A sound strategy: Operators use digital radios to get customers to brake

Nation's Restaurant News, April 12, 1999 by Ed Rubinstein

Motorists who entered the drive-through lanes at an A&W Restaurant have become accustomed to seeing signs encouraging them to tune their FM dials to 95.9--the "ham" radio frequency that fittingly is dubbed WA&W.

But those audio lures are neither the newest tunes from Shania Twain nor Lauryn Hill, but a kind of vehicular twist of the slogan "You deserve a break today." Looking to create sales opportunities, boost check averages and enhance customer loyalty, A&W Restaurants and a spate of other quick-service operators around the country are using low-signal radios to broadcast food and beverage specials directly to the car radios of their drive-thru customers.

"We've testing it but so far have seen encouraging results. And employees are having a lot of fun with it," said James Buckley, director of marketing for A&W Restaurants Inc.

Last December, the Farmington Hills, Mich.-based chain installed the transmitter at a company-owned A&W located at the Fairlane Mall in nearby Dearborn, a large, freestanding unit that's just a stone's throw away from Ford Motor Co.'s headquarters.

There store managers record and air daily specials, which are available only to those who tune in to 95.9 FM, and have supported the test with WA&W signage inside and around the perimeter of the restaurant.

Though A&W management stated that it's too early to extract meaningful results from the test, Buckley remarked that radio-aired specials for Coney Dogs, root-beer floats and gallons of A&W's mainstay pop have generated greater sales of those items. "Those items that we've promoted have been rung up 20 to 30 more times a day," he said.

"We're trying to emphasize faster service at the drive-thrus, and this is one element we're using," Buckley said. "If 30 people are asking for the special and it can only be heard on the radio, we know they are listening, so we think its going to play a role in building drive-thru sales."

A&W, which last month stunned the foodservice world with its offer to acquire the bankrupt Long John Silver's seafood chain, has set its sights on testing the digital devices later this spring at A&W units in Rolling Stone, Minn., and Dubuque, Iowa. "Those units are out in the hinterland. We want to see how the radios will work in tough marketing locations," Buckley added.

Analog radio transmitters have been around for years and have their roots in the 1930s, when Orson Welles stirred the ears and the psyches of listeners with his "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

Even today, radios have a theatrical element but have benefited from the addition of digital features, much in the same way that most telephone answering machines use computer chips, rather than cassette tapes, to record messages.

Also, the units, measuring about the size of a large clock radio, feature a continuous digital loop that can record for up to three minutes, and through the use of an optional remote telephone modem interface can be used by restaurant owners from their homes and offices. Furthermore, digital audio files, like those in the WAV format, can be uploaded from a personal computer into the radios through either a dedicated or existing analog phone line.

One limitation of the devices lies in their signals, as the radios can only broadcast as far as about 300 feet from the restaurants, and as a result they do not have to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.

Still, the practical simplicity of the units and the opportunities to create a captive sound zone around their restaurants have made these "black boxes" attractive to fast-food operators. Those factors are what influenced Irving Titre, a 12-year McDonald's franchisee, to install the radios in his two restaurants in West Palm Beach, Fla., which he appropriately called "McRadio."

"It's as simple to use as a VCR," he said. "And I've seen drive-thru sales increases of five to six percent." Of those increases, Titre attributed "at least 50 percent" to the radios. Currently, several other McDonald's franchisees around the country are testing the transmitters.

Since last fall, drivers who happen to be within 600 yards of those restaurants can set their tuners to 88.5 FM. Meanwhile, stores can set their tuners to 88.5 FM to hear daily specials like 39-cent cheeseburgers and "two for two" Big Mac promos: 2 sandwiches for $2.

Bob Charles, a one-unit McDonald's franchisee, reported that his drive-thru sales increased an average of 19 cents since he installed the low-frequency radio four months ago at his Denver-area restaurant.

Several other McD franchisees are testing the system. They've noted that the units are part and parcel of an operator's efforts to bump up drive-thru checks, are consistent with their local marketing efforts and represent another way in which technology can enhance their bottom lines.

Though the radios have not been officially endorsed by Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's Corp., the fast-food giant will reportedly place the transmitters in some company-owned stores later this spring, a test that could make them an approved piece of equipment for its system.