Outback adds premium, grass-fed burger
Burgers continue to be casual dining鈥檚 go-to menu tactic for building check average and traffic. The latest example is Outback Steakhouse, which is taking a break from promoting its Bloomin鈥� Onions to introduce a new premium burger to its menu.
Its new Grass-Fed Burger with Aged Cheddar is described as a 鈥�100% grass-fed, sustainably raised premium beef patty.鈥� Toppings are aged Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a garlic a茂oli.
This isn鈥檛 Outback鈥檚 first burger: The menu already lists The Bloomin鈥� Burger (topped with Bloomin鈥� Onion petals, American cheese, lettuce, tomato and spicy signature Bloom Sauce), The Outbacker Burger (topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard and choice of American, Swiss, provolone or Cheddar cheese) and the Double Burger (two grilled patties topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and mayo on a grilled brioche bun).
But the new Grass-Fed Burger is premium priced at聽$11.99聽(prices vary by market, of course). That suggests it鈥檚 aimed at check building, since Outback鈥檚 value proposition at the moment is lunch combinations starting at $6.99. Offers like that are aimed at increasing customer counts. NPD says the average burger price at the casual-dining tier is $9.02, compared with $5.62 at fast-casual restaurants.
The NPD Group earlier this year released聽聽showing how important burgers and lunch have become for casual-dining chains such as Outback and 础辫辫濒别产别别鈥檚. While burger servings industrywide were flat for the 12-month period ended June 2015, burger servings at casual-dining restaurants were up 3% and lunch was the segment鈥檚 only daypart showing growth.
础辫辫濒别产别别鈥檚聽last year聽聽its 鈥淎ll-In Burgers鈥� line, and now drop pricing to $6.99 every Monday night to lure the football crowd. It鈥檚 even throwing in free refills on fries and house chips. The聽Old Chicago聽casual-dining chain has jumped on the crowdsourcing bandwagon with a 鈥淐reate the Ultimate Old Chicago Burger鈥澛�. Winning burger will be a 2016 LTO.
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You鈥檝e likely noticed the trend in recent Q3 restaurant sales reports: modest gains due primarily to higher checks. It was true in Q2 as well, as evidenced by The NPD Group鈥檚 data on the global foodservice market: most growth is coming from higher spending/check.
The U.S. posted a small gain in customers, a slightly larger bump up in check. Canada saw a decline in customer visits for the second consecutive quarter; China saw gains in both check and customers; the struggling Russian foodservice market saw a 4% decline in traffic coupled with a roughly 8% spike in check.
With its聽Average Eater Check聽of $7.18 in Q2, the U.S. ranks second only to France, according to NPD data.
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