BK fires up sales with a little help from its field staff

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 18, 1996 by Theresa Howard

Some might think Burger King's marketing direction has been hit hard in recent months.

Archrival McDonald's established a marketing stronghold on future Walt Disney blockbusters through a strategic alliance between the two organizations; USA marketing chief John Cywinski recently left BK to head up Buena Vista Pictures marketing; and Helayne Spivak, a former account director who was instrumental in landing the BK account for agency of record Ammirati Puris Lintas, left the shop earlier this fall.

Burger King, however, is poised to keep the flame alive on thriving comparable-store sales with a little help from its field staff.

If the 326-store New York metro market, just one of the company's 211, is any indication of how the chain is faring from support of its field staff, then BK easily will overcome those marketing obstacles with help from such marketing managers as Dennis Kadet.

Although Paul Clayton continues to engineer the marketing and advertising to support the brand's national image and to search for Cywinski's replacement and Spivak had played a significantly lesser role on the account before her departure, it is the field work of the likes of Kadet and his Burger King counterparts that will help keep BK outpacing the industry in comparable-store sales.

As marketing manager, Kadet combines the roles of franchisor, operator, marketer and administrator, which has helped him realize an astounding 17 percent in the New York area of dominant interest for its most recent reporting period through March 1996. The company posted a domestic systemwide boost of 3.6 percent for comparable-store sales. It is currently in its quiet period while preparing for the release of second-period earnings ending September 1996, which will be released in December. The numbers are expected to reveal another uptick in comparable-store sales systemwide that outpace the industry.

Day in and day out Kadet plays the multifaceted role that makes him both salesman and the support-service point person with operators for the market's 106 franchised outlets, media planner, strategic thinker, maintenance man and creative partner with any of the market's many businesses that are craving a sponsorship opportunity or charitable event tie-in with Burger King.

"Our job is to administer the programs," Kadet said one recent afternoon as he made his way from Long Island to New York City to New Jersey to Queens in just a few short hours. "We try to leverage our tie-in partners and try to be very active and promotional in the market."

Kadet, in fact, administered the marketing calendar so well for 1996 that he ended up with a surplus of $1.5 million, and on this particular day he was trying to allocate effectively for franchised and company-owned stores throughout the market. One of the solutions was to reintroduce the company's photo ball program to rid the chain of its inventory of photo balls that did not sell during the early summer promotion. Since the push and since the Bronx Bombers clenched the championship, the supply has dwindled considerably.

Nevertheless, that may not be the best indicator of Kadet's initiative. He has partnered with local venues, such as Radio City Music Hall, Six Flag's Great Adventure and a number of other theme parks as well as Air Jamaica and Sandals resorts for the chain's Family Value Centers, which will be in stores by mid-December.

He also actively is developing BK Cancer Care Centers and is working with the New Jersey Institute of Cancer and Sloane Kettering and Yale University in an effort to raise $350,000 in a fund-raising drive. Moreover, he works to provide giveaways for students of BK Academy, a companywide inner-city youth program that encourages education and work programs.

Kadet also plays the role of a veritable "Mr. Fixit." Meeting with two new franchisees on some basics of store operations, Kadet walked through menu board lighting levels, parking lot and curbside maintenance, drive-thru menu point of purchase and the time frame for a fresh coat of paint for their newly acquired store. He also provided a store profile for the new operators so that they understood what signage could be posted for promotions.