New Burger King logo
Source: BusinessWire
Burger King is testing a loyalty program in five U.S. markets as part of a broader effort to expand the digital experience for customers.
The Restaurant Brands International chain is the latest restaurant chain to seek reward programs as a way to increase sales. Loyalty programs by names like Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill help these companies grow their loyal customer base and encourage more frequent visits. The introduction of Burger King’s Royal Perks test follows archrival McDonald’s’s announcement on Wednesday that it is entering the next phase of its own loyalty program tests.
“It’s something we’ve been working on for some time, which we have in several different versions of beta testing,” said Ellie Doty, American marketing director for Burger King. “It’s the next natural step when you want to have digital leadership and find ways to create more personalized experiences for your guests.”
Restaurant Brands CEO Jose Cil said at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in December that Royal Perks will help Burger King move away from a promotions-based approach to offering low-cost deals every day to customers .
Burger King customers in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey and Long Island will be able to earn reward points for every dollar spent. Members can also accumulate order points on the Burger King website or app. The program tests are now mainly on the digital channels of the hamburger chain, according to Doty.
Among the benefits of the program is the possibility to redeem points on most of the menu items. By comparison, McDonald’s testing limits redemption options to 16 menu items.
Burger King’s loyalty program will also offer free daily perks, such as increasing the size of members’ drinks or chips, and will award double points during the member’s birthday month.
The chain plans to take the program to more markets throughout the year. However, Doty said that Burger King has not yet committed to a national launch in 2021 and the current format is not set in stone.
“We are going to take our time to make things right, so we are going through a very strict scale increase, so we learn as we go and get it right before it reaches the whole country,” she said.
The shares of the parent company Restaurant Brands fell 6% in the last 12 months, totaling a market value of US $ 27.6 billion. Burger King’s sister chain, Tim Hortons, took longer to recover from the coronavirus pandemic as more consumers prepared their own coffee at home. Restaurant Brands is expected to release its fourth quarter results ahead of Thursday’s bell.