Wendy’s American HQ announced this week that it will once again wade into the breakfast sector of the high-stakes QSR industry down south. But Wendy’s Canada says it’s too soon to confirm whether it will follow suit here. ‘We’ll be watching with interest what happens in the U.S. and coming up with a made-in-Canada strategy very soon,’ spokesperson Franca Miraglia told Media in Canada yesterday.
Predicting the size of the probable ad spend, or shifted ad budget dollars, if Wendy’s does start serving breakfast to Canadians is tricky at this point. But a logical comparison was provided in a report by AdAge.com that McDonald’s recently spent U.S. $69 million in measured media to launch McGriddles, while Burger King laid out $21 million to introduce its Enormous Omelet.
Wendy’s flopped big-time in its first foray into the breakfast market in a five-year test that began in 1986. Despite spending a reported $10 million in advertising and promotion, the chain managed to capture only about 8% of early-morning American munchers. The failure was widely attributed to choosing sit-down menu items such as made-to-order omelettes – just as the grab-and-go, eat-it-in-the-car craze was setting in. This time out, during a full-market test across the States, portable food choices will dominate the breakfast menu.
Joel Baum, professor and competitiveness authority at the University of Toronto’s Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, doesn’t fancy Wendy’s chances of making a go of it in the overcrowded Canadian breakfast sector. ‘Wendy does have the advantage of access to Tim Hortons’ knowledge of the breakfast/coffee business, as well as their coffee and baking operations. But the need to avoid taking sales from Tim Hortons will make a morning entry in Canada even more difficult.’
