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Golden Krust maximizes 'golden opportunity' with Undercover Boss appearance

Golden Krust shows how to make the most of a promotional opportunity by using its CEO's upcoming appearance on Undercover Boss to gain sales, customers and brand loyalty.

May 13, 2016

­­The growing Caribbean-inspired chain, Golden Krust, has taken a clever approach to maximizing the promotional impact of the May 22 appearance of the company’s CEO on the hit CBS show, "Undercover Boss." Not only has the company come up with some innovative ways to benefit from the exposure of their chief executive’s appearance on the hour-long show, but it has also used the run-up to the show to increase business, buzz and brand loyalty. 

President and CEO Lowell Hawthorne was disguised as a new employee to get a firsthand look at how his businesses were functioning, while also getting to know what the people working on the front lines were dealing with day to day.

"Being on 'Undercover Boss' provided a golden opportunity to get an inside look from the perspective of the employee, the franchisee and the customer," Hawthorne said.  "I walked away with an extraordinary sense of pride for our amazing employees. When it boils down to it, it's about our product and the committed people behind it."

Chain's experience is great lesson in how to maximize a promotional opportunity 

During the Sunday episode, Golden Krust will host a live chat on Twitter and will respond in real-time to any conversations using a special hashtag. The chain is also encouraging fans to host viewing parties by offering downloadable party packs through Golden Krust's Facebook page, beginning about a week before the episode airs. That party pack includes everything from an evite to a Spotify playlist and trivia game for party-goers.

The company is also hosting a Twitter photo contest in connection with the episode that urges fans to upload pictures of their viewing parties in order to win a gift basket for the "most liked" photo. The multimedia, integrated approach serves as a fine example of how to maximize what could have been just a single opportunity into something much bigger and much more engaging.

Golden Krust is a wholly Jamaican-owned chain of quick service restaurants with expansion plans in and out of the U.S. The chain has more than 120 franchise restaurants in nine states and a retail division that provides Jamaican patties to the New York City public schools, the penal system, military channels and more than 20,000 supermarkets, club stores and dollar stores nationwide, according to a company press release.