Everyone has that something they crave at their favorite fast-food restaurant. Whether it’s a Big Mac from McDonald’s, a Whopper from Burger King or chicken nuggets from Wendy’s, some days fast food is the only thing that sounds good.
How would you feel if that were taken away without any reason and without any warning?
Hearing “Sorry, we don’t have that anymore” coming from the voice inside the drive-through box can make your heart sink and your stomach grumble with anger.
Of course, we know that there are seasonal items. We don’t expect Sonic to have the Sweetheart Shake after Valentine’s Day or Starbucks to have the Pumpkin Pie Frappuccino at any time other than Halloween. We are talking about the everyday, run-of-the-mill sandwich.
McDonald’s needs to fish or cut bait when it comes to the McRib. No sandwich should appear and disappear from a menu on three separate occasions.
The Brownie and Cookie Dough Blasts from Sonic have no seasonal affiliation, yet they come and go without warning. More recently, the Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich was removed from the menu at Whataburger.
It just doesn’t make sense. If something is not selling or failing miserably, please take it off the menu. More than likely we won’t even notice it’s missing (if we never noticed it on the menu before).
But when on several occasions one walks into Whataburger and sees the majority of the customers sitting down and enjoying the same thing, it doesn’t seem logical to remove that from the menu. The Honey Barbecue Chicken Strip Sandwich is what we’re talking about here. Ed Board has been enjoying the succulent combination of sweet, salty and sandwichy and we want it back!
So why do it? Is it just to get everyone mad so when you bring it back, we’ll love you again? Is it worth the decline in profits while you no longer have it just to have that little spike when it’s brought back?
It seems like there are quite a few customers who might be less than excited to be forced to find something else on the menu to replace the removed item. They might rather get their favorite food item at another restaurant.
While a consumer can be very loyal to a certain place, if that place does something to upset said devotion, the customer can turn around and go somewhere else.
In the age of “we want what we want and we want it now,” it doesn’t seem cost-effective to alienate a section of customers who purchased only the one item. And when that person can drive across the street, one block down or even next door to find a restaurant that still has what they like, it just doesn’t seem smart.
Ed Board wants Sonic to bring back the Cookie Dough Blast and that Whataburger bring back the Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich. Life just isn’t the same without these treats to cure hangovers, bad days and late-night cravings.