Marketing: The Big Idea

Marketing When it comes to LTOs, the best ingredients are...

Not all limited-time offers are created equal, according to Technomic’s menu experts Lizzy Freier and Katie Belflower.

Consumers were asked to rank LTOs as to how likely they would be to purchase that menu item by using only the menu name and description, without seeing or tasting the food.

The results were tabulated and it was clear that certain ingredients, flavors and cooking styles were favoured.

Apple desserts, bacon and steak all drew high marks.

Apple was clearly the favoured pie flavour and desserts such as apple cobbler and caramel apple pie crisp drew high

Technomic also measures an LTO for its draw (which can translate to incremental traffic) and its craveability (which translates to incremental sales).

Seafood scored high for draw because consumers would rather order it from a restaurant than cook it at home. (Think Lobster Thermidore , shrimp scampi or crabcakes).

As far as craveability goes, items that scored the highest tended to be comforting, indulgent foods such as steak and mushrooms and chocolate peanut butter treats.

Digging deeper into the results shows that gender and age play a part in what is preferred.

If you want your LTO to appeal to men, use the words “bacon,” “steak” or “meat” in the name or description.

If you want to appeal to women, try an LTO that involves cookies. Berry breakfasts also scored high.

Baby Boomers tended to go for dishes with seafood, fruit and sweeter flavors.

Gen X wants generous portions.

Gen Z goes for Tex-Mex items, carb-loaded foods like fries and mac ‘n cheese, and dessert-breakfast mashups.

Millenials seem to prefer healthier eating. But they also love a good steak.

~R.I.B.A.

Celebrate with new LTOs...

When it comes to getting ideas for new LTOs, just take a look at the calendar. There’s plenty of food days, food months, special days and national days that can be used to market new food offerings.

January

National Tea Month National Soup Month 1: New Year’s Day 1: National hangover Day 22: Chinese New Year 31: National Hot Chocolate Day

February

Potato Lovers month 2: Groundhog Day 14: Valentine’s Day 21: Mardi Gras 21: Shrove Tuesday 21: Family Day

March

Maple sugar month 8: International Woman’s Day 12: Daylight Saving Time starts 17: St. Patrick’s Day 20: First Day of Spring

April

1: April Fool’s Day 7: National Beer Day 9: Easter Sunday 26: National Pretzel Day

May

National Hamburger month 5: Cinco de Mayo 14: Mother’s Day 22: Victoria Day 28: National Burger Day

July

National Hot Dog month Celebrate summer month 1: Canada Day 7: World Chocolate Day 19: National Hot Dog Day

August

1: Civic Day 1: Food Day Canada 4: International Beer Day

September

Pumpkin Spice season begins 2: International Bacon Day 4: Labour Day 18: National Cheeseburger Day 16: Oktoberfest 19: Talk like a Pirate Day 29: National Coffee Day

October

National Seafood month 1: World Vegetarian Day 1: International Coffee Day 9: Thanksgiving 21: National Apple Day 31: Halloween

June

Graduates month 1: World Milk Day 7: Chocolate Ice Cream Day 19: National Martini Day 18: Father’s Day 21: First Day of Summer 21: Nat’l Indigenous Peoples Day

Movember

Men’s health issues National Peanut Butter Lovers month 1: World Vegan Day 5: Daylight Saving Time ends 6: National Nachos Day 11: Remembrance Day

December

National Egg Nog month 21: First Day of Winter 25: Christmas 26: Boxing Day 31: New Year’s Eve

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