Burger King begins the coffee subscription service | CMO Strategy

For coffee lovers, Burger King offers a great deal: $ 5 a month for a small coffee a day.

To benefit from the offer in participating restaurants, customers will download the BK app and sign up to pay a monthly subscription. This applies only to ordinary hot coffee and can not be combined with a delivery note.

The subscription service represents a step forward in the customer loyalty space for the chain while the fast food restaurants compete for flat pedestrian traffic. The number of visitors to fast food restaurants has only increased by 1% in 2018, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm.

Coffee chains, including Starbucks and Dunkin's, offer programs that reward customers with points as free drinks. But Burger King's fixed rate model is unusual for a big brand and shows the chain's desire to generate recurring business.

Mail-order coffee services have gained ground in recent years, but in-store versions have not been proven.

Burger King's decision is to try to get more people out of doors and capitalize on a 2% increase in the number of coffees ordered in fast-food chains in 2018, said David Portalatin, Vice President, Councilor food sector at NPD.

"Any excitement or innovation that a fast service chain introduces to encourage more customers to visit is a welcome opportunity," he said.

The $ 5 a month coffee solution is Home of the Whopper's latest attempt to get people to download and use their app. By the end of 2018, he was offering 1 cent of Whoppers if people ordered it inside or near a McDonald's restaurant.