Limited time offers (LTOs) keep your menu dynamic, but they also can drive traffic and boost sales. They’re incredibly effective across all age groups: 48% of consumers try an LTO item every month, and half of millennial and Gen X customers race to be the first in their friend group to try a new LTO and promote it on social media. Perhaps that’s why so many restaurants are embracing LTOs: Since 2014, the number of LTO menu items has increased 64%, according to Technomic.
Although price reduction is an easy and obvious LTO tactic, it’s neither the most common nor the most strategic maneuver. Over half (51%) of full service restaurants approach LTOs with innovative food or beverage offerings, letting their products rather than their prices fuel the buzz.
As your R&D team invents short-term offerings that can generate positive word of mouth and increased foot traffic during seasonal slumps and the longer term operational challenges the industry is now facing, consider these best practices for developing, implementing and marketing LTOs.
1. Aim for Novelty
An LTO is the perfect vehicle for introducing seasonal items and novel ideas that may be too expensive or operationally impossible to menu permanently. Grab attention—and social media shares—with unique dishes, ingredients, colors and serving ideas.
A beverage can turn exotic with a color switch-up—for example, a blue beverage whose bold color is achieved with the addition of butterfly pea extract. A seasonal or themed decorative cup likewise can make an LTO beverage stand out.
With travel on hold for many people due to the coronavirus pandemic, some operators are introducing summertime LTOs that capture the flavors of popular travel destinations outside the U.S. For example, Brix Wood Fired Pizza is inviting guests “to take their taste buds on a trip” with three menu offerings available through Sept. 30, 2020: an Asian fusion-inspired Chili Lime Bowl, a Caribbean Bowl, and a Caribbean Pizza featuring an olive oil base, jerk chicken, red onion, roasted red peppers, pineapple, mango salsa, cilantro, spicy honey and a four-cheese blend.
Novel shapes also work, as demonstrated by Pizza Hut in September 2019, when it launched its Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza LTO, a mashup of Cheez-It snack crackers and pizza that looks like a giant Cheez-It filled with cheese (and pepperoni, if you like) and served with a side of marinara dipping sauce.
Taco Bell likes to innovate with serving shells for some of its LTOs. In 2017, for example, it made waves with its Naked Chicken Chalupa, wherein chicken played the role of shell. And in September 2019, it launched the Toasted Cheddar Chalupa LTO using six-month-aged sharp cheddar cheese toasted onto its chalupa shell for a crispy, cheesy rendition.
2. Touch a Niche
Rather than taking a shotgun approach to your next LTO, consider picking out a key demographic you would like to reach—whether it’s a previously untapped market for you or your core customer. Pizza Hut, for example, strategically timed the launch of its aforementioned Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza LTO to appeal to its target demographic (college students) at the start of a new school year and new college football season. Male consumers, meanwhile, might be the target of Carl’s Jr.’s Really Big Carl Burger LTO, which debuted in October 2019 and included three charbroiled beef patties. Men are known meat eaters. Some 73% say they consume beef at least once a week and 51% eat pork, according to Technomic data reported in CSP.
Men may love meat, but cheese speaks to women. Half of surveyed women choose cheese as a snack at least once every 90 days compared to only 36% of men, according to Technomic. A fondue-like LTO therefore could be a smart move to attract women. Cheese-centered sandwiches and appetizers also could resonate with this audience.
Instead of a demographic niche, you also could target a flavor or dietary niche. If you’re after a bold-flavored LTO, for example, feature trending spicy flavors derived from guajillo chilies, Aleppo peppers and XO sauce. But be careful how you present these flavors; featuring them in a condiment, for instance, is a low-risk way to give guests an introductory taste.
Before you go the flavor route, consider this: while 49% of customers tried an LTO in the previous two weeks, according to Datassential, 59% said the last LTO they tried was “extremely similar” to a permanent menu item. Thus, a blend of new and exciting with familiar favorites could be the key to success.
3. Make It Exclusive
Try limiting an LTO to online orders or to drive-thru or delivery customers in order to build those channels.
For example, when Panera Bread expanded its in-house delivery to 1,300 stores nationwide in 2018, it ran a delivery-only Bacon Mac & Cheese LTO that lasted for a few weeks. The chain already offered a Mac & Cheese dish but made it more flavorful with the addition of thick-cut crunchy bacon pieces exclusively for delivery customers.
Or amp up the exclusivity factor, as Blaze Pizza did last month with an LTO that features a popular product, has a variety of restrictions and is available one day only. On June 18, select locations sold a pizza with a crust made with Mango White Claw hard seltzer instead of traditional filtered water. Only 40 of Blaze Pizza’s 300 restaurant locations offered the White Claw Pizza, and it could only be ordered by phone for dine-in or takeout. Blaze Pizza Co-founder and Executive Chef Brad Kent later indicated that the company might bring it back in the future; in the meantime, the company’s website encourages visitors to join Blaze Rewards so they “don’t miss out on any more Blaze offers.”
In addition to building your rewards program, enticing LTOs can be leveraged to incentivize customers to fill out a survey or to “like” or post something on social media. Think of exclusive LTOs as a type of coupon that you can use to encourage a behavior or launch a service.
4. Work with Partners
Your partners could be a source for R&D prowess, marketing savvy and even new customers during the duration of your LTO. Consider Pizza Hut’s partnership with Kellogg for the Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza in which both brands shared the splash.
While not all operators are big enough to leverage something so substantial, working with ingredient suppliers allows you to leverage their brand for increased name recognition and their subject-matter expertise for menu development. In fact, many suppliers have corporate chefs at the ready to help operators with menu ideation. Don’t wait to be asked; find one and co-develop a flavorful, marketable LTO.
A goodwill-building partnership is also an LTO strategy in and of itself. In April 2019, for example, Hardee’s brought back its Original Roast Beef Sandwich with a tongue-in-cheek “Save the Veggies” promotion smartly aimed at sustainability. Customers could order two sandwiches for $5. As part of the campaign, the burger chain partnered with the American Community Gardening Association to help plant more than 10 million vegetables nationwide.
Above all, a successful LTO should be craveable—and of the moment. With meal bundles now widely available to better serve families self-isolating at home, chains such as Buffalo Wild Wings have expanded their LTOs to include offerings that feed the whole family (or yield leftovers). Bottom line: If you make it unique in scope, color, flavor or presentation, customers will come.
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