Tom Curtis apparently should go viral more often.
Data from the food traffic tracking firm Placer.ai suggests that the Burger King president’s viral moment eating the chain’s upgraded Whopper played well for consumers, driving a spike in traffic to the chain’s restaurants.
Visits to Burger King restaurants were up 7.4% last week compared with a year earlier, according to the tracking firm. By comparison, traffic to McDonald’s restaurants was up 2.2%, and at Wendy’s the traffic was down 10.7%.
The Burger King traffic figure was a sharp increase from the previous four weeks, when its traffic averaged a 3% increase.
Until last week, McDonald’s had been outperforming either of its two biggest rivals, averaging a 4.35% increase in traffic during those four weeks in February. That means McDonald’s traffic represented something of a slowdown.
The same could be said for Wendy’s, which had averaged an 8.8% traffic decline during the previous four weeks.
Take the data with a big grain of salt. It’s early, and a lot of factors play a role in traffic changes, notably weather—all three chains lost customers the week of Feb. 23, for instance. It’s also just one week, which can be particularly volatile.
In addition, the data comes from a third party and not the companies themselves. The true winner won’t be known until the three companies report their first-quarter earnings.
But the data can show where the momentum in the business is at any given moment. In this case, it highlights the benefit Burger King received by sending out a video featuring Curtis, who heads the chain in the U.S. and Canada, taking a big bite out of the Whopper.
Burger King just upgraded the recipe of its flagship burger as part of a major effort to improve the quality of its food this year. The company changed the mayonnaise while the buns are taller and coated to give them a richer, golden color. The company also improved the packaging.
The Curtis video was released in response to a video from McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski eating that chain’s new Big Arch burger. Kempczinski’s video was widely mocked on social media for a lack of authenticity after he appeared to take a small bite of the half-pound burger.
Those two videos, plus another from Wendy’s U.S. President Pete Suerken and several others, focused considerable attention on the burger business at a time when the chains are fighting for traffic growth.
If there is a surprise in the Placer.ai data it’s that McDonald’s didn’t receive something of a boost in traffic from all that attention on the Big Arch. But a typical McDonald’s generates nearly three times the revenue as a typical Burger King, which makes it harder to move the needle.
Wendy’s U.S. President Pete Suerken drafted a video of his own, but like McDonald’s there doesn’t appear to have been a corresponding traffic increase. Then again, Suerken’s video came later than the other two, which might delay any potential change in visits to that chain’s restaurants.
The Wendy’s data also highlights that chain’s challenges. Wendy’s same-store sales in the fourth quarter declined 11.3%. Its weak results may be due to a pullback from breakfast in some locations coupled with store closures. The chain is coming out with newly upgraded chicken sandwiches this quarter and is working to improve both operations and marketing and expects improved results later this year.
As for Burger King, the current momentum has been a long time coming. The Miami-based chain had struggled for years with weak sales, closed restaurants and bankrupt franchisees. Curtis was brought in to improve operations.
Parent company Restaurant Brands International invested billions to spruce up stores and improve marketing. The chain appears to be getting some results from all that right now.
The Curtis video, it appears, accomplished just what the chain wanted: Get customers to try its reconfigured signature burger.
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