McDonald’s had always emphasized marketing to families. The company significantly
outperformed Burger King in both “warmth” and “competence” in consumers’ minds. When
McDonald’s recently put more emphasis on women and older people by offering relatively
healthy salads and upgraded its already good coffee, Burger King continued to market to
young men by (according to one analyst) offering high-calorie burgers and ads featuring dancing
chickens and a “creepy-looking” king. These young men were the very group who had
been hit especially hard by the recession. According to Steve Lewis, who operated 36 Burger
King franchises in the Philadelphia area, “overall menu development has been horrible. . . . We
disregarded kids, we disregarded families, we disregarded moms.” For example, sales of new,
premium-priced menu items like the Steakhouse XT burger declined once they were no longer
being advertised. One analyst stated that the company had “put a lot of energy into gimmicky
advertising” at the expense of products and service. In addition, analysts commented that franchisees
had also disregarded their aging restaurants.
Some analysts felt that Burger King may have cannibalized its existing sales by putting
too much emphasis on value meals. For example, Burger King franchisees sued the company
in 2009 over the firm’s double-cheeseburger promotion, claiming that it was unfair for them
to be required to sell these cheeseburgers for only $1 when they cost $1.10. Even though the
price was subsequently raised to $1.29, the items on Burger King’s “value menu” accounted
for 20% of all sales in 2010, up from 12% in 2009.