Marketing

In a battle of $5 meal offers, McDonald’s apparently wins

The fast-food burger chain’s $5 Meal Deal has generated more interest than Burger King’s $5 Your Way offer, according to the research firm M Science.
Burger King your way meal
Burger King brought back its $5 Your Way Meal in June. | Image courtesy of Burger King.

McDonald’s $5 Meal Deal offered this summer generated more customer interest and higher average checks than a similar offer from rival Burger King, according to a report from the data firm M Science.

But McDonald’s offer did less to bring in new customers to the chain, and it didn’t keep same-store sales from falling more recently, according to the firm. 

The firm compared consumer reaction to the different meal deals, which the chains introduced in June to combat traffic weakened by frustration over menu price inflation. The firm used digital purchase data to make the comparison. 

Other data, and conversations with some operators, have suggested McDonald’s meal—as well as some other promotions—have helped generate traffic. But this is the first such examination that also features Burger King. 

McDonald’s offer featured a four-piece Chicken McNuggets, small fries, small drink and a choice of a McChicken or a McDouble. It kicked off June 25 and has been extended through December

Burger King brought back its Your Way Meal on June 10, which includes a four-piece chicken nuggets, small fries, small drink and either a Whopper Jr., a Chicken Jr., or a Bacon Cheeseburger. 

The performance of the meals is important, given the chains’ sales weakness this year. Both chains’ same-store sales fell slightly in the second quarter, slowing from strong sales last year and driven entirely by lower traffic. 

At the same time, however, the push for more value risks profitability for both chains’ franchisees, which puts pressure on the meal deals to do their job by bringing in traffic. Discounts that don’t generate traffic can become problematic because franchisees aren’t getting more customers, but more of their customers are ordering discounts, which can hammer profit margins. 

McDonald’s effort generated more customer interest. About 25% of McDonald’s customers ordered the $5 Meal Deal since the offer was started, according to M Science. By contrast, only about 10% of its customers ordered the Your Way Meal. 

But a lot more of the customers who ordered Burger King’s $5 meal were new. Twenty-eight percent of the customers who bought Burger King’s meal had not eaten at the chain in the previous three months and 13% were new to the chain, period.

By comparison, 12% of the customers who purchased McDonald’s $5 meal hadn’t eaten at the chain in three months and 5% of them were new to the chain, according to M Science.

Notably, however, McDonald’s $5 Meal Deal drove higher average checks. M Science said that orders with the meal deal were 12% higher than those without. At Burger King, however, orders with the meal deal were 8% lower than those without it. 

All that said, McDonald’s meal deal doesn’t appear to be keeping McDonald’s sales from slowing. M Science said it believes sales growth has slowed since the launch based on tough comparisons. At Burger King, the firm said, the $5 Your Way Meal “has not noticeably boosted trends.” 

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