I’ve said that the quintessential U.S. restaurant brand right now is Raising Cane’s, thanks to its singular menu. And that still may be true. But Crumbl might be a close second.
The dessert chain was founded in 2017, and it used social media, a robust use of digital and a revolving menu of cookies—now a broader range of desserts—to keep up with consumer interest.
It generated massive interest from franchisees and today is the 59th largest restaurant chain in the U.S. While we can debate the brand’s long-term merits, there is little question that its effective use of social media and that revolving menu has been remarkably effective at marketing the brand.
We’ve spent the past three days at the National Restaurant Show, having conversations and recording podcasts with a wide variety of operators and experts, including episodes on AI and on menu innovation. And one thread has been through each of them: Social media has had a major impact on the industry and is driving a massive amount of change.
For instance, we spoke with Katie Bellflower, manager of menu research and insights for Restaurant Business sister company Technomic, about the proliferation of limited-time offers in recent years.
Restaurant chains have unleashed a record number of limited-time offers in recent years, driving a major amount of temporary new items. Bellflower suggested to us that social media was a big part of the reason for this, as chains look to get consumers interested in their brands.
It’s not really working. Restaurant chain sales grew just 3%, which suggests declining traffic after accounting for a 4% increase in menu prices and a 1.6% increase in unit count. Limited-time offers are great, and consumers do love innovation. But too many of them can stress out teams and gum up operations.
We also spoke with Kyle Drenon, the CEO of food industry advertising firm Supper Co., who noted that AI is taking over traditional restaurant search and reducing visits to websites. That, he said, is making it more important for brands to explore short-form video, because that is a huge way for consumers to find your brand.
Social media is driving numerous trends, enabling restaurants to be more adventurous. Velvet Taco, for instance, uses a WTF—weekly taco feature—to pump out a regular dose of innovative tacos on its customers.
Much of the beverage sector is also being driven by social media. The drive-thru soda brand Swig, one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the U.S., has helped popularize the mix of soda and cream and other ingredients.
The brand and its customers, who skew female, show their drinks off on social media, driving that trend. Now brands like Applebee’s are offering dirty sodas and, as my colleague Joe Guszkowski pointed out, both Coke and Pepsi were offering versions of dirty sodas at their booths at the National Restaurant Show.
To be sure, as we’ve pointed out before, social media both giveth and taketh away. Consumers hammered McDonald’s prices, often exaggerating how much they’ve gone up. Social media has played a role in Starbucks’ challenges.
The key lesson is to pay close attention. Doing so enabled Chili’s to thrive last year thanks to that price frustration as well as consumers’ love of cheese pulls.
The coming years could offer further chains as more brands take advantage of this, both on their menu and in the creation of interesting new concepts. But it’s clear that social media is driving much of the restaurant industry now.