Reduced-fat burgers bomb with diners; chilly response prompts fast feeders to desert high-tech alternative

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 16, 1992 by Milford Prewitt

Chilly response prompts fast feeders to desert high-tech alternative

Those low-fat hamburgers that captivated the burger segment last year have failed to maintain customer interest despite the massive advertising outlays the burgers once commanded.

The products' slippery foot-hold in the market comes amid some mounting scientific research that suggests that the selling of burgers without fat is a losing proposition from the start, that the brain itself relishes fat as a pleasure stimulator.

The best known of the low-fat options, McDonald's 91-percent fat-free McLean Deluxe, reportedly accounts for a smidgeon of daily average unit volume, some franchisees concur, while advertising for the product has come to a halt.

Carl's Jr. -- which had tested a low-fat burger for nearly six months, a product that was very similar to McLean Deluxe in that is was composed of the seaweed product carrageenan, used as a moisture retainer -- has ended the test with no plans to add the product to the menu.

Hardee's, which sought to undermine McLean Deluxe with an advertising program that poked fun at the seaweed ingredient used in McLean, took its low-fat, 100-percent all-beef Real Lean Deluxe -- its second stab at a low-fat burger -- off the menu several months ago.

Burger King and Wendy's said that, based on customer reaction to their rivals' products and their suppliers' tests, they have no interest in developing a low-fat burger option anytime in the immediate future.

Burger King and Wendy's decision parallels a broad consensus of opinion from operators and food scientists which holds that consumers have rejected low-fat burgers because they appear to be less tasty than regular beef patties.

"We think that there is a tradeoff in taste with these low-fat burgers," said Patty Parks, a spokeswoman for Carl's Jr., whose company test-marketed a low-fat burger called the Deluxe Lean for half a year. "We just saw little demand for the product, and given that we are already known for having a number of 'healthy' menu alternatives anyway, consumers just never moved to the product. Some of it, though, is the same old problem of dealing with taste vs. nutrition."

Marries taste, nutrition

Parks said the company more recently rolled out a turkey burger sandwich to test the possibility of giving consumers a product that marries taste with nutrition. She said so far sales have been encouraging.

"On a good day I may sell a couple of dozen or more McLeans," said a New York metropolitan area McDonald's franchisee, "vs. hundreds of Big Macs and Quarter Pounders. I don't think the McLean is a bad product. I just think after the advertising stopped, customers lost interest in it."

When the McLean came out in the spring of 1991, many McDonald's watchers thought the product -- as well as a barrage of low-fat items that had preceded it -- was a response to the chain's critics, namely, Phil Sokolof, president of the National Heart Savers Association. He took out full-page ads in a couple of major newspapers in 1990, blasting McDonald's for "The Poisoning of America" with the high-fat, high-cholesterol content of its menu.

McDonald's test-marketed McLean for just four months -- contrasted with its continuing test of pizza, now approaching its fourth year -- promoting the product with a lavish advertising campaign.

The nation's behemoth of fast food insists that the McLean Deluxe is "doing very well" and that the sandwich has a permanent spot on the menu.

But beyond the potential sales opportunities of offering a low-fat burger, some McDonald watchers believe the product will remain because it has silenced the chain's health critics.

While national advertising for the product has long ceased, most units promote McLean instore through menu board displays that portray the burger as one of the chain's successful value meal combos, which also include, on occasion, the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder.

Citing competitive and confidential reasons, McDonald's would not quantify the sandwich's performance. Although top company officials told reporters earlier this year that the ingredient formula for the McLean Deluxe might change, Ann Connolly, a corporate spokeswoman, could not say if the recipe for the burger had been altered since its introduction.

"While we are always looking for improvements for our menu items and our operations, we can't tell you specifically whether or not we'll be making any changes to McLean in the foreseeable future," Connolly said.

Pulling the plug

A possible recipe change was not one of the solutions Hardee's contemplated in its final decision to eliminate the Real Lean Deluxe from its menu earlier this year, the second time in as many years it pulled the plug on a low-fat burger.

Like McDonald's Hardee's spent heavily on a series of television commercials to promote the Real Lean Deluxe during the summer of 1991. Hardee's commercials were amusing, making fun of McLean Deluxe by featuring a store manager who intoned, "We would never put seaweed in our burgers."