At the opening of an Amsterdam Burger King, CEO and Chairman John Chidsey announced the company’s plan to redesign all 12,000 worldwide locations to enhance the interior appeal of the restaurants.
Brandweek quoted Kevin Higgins, Burger King’s new president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, as saying, “Shining a spotlight on our core brand equities through our 20/20 design provides us with endless opportunities to enhance our guests’ experience, help drive sales and propel the brand forward.”
Burger King appears to be making a move on the territory currently occupied by restaurants like Chipotle, which offer fast cuisine in more of a QSR environment. This attention to experience seems to be working for Chipotle as they were named one of the few franchises beating the odds in the recession. Apparently, BK is going to try and follow the leader. But will it work? Is the BK brand too closely linked to the McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s class of food experience for people to consider it in another way? Or is Burger King tuning into the next trend in retailing?
In Pamela Danziger’s book Shopping, published in 2006, she forecasted that the next decade, 2010’s, would be “The Decade of Experience.” She goes on to explain what she calls “the experiential shift.”
“Due to the experiential shift, making a retail concept work today is far less about the tangibles or objective aspects of the business — product, location, price — and all about the intangibles that color and flavor the shopper’s experience in the store. In retail the bar has been raised. In order to be successful a retailer must offer an enhanced, truly memorable, and distinctive shopping experience to its customers.”
Surely the economy has exacerbated this shift. Danzinger’s prediction attributed the change to the proliferation of choice. However, the recession has made shoppers ever more choosy because of limited discretionary funds. So what should a retailer do? Train up the sales force to be more helpful for the time being? Or is it time to make a long-term, capital investment in design before they get left behind the shift?
