50 Years of Great Food and Great Times
Over the past 50 years, Canadians have shared a wonderful relationship with A&W. It started with the drive-ins, where the baby boomers and their parents first experienced fast food in Canada. A&W became a place for a treat, a place to hang out with friends or family, and a place for a great hamburger and a frosty mug of ice cold A&W Root Beer®. During that time A&W has become a special place for millions of Canadians. In 2006, over 26,000 of them took the time to write and tell us about their favourite A&W memory going back over the past 50 years. These stories are a real life reminder of just how much A&W means to these consumers, not just in the past, but today.
And, 2006 was another excellent year in the A&W business with strong progress made on all of the major initiatives in the business. There is a high level of innovation underway as A&W focuses on continuing to build the brand with consumers and strengthen the overall competitive excellence of the business.
Our Strategy
A&W is a strategy driven business, and at the centre of the strategy is the mission “to be the number one burger choice of the baby boomer generation and to make A&W restaurants the most successful burger businesses in Canada.” As one of Canada’s largest franchised restaurant chains, both delighting the customer and having highly successful restaurants is critical to success. A&W’s strategy is focused on achieving both of these goals.
The Boomer Connection
The approximately 9.8 million baby boomers in Canada are the focus of A&W’s business. The boomers have grown up with A&W, first visiting drive-in restaurants in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Later, as they grew older, they frequented A&W’s more than 200 restaurants located in malls. Today, in addition to the mall locations, they can visit one of the over 400 locations “on the street.” A&W has been a part of the baby boomers’ lives. While the connection with the boomers goes back 50 years, A&W keeps changing and evolving to stay in touch with their changing needs.
Cruisin’ the Dub
Each summer, A&W freestanding restaurants across the country host classic car events that also include a celebration of the music of the boomers. These Cruisin’ the Dub events are huge hits, often attracting crowds of several hundred. In 2006, over 1,300 Cruisin’ the Dub events were held throughout the summer, attracting an estimated attendance in excess of 300,000 people.
Advertising
Reaching out to boomers with advertising that builds the brand and attracts them to visit restaurants is an important part of A&W’s overall strategy. The campaign in 2006 was particularly successful, including the new television “Date” spot, which showcased the hero A&W Teen Burger®.
Menu Innovation
While the signature Burger Family®, A&W Root Beer® and fresh hand made onion rings form the core of the A&W menu, continued innovation of the menu, consistent with changing consumer demands is an important part of the strategy. 2005 was an active year for menu innovation, particularly in the area of breakfast and healthy alternatives. This was followed up in 2006 as an important year to solidify those new product launches, particularly breakfast, which is an important growth daypart for the business. Strong advertising and promotional programs designed to raise both awareness and trial of breakfast yielded positive results in breakfast sales in 2006. Another important menu initiative was the launch in December 2006, of new “zero trans fat” or low trans fat menu favourites like our fries and onion rings. A&W was the first national hamburger chain to roll out this new innovation.
New Climate Goals
One of A&W’s greatest strengths is the organizational Climate and the Climate Process. The A&W Climate Goals outline the key behaviours that all 20,000 people who work in the business need to demonstrate every day, whether they work for the corporation or for franchisees. During 2006, with the help of franchised operators, the Climate Goals were recreated, as part of ensuring that they are relevant to the strategy and the challenges of the business today. This is only the fourth time that the Climate Goals have been revised over the past 30 years, an important milestone in the company’s history.
New Restaurant Expansion
Expanding to new markets is a critical part of A&W’s overall strategy and in 2006 we opened 22 new restaurants. A particular highlight was that 9 of these were new freestanding restaurants in the strategically important Ontario market. With the addition of these new restaurants, 2006 annual system sales in Ontario exceeded $100 million, an important milestone in the strategy to build a dominant presence in this market.
Looking forward, A&W will continue to focus on the key strategies in the business, menu innovation, new restaurant expansion, creating more successful restaurants, building a powerful organizational Climate and of course, strengthening and deepening the 50 year relationship with our customers.