How two chains boosted their beverage programs with single-serve milk.
It’s clear that milk has reasserted itself on quick-service menus across the country. But what kind of results can you expect to see if you either add it to or feature it on your menu? Let’s take a look at a couple of case studies.
In 2003, Arizona Subway stores identified the need to revamp their bottled beverage program. One element was to incorporate milk into the product mix, replacing a popular bottled juice beverage. Arizona-based Shamrock Farms (www.shamrockfarms.net) worked with Subway to identify a product mix that would best meet the needs of Subway consumers, and began offering 4-6 SKUs of Shamrock Farms single-serve “mmmmilk,” including chocolate, strawberry, 2% white milk, and low fat No Sugar Added chocolate milk. In addition, Shamrock helped Subway develop custom programs to create awareness and drive product sales.
The results were good. First and foremost, the Shamrock Farms mmmmilk line outpaced the bottled beverage line it replaced. But there was also a less tangible benefit: Subway was especially excited about the nutritional benefits the milk menu option brings to consumers.
An even more impressive case for milk comes from Sweet Tomatoes. Though the salad-bar concept already had milk on the menu, it was not visible on the serving line, and it was served in paperboard containers. They replaced the white and chocolate paper cartons with 5-6 SKUs of Shamrock Farms flavored mmmmilk in resealable plastic containers and…simply let customers know it was there with POP displays and by making the product visible on the serving line.
The results were really fairly astonishing: Milk sales increased by 155 percent, even with a price increase of 67 percent per unit.
What lessons can we take away from the experiences of Subway and Sweet Tomatoes? First, letting customers know you have milk on the menu is important. “Marketing milk is a critical component, in both communicating the availability as well as having the right product and package,” says Mike Krueger, senior vice president and general manager at Shamrock Farms. “Milk is an impulse buy in the QSR setting.” The latter point brings up a corollary lesson: Offering several flavors of milk is crucial.
Lesson number two, as Krueger alludes to, is the packaging itself. Put simply, it’s more appealing to consumers to drink milk out of a single-serve plastic bottle than an old-school paper carton. The additional benefit: a shelf life of more than 82 days.
Finally, offering milk increases the perception that you have a healthy menu. This is perhaps a given for kids menus, but note that milk doesn’t just appeal to kids. In fact, a recent study showed that one in five adults have purchased milk at a quick-serve restaurant in the past three months. The same study also indicated that about two-thirds of those adults who ordered milk in a quick-serve are more likely to visit a quick-serve that offers milk than one that doesn’t.
It seems clear the time is right for milk on quick-serve menus. Subway and Sweet Tomatoes have had great success with it, as have concepts like McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Do it right, and it’s likely you’ll find success, too.
