Leading Chaing Tangle With Web

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 16, 1998

Pepperoni pianos that actually make music from Little Caesars Pizza.

Dancing peppers a la Chili's Grill & Bar.

Sirloin-stealing Koala's courtesy of Outback Steakhouse.

Casting calls for America's "Greatest Hamburger Lover" coming from Wendy's.

And "LobsterCam" live from Red Lobster.

Those developments and others just as unique can mean only one thing: Foodservice chains are trying to master the graphical, multi-media environment of the Internet's World Wide Web. To get an idea of how migration to the digital-marketing frontier is progressing, Nation's Restaurant News recently surveyed the Web sites of America's 25 leading chains, as ranked by U.S. system-wide sales in the 1998 Nation's Restaurant News Top 100.

Many of the sites scanned provide full-fledged media kits, examples of menus, job postings, reports of charity and community involvement and e-mail. Some offer nutritional information. In short, many foodservice chains have carried traditional mass-marketing techniques to the Web.

It remains to be seen if these chains will breakaway from such "broadcast" models and start "narrowcasting" to create the one-on-one relationships with site visitors that many pundits say are at the heart of a vibrant Internet.

One of the only-on-the-Web type features increasingly found at foodservice sites is the locationmap generator. Such mechanisms enable Web surfers to search for a restaurant using a zip code or other key word and to retrieve a map showing how to get there.

Looking at the more elaborate Web sites, including those by Denny's, Domino's Pizza, Little Caesars, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Red Lobster, Subway and Taco Bell, it becomes clear that some chains are investing sizable chunks of time and money to be on the 'Net. But why?

On-line usage is skyrocketing and "the Internet puts a lot of power into the marketer's hands to craft the message at a time when people are seeking more information -That's what makes it so important," Marc Blumberg, vice president of Dallas-based iMC2, declares. iMC2 is an Internet marketing firm which has helped craft Web sites for Campbell's, among other assignments.

E-mail postcards are increasingly being used to build Web-site traffic. The gist of the approach is this: Visitors to a site are encouraged to send a graphically catchy e-mail postcard to a friend, who will be notified by e-mail that a digital missive from an acquaintance is awaiting them at the sponsoring chain's Web site. KFC, Taco Bell and Outback, among others, offer variations on the theme.

Arcade-style gaming, too, is gaining ground as a point of differentiation at foodservice Web sites, including those by Denny's, Little Caesars, McDonald's, Outback and Subway.

At least one site - the portion of the Breugger's Bagel Bakery co-op Web site representing the Dallas-Ft Worth market - supports proprietary on-line ordering and payment systems for takeout and delivery. Other sites, such as those by KFC and Chi-Chi's, facilitate on-line ordering for selected markets by partnering with third-party 'Net-order specialist Cybermeals.

None of the sites surveyed require a visitor to register before entering, but some chains, including Domino's Pizza and Outback, try to finesse personal information from Web surfers with promises of updates on promotions, coupons or chances to win prizes.

Introduction and Disclaimers:

Operator Connection's World Wide Web survey is a snapshot in time of 25 Internet sites representing prominent foodservice chains.

The constantly changing nature of Web pages means that sites represented here as not employing certain features, such as on-line contests or video presentations, might have offered those features in the past or added them following the survey. And the technical nature of Web browsing and the potential for unforeseen and undetected compatibility problems related to end-user software or server malfunction, also means that it is possible that some sites have more features than noted.

In that light, the survey is best used as a directory and starting point for further first-hand comparisons of foodservice Web sites.