50 Great Ideas 2024
Repurposing ingredients
Last year, customers pushed McDonald’s to bring back the Snack Wrap, an item that has been off the menu for years. So Burger King took some chicken patties, cut them up, wrapped them in a tortilla with some toppings, and introduced Royal Crispy Wraps. They were relatively easy to operate and gave the chain a lower-priced item at a time when consumers were starting to pinch some pennies. And it beat McDonald’s to the punch.
50 Great Ideas 2024
Over-the-counter ice
Lugging ice is a lot of work. Over the course of a day, Starbucks workers would have to lug a 25-pound bucket of ice from the back of the coffee shop to the ice bin at the counter about 75 times a day. Do the math and that’s a lot of time and weight. So the company created an ice machine that fits above the counter. Workers simply have it dispense the proper amount of nugget ice based on drink size.
Dutch Bros is one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the country. But it remains little known in much of the U.S. where it wants to expand, and that made for slower introductions in places like Texas. So the company reconfigured its strategy for entering new markets. It used paid media to target customers who might be similar to those who frequent the chain in more mature markets. And it brought back the welcome drink on its loyalty program to introduce customers to its beverages. It all helped improve sales in those newer markets.
How does a food-and-games concept cater to both adults and families? Changing the lighting helps. Puttshack, the minigolf-focused eatertainment concept, caters to a lot of families, as well as corporate events, during the day. But at 8 p.m., the company turns into a 21-and-over venue. The chain changes the lighting and sound to give it more of an upscale nightclub feel. In effect, it turns Puttshack into an almost completely different concept in the evenings.
Beer is good. Wasted beer is bad. The Primanti Bros. chain in early 2023 tested a new technology, called BeerBoard, that tracks the number of beers poured versus the number of beers sold. The idea is to ensure that bartenders are pouring the correct number of beers. The company liked it so much that the technology was expanded to all 42 restaurants. The result: A 300-basis-point reduction in the cost of draft beer sold.