– Shall we have a burger for lunch?
– If you want, but then a GOOD burger. »
You have necessarily experienced this dialogue before, and it is less innocuous than you might think. By itself, it expresses the burger mania French and the current trend for fast food restaurants to surround themselves with celebrities to promote their products. It also recounts the end of an era, when the mere prospect of a steak between two slices of bread was enough to convince.
Because if your friend insists on the “GOOD” burger, it’s not because he shuns the most iconic dish in the United States, but just that he has become demanding from being sated. More than two billion burgers end up in the throats of the French every year, the second most sold type of dish behind sandwiches, indicates Bernard Boutboul, founder of the firm Gira, specialist in catering. Sales have been multiplied by 14 over the last ten years, “a growth that has no equal in the food sector”.
Eat with the stars
“Currently, customers find burgers on every street corner,” continues Frédéric Levacher, General Manager of Quick. A competition that other fast food products do not have. You will rarely find a tacos, a kebab or a chicken tender on the menu of a restaurant. So for the burger sellers, there’s no question of waiting with folded arms – or of being alone. In this summer of 2023 alone, McDonald’s is collaborating with DJ Snake to launch a special menu, Burger King with starred chef Michel Sarran, and Quick with chef Norbert Tarayre.
First advantage of these collabs: responding to premiumization. It’s that fast food restaurants are no longer just at war with each other, but now have to deal with broader competition. In 2008, McDonald’s and Quick owned 95% of the French burger market. From now on, fast food weighs “only” 70% of the sector. “80% of the 145,000 restaurants with table service, excluding fast food, have at least one à la carte burger,” lists Bernard Boutboul. So “the consumer ”cleans” the product by always asking for more quality”
The fast-food in search of the top of the range
It is therefore necessary to move upmarket, and for that, nothing better than to serve yourself directly in the restaurant. At Burger King, until the end of July, Michel Sarran offers a range of burgers masters – supposed to be more elaborate, with better ingredients and therefore more expensive. Count more than 13 euros for the fries menu – drink with a Master, against 8 to 9 for a classic menu at “BK”. The same is true at Quick, where Norbert Tarayre had launched from mid-May to mid-June his range of remarkable, two burgers at 12.95 euros per menu against 8-9 euros as a general rule. A collaboration two euros even more expensive than the Supreme menus, burgers already presented as more luxurious.
McDonald’s was the first in France to play the “luxury” fast-food card, with the range Signature launched in 2017. Menus with special burgers between 14 and 17 euros, five more than the classic menus. “This is the first country where they have launched such a range,” notes Bernard Boutboul.
Have an audience of regulars, not bored people
But the collaboration doesn’t just serve to enhance the range. DJ Snake is more talented on the turntables than in the kitchen, and many other collaborations – Eric & Ramzy at the start of the year, Cauet in 2022, to speak of Quick – also come completely out of the culinary field. “What is absolutely necessary is to create the event and innovate”, indicates Frédéric Levacher. For the year 2023 alone, Quick intends to present eight innovations – eight new products or recipes – with the aim of never tiring the customer.
“There always has to be something surprising,” continues the general manager. These innovations are often ephemeral or of limited duration – Norbert’s Supremes are already no longer available, for example – in order to give consumers a deadline and therefore pressure. And to highlight these novelties, nothing like a featuring with stars, whose burger will benefit from the notoriety.
Storytelling more than nutrition
Notoriety… and aura. McDonald’s double-cheese has a bit more flair now that he’s teamed up with DJ Snake. No wonder the chefs selected by the big brands are both stars of the TV show. Top chef – Michel Sarran as a jury, Norbert Tarayre as a star candidate because of his banter.
Because after a while, the premium is reaching its limits, warns Pierre-Louis Desprez, managing director of Kaos, a firm specializing in innovation and brands: “The burger will always remain fat and caloric as a whole. Associating it with stars makes it possible to ennoble it in a way other than purely food, where the borders are visible. This helps tell stories, regardless of nutritional values. “Same observation for Bernard Boutboul: “These featurings allow above all to value the customers who go to fast food, more than to upgrade the burgers to very high end. »
Human collaborations or not
“Having a collaboration adds to the event, recognizes Frédéric Levacher. The consumer will say to himself, “Hey, there’s Norbert’s burger, I’m going to Quick”. Make people want to come, not out of habit, but out of the pleasure of discovery and rediscovering the personality of a well-known celebrity – note how those chosen correspond to the young and cool target that fast-food restaurants are aiming for as a priority.
And even without human incarnation, the collaborations continue. After the Top Chef candidate, Quick is launching Stormtroopers burgers, the iconic soldiers of Star Wars, this week until August 16. An all-white bread burger, a black bread burger, and above all “the whole Star Wars universe to carry the burger”. Either the recipe for success: a featuring, a story to tell, an original idea with the color of the breads. Enough to convince your friend this afternoon?