Winning Occasions
1st Quartile QSRs: Champions of Breakfast
QSRs with stronger customer value propositions tend to also focus on the breakfast meal occasion, compared to lower ranking RPI QSRs, who tend to be retailers more focused on the dinner occasion. 1st Quartile QSRs also are more focused on driving snack, dessert and coffee visits. One conclusion to draw from this is that these occasions are better aligned to customer needs of the channel. Breakfast is likely the meal occasion where time-pressure is higher, as people scramble to get kids ready for school or get to their jobs. For the in-between meal occasions, when people need a quick fix, QSRs spring to mind.
On the other hand, QSRs more focused on the dinner occasion likely are more exposed to substitute solutions: cooking at home, grocery store ready-to-eat solutions, sit-down restaurants and the broader range of fast casual dining options.
Each quartile is doing equally well at driving the important lunch mission. The breakfast/dinner focus is where the trade-off is being made.
QSRs serving the breakfast and in-between meal missions have a greater chance of meeting customers at a point of critical need and of standing out more from a crowded landscape of meal solutions.
C-Store/QSR hybrids in particular exemplify the Quartile mission patterns. Many of them are in the top 10 in the US at breakfast mission penetration, among their customers. The same goes for snack and coffee occasions.
Beverage missions in general are a point of differentiation for convenience stores, due to the wider variety and customization of drinks they offer. With the growth of functional beverages and beverage meal replacements, this broad range is a threat for pure QSRs.
