ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606140012
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Retailing
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
The fast-food business is trying to grow up.
The latest attempt at maturity started last month, when McDonald's Corp. introduced the Arch Deluxe, a hamburger for adults with leaf lettuce, bacon, tomato and a secret sauce.
And, as we know, whenever one fast-food chain tries something new, the rest aren't far behind - remember bite-sized chicken chunks, extra-value meals, super-sized fries?
Not one to miss out on the chance to ride Ronald's yellow coattails, Hardee's Food Systems has introduced The Boss, a quarter-pound hamburger on a seeded bun with shredded lettuce, American cheese and a super-secret "Boss sauce."
The Boss, selling for $1.39 at Roanoke-area Hardee's, is, says the company, part of Hardee's attempt to "set the chain apart in the mature fast-food industry."
This isn't the first time fast-food chains have tried marketing to adults. You may remember McDonald's McLean Deluxe, or the McDLT. Or, if you have a really good memory, you might even recall Burger King's short-lived stab at maturity, when the chain debuted to-your-table dinner service, complete with cloths on the tables and baskets of popcorn to munch while you waited for your Whopper.
Not a keeper.
But this time the stakes to succeed may be higher.
McDonald's is dishing out an estimated $200million to market the Arch Deluxe with billboards and TV ads, as well as coupons - inserted into magazines including Rolling Stone - for free Arch Deluxes.
Some analysts say McDonald's needs to sell more higher-priced foods to increase its profit margin, which fell in the first quarter for company-owned stores. Figures for franchised restaurants weren't available.
In the month or so since the sandwich's debut, more than 100million Arch Deluxes have been ordered nationally; many of those were free with coupons. A spokesperson for Roanoke-area McDonald's franchisee Michael Grimm said local stores sold 700 to 800 Arch Deluxes in the first 11 days of June. In a typical month, a restaurant will sell 2,000 to 2,200 Big Macs, she said.
But why target adults when kids are such an easy sell for a place with a clown as its spokesman? Because baby boomers make up almost a third of the nation's population, and they're starting to turn 50 this year, at the rate of one every 7.5 seconds.
And they just aren't scarfing down those Quarter Pounders the way they once did.
"You reach a certain age and you stop eating fast food," said Ronald Spekman, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business.
At the same time, McDonald's is strengthening its hold on the nation's kiddie market by building new play areas at dozens of its restaurants. While McD's isn't likely to lose kids' approval by appealing to grown-up consumers, it may end up turning off the very adults it's trying to reach.
Consider this part of a letter to the editor from a recent issue of Advertising Age, a trade publication that has been following the Arch Deluxe hype:
"Unfortunately, no remodeling of the hamburger is going to repair the damage McDonald's inflicted upon itself by installing a playground in nearly every store," wrote a reader. "Regardless of how 'adult' a burger is, I'll steer clear of the place unless I have an extra 45 minutes to kill at lunch time on Saturdays."
But the new sandwich is aimed largely at the parents dragged to McD's by their kids, said Grimm's spokesperson - the parents who buy their kids Happy Meals and just get coffee for themselves because they're tired of the same old hamburger.
"I know when I go with my kids, I watch them eat," Spekman said. "I don't eat that stuff."
And the question remains whether the fast-food chains will be able to maintain the level of quality that adult customers demand. A co-worker was disappointed when a Roanoke McDonald's made an Arch Deluxe with shredded lettuce instead of the (apparently) more adult leaf lettuce promised by the chain's ads. While most 10-year-olds aren't going to care about something like that, it could be enough to turn away adults who are giving fast food one more try.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB