Jack to focus on core menu items
Jack in the Box is going to focus on core menu items for sales growth. They still plan on utilizing LTO's put for extra growth.
Jack Box, founder and CEO of Jack in the Box(R) restaurants, presented a $275,000 check to Big Brothers Big Sisters at the Feb. 17.
Business Wire/File
The headline Jack in the Box Chairman-CEO Lenny Comma offered during Thursday鈥檚 Q3 earnings call was insightful but too long to use: 鈥淪o the headline is, 鈥楲TOs drove [Jack鈥檚] success in the past; in the future, core menu items should drive sales with LTOs as the gravy.鈥欌��
Jack鈥檚 Q3 numbers were impressive: a 5.5% jump in same-store sales at company units and a 7.9% rise at franchised, yielding a 7.3% systemwide increase. Growth at both its Jack in the Box and Qdoba brands brought a 17% increase in operating earnings.
Jack in the Box鈥檚 Black Pepper Cheeseburger
Increased sales at breakfast鈥攏ow 23% of total revenues鈥攁nd late night (now 16%) helped drive prices. Two LTOs鈥攁 Black Pepper Cheeseburger and Steak & Egg Breakfast Burrito鈥攄id well, but as Comma鈥檚 suggested headline indicates, the brand is changing its menu thinking. Jack has introduced comparatively few new products this year, he said, choosing instead to focus more on core products, including the Buttery Jack burger line added in January. Advertising, too, has shifted, focusing more on food, which 鈥渟ometimes played second fiddle to Jack鈥檚 personality鈥� in the past, Comma said.
Those strategic shifts were the result of customer feedback that the company has聽. It isn鈥檛 finished with changes, however: Jack in the box will 鈥渁ggressively change鈥� its whole core burger lineup (including the Sourdough Jack and Jumbo Jack) in early 2016. It also is exploring 鈥渘ew ways to use media bring attention to the brand,鈥� he said.
The Black Pepper Cheeseburger came out at $4.39 and Comma reaffirmed his determination to not offer 鈥渓ow-price items and freebies鈥� for lower-income consumers. In answer to an analyst鈥檚 question, he said that because always has had 24-hour breakfast, it has seen no impact in San Diego from McDonald鈥檚 all-day breakfast test. But said later that 鈥渋f McDonald鈥檚 figures out its positioning, that would have an impact on the entire industry.鈥� But Jack鈥檚 upscale premium-tier rather than value-focused position would minimize that impact, Comma said.