, Church's is testing several biscuits with fried products, including a steak biscuit, chicken biscuit and cinnamon roll that are offered all day. Operations procedures have been adapted to make the new biscuits as well as the chain's honey biscuit throughout the day. The stores also offer coffee, a new beverage for the chain.
Based on the results of the Nashville DMA test, Church's may extend the test to other markets and eventually launch the daypart nationally, Williams says. For now, Church's continues to study sales results and the operations procedures necessary to handle breakfast. The chain also is learning how to adapt its marketing.
"We're trying to do our due diligence and get as much learning as we can and do a slower scale expansion rather than a full rollout over a few months' time," he said.
Learning new models
From a marketing perspective, the chain has to learn what consumers look for at breakfast.
"The breakfast customer is kind of a new opportunity for us, and one that we're having to think differently, as far as how to speak to that person and what is the key attribute that person is looking for," Williams said.
The chain also has to market to the former Nashville-area Mrs. Winner's customers. As Church's began the store conversions, the company saw that sales at the unconverted Mrs. Winner's locations were picking up at breakfast.
"We haven't captured 100 percent of the existing breakfast in the converted stores," he said. "So we're working to that, and we think awareness is going to be the key, just making sure that people know when we convert to Church's that we will continue to serve breakfast and all the breakfast offerings that they were previously getting."
Church's plans to increase its local marketing efforts for each store as the conversion is complete. All 23 store conversions should be complete by the end of this month.
At the converted stores, breakfast sales are going well, and the all-day breakfast items are adding to the sales mix throughout the day, he said. Those stores also are seeing an increase in sales from the chain's bone-in chicken products.
Williams says Church's will likely start its next market test on the breakfast items in mid-2010 based on the best performing items.
"There's certainly potential," he said.
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