BK Franchisee Blames Corporate
By George Anderson
The largest franchisee of Burger King restaurants in the U.S. says its net income was down 66 percent in 2003 and it was because the chain’s new product initiatives and marketing stunk.
Carrols Corp., based in Syracuse, NY, operates 351 Burger King restaurants. Same-store sales at Carrols’ locations fell 7.2 percent last year. This drop was on top of decrease
of 1.3 percent a year earlier.
Gregory Thomas, a management consultant at Detroit-based McTevia and Associates, agrees with Carrols’ criticism of Burger King’s corporate performance. “For some reason they
just can’t get the momentum going at corporate,” he told the Associated Press. “They’re constantly behind competitors in launching products.”
Moderator’s Comment: What will it take for Burger King to reverse its decline?
Obviously, having products that taste better than what consumers can buy elsewhere would be a major step. BK has seemed to be stuck in position as McD’s
rolls out one new successful item after another.
The other might be for BK corporate to show some patience with their agencies. The company is going on its fifth agency in less than three years. It’s a
little hard to build a program if you’re headed out the door at the same time you’re coming in.
To recap, here’s our advice free of charge to BK management. Fix the product and stop using the agency as the scapegoat. –
George
Anderson – Moderator