Fast Food Brands: Forget Deals, Try Manners

After everybody blows their budgets at holiday time, consumers generally go into a brief hibernation of sorts. They eat at home and start scraping their pennies together again for the next time they need to show some consumer confidence.

USA Today takes note of how fast-food establishments are going to do everything they can to keep those consumers coming out and spending their dollars, though “a key indicator for the industry, foot traffic, was down 0.6% in the third quarter of 2011,” according to a new report from NPD Group, and “restaurant visits in the first half of 2012” are projected to be “flat.”

So what tactic will the industry pull out to lead hungry Americans their way? Deals!

Burger King is mailing out a coupon book with $40 worth of savings in it, the paper reports. Taco Bell has re-introduced its 99¢ Beefy Crunch Burrito for a brief time. Wendy’s is pushing a 99¢ Value Menu this months. Meanwhile, KFC has buckets of chicken that normally go for $14.99 going for $11 on Saturdays and Sundays throughout January.

Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Jack in the Box are offering new year promotions as well. "These kinds of promotions tend to work well in driving traffic to our restaurants, where we have an opportunity to suggest add-ons and other check builders," says Tracy Dunn, director of menu marketing for Jack in the Box, according to USA Today.

Steak 'n Shake this week went so far as to promise consumers that it won’t raise prices at all in 2012, according to the paper: "We are attempting to insulate our customers from inflation," CEO Sardar Biglari said. Not to mention keep those consumers coming back for more — so long as they get their names right on their orders that is.

America's fast food purveyors (and Starbucks) are under fire for coming up with racist and otherwise insulting "customer names" on receipts, with Papa John's the latest quick-serve chain to apologize for a NYC employee's PR disaster to its social media followers over the weekend. Instead of apologies and discounts, how about engaging your employees in company values through a fresh serving of training in 2012?