Why One of The World'sBiggest Fast-Food Chains Wendy's Is Re-Entering the UK

The brand will reopen in Britain after 20 years with an 'AllBeef, No Bull' slogan.

As summer returns tothe U.K., so too will one of America’s biggest fast-food chains.Wendy’s-the one with the logo featuring a red-headed girl inpigtails and a blue dresswhich re-enters the market aftershuttering its stores in Britain more than 20 years ago.

The world’sthird-largest burger chain (and now second-largest in the U.S.after overtaking Burger King’s sales last year) will open its firstU.K. store in decades in the southern English town of Reading onJune 2. It will be followed by four other companyowned high-streetrestaurants in southern England in the coming months as the companybegins to regain its British foothold.

On the menu will beWendy’s U.S. signature items including its famous square burgers,as well as the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, “the Baconator,” “Dave’sSingle” and “the Frosty” desserts.

Marketing the brand with no bull

And while the planshave already received a healthy amount of national press attention,the brand’s retained advertising agency VMLY&R will add supporton this side of the pond with a campaign entitled “All Beef, NoBull” to evoke the central message that the ingredients will besourced locally. Spark Foundry will work on the media for thebrand, again due to its relationship with Wendy’s in the U.S.

With the Wendy’sU.K. Twitter account having gone live in advance on May 26, raisingfurther brand awareness will take place locally to each of theinitial restaurants with out of home, as well as across social anddigital media platforms. A local website and app have also beendeveloped to inform customers of the menu offering.

Explaining to Adweekthat the decision to return the restaurants to the U.K. started acouple of years ago as part of its international expansion plans,Tony Barr, senior international marketing director APMEA & U.K.for The Wendy’s Company, describes it as “a sleeping giant.”

“The idea is thatwe’re an American brand coming to the U.K., but we’re intelligent,and we’re engaged, and we understand the market and the people,”Barr said. “We’re not going to be trying to pretend to be Britishand suddenly speak with a British voice and be all about tea andcrumpets. We will maintain our kind of genuineness, thatcheekiness, that sense of fun, but at the same time, we are alwaysvery transparent and clear about what we do and why we do it.”

Barr highlighted the“massive following” that Wendy’s has in the U.S. and claims that asa brand it is “really underleveraged” elsewhere, with the U.K.looking like “a natural fit” with its various burger restaurantsalready in situ, while newcomers such as Five

Guys begins to break through againstthe established players such as McDonald’s and Burger King.

“We feel reallyconfident that we’re going to find an audience,” said Barr, addingthat the company has invested in the five restaurants itself ratherthan beginning with a franchise model.

“We wanted to buildconfidence amongst our future franchise community,” he said. “Andnothing says that more than ‘Hey, we’re investing our own money tomake this happen.’”

An ‘unusual’ brand in the founder’s mold

Barr described thecompany as “unusual” in how it retains the spirit of its founderDave Thomas, who died in 2002. “There’s a lot of things that reallyare generated from that,” he said of the Midwestern brand, citingthe quality of food and family as the two things he cared aboutmost.

“He really enjoyedpeople and engaging with them, and our advertising reflects thatspirit,” Barr said. “Tonally, its very modern and up-to-the-minute,but at the same time it’s always cued back to being authentic andgenuine. We’re a challenger brand that punches up, never down andwe love to engage with our customers and people who like thebrand.”

As delivery hasboomed during the pandemic created a behavior change in theexpectation that the fast-food giants can now come to theconsumer’s doorstep, a partnership with Uber Eats has been reachedwith Wendy’s. The restaurants will also be fitted with digitalkiosks to take orders, a separate pick-up area, and an externalwindow where delivery directs can pick up away from waitingcustomers.

A `nod’ to local heritage

“That’s going to makethings a lot faster, it’s going to help everybody’s flow and it’sgoing to help our customers in store as well,” said Barr.

Each restaurant,while being recognizably a Wendy’s, will also include “a nod” tothe local heritage of the area as well, Barr said.

The plan will be toexpand nationally outside of England, but the initial quick-servicerestaurants will be clustered across the south with the fourfollow-up restaurants set to open during the second half of 2021,including Stratford and Oxford.

Wendy’s overtookBurger King as America’s second-largest fast-food chain by sales in2020, a success put down in part to the introduction of itsbreakfast menu at the start of last year.

Source: Adopted from Stephan Lepitak,(2021). Why One of The World's Biggest Fast-Food Chains Wendy's IsReEntering the UK. Retrieved June 2, 2021, fromhttps://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/why-one-of-the-worldsbiggest-fast-food-chains-wendys-is-re-entering-the-uk/

Question 4

(a) Now imagine youare interested to setup the Wendy’s restaurant under franchising inMalaysia.

(i) From your ownperspective, select ONE (1) specific market ofsegmentation you decided to target, and briefly explainFOUR (4) product strategies to ensure that the newor enhanced product satisfies a real customer need and helps thefirm reach business goals.

Subject Entrepreneurship