If your family-style restaurant isn't offering a "value meal," you might want to reconsider. Large restaurants are starting to provide discounts for certain combos, such as ordering an appetizer, entrée and dessert at once to save you 10% on your meal or more.
And when you've run the numbers and done everything just right, you can combine high-profit entrees with low-cost desserts and make healthy profit margins at the same time.
If you look at the world's largest fast food chains, such as McDonald's, Burger King, Dunkin' and countless others, you can learn a lot from the value meal strategy that they offer. After all, McDonald's has over $6 billion a quarter in sales, much of this from its value meals.
What You Can Learn from the Value Meal
Restaurant owners often think, "Well, we don't offer fast food. Why should we care about value meals?" You don't have to offer value meals, but you can learn a lot from the companies that do and what makes them such a success.
Value meals teach us a lot about running a business, including:
Listening to Consumers is the Key to Success
Your restaurant needs to listen to consumers. In fact, 85% of products fail because companies don't listen to their target market. Value meals are born out of necessity and are a response to consumers who are worried about:
- Inflation
- Cost of living
Restaurants can begin offering value meals or combo meals to patrons as a way to show that you understand their struggles and are willing to do whatever it takes to get them in your restaurant.
However, you need to consider a few things, such as whether your restaurant can afford the new value meals and whether the meals are priced just right for the consumer.
Change is More Powerful Than Words
When you walk into a restaurant that you've been going to for months or years and you have the same complaint every time, it's disheartening when the owner or waitress asks what they can do better and nothing ever changes.
Value meals are all about change and listening to your target audience.
McDonald's is a prime example of a company that listened to its customers. The company saw people on social media stating that McDonald's raised its prices beyond inflationary rates. One restaurant owner supposedly raised the price to $18, which is a lot of money for a McDonald's value meal.
What did the company do after all of the backlash?
They heard the complaints of consumers who stopped visiting their local McDonald's and created a new $5 value meal.
What can you learn from this story? Enacting change is far more powerful than promises that never materialize.
Consider the Big Picture of the Best Value Propositions
Value meal offers can drive short-term sales higher, but what about the long-term? Metrics such as immediate sales won't paint an accurate picture of the deal's long-term success.
KPIs must look toward the future to provide a big-picture view.
Just take McDonald's and their $5 Meal Deal as an example. It is still up for debate whether these deals are playing a significant role in driving up sales and revenue, but they are impacting consumer behavior and perception of the brand.
For example, an estimated 70% of Meal Deal customers said the promotion was the main reason why they dined at McDonald's, and more than half said they would continue to eat at McDonald's if they continued offering Meal Deals.
Rather than looking at just immediate sales, focus on how deals are affecting customer satisfaction, repeat business and brand equity.
Examples of Successful Value Meal Deals from Popular Restaurant Chains
Value meals aren't a new concept, but they are making a big comeback as consumers have revolted against higher prices in recent years. Many of these deals have been wildly successful for fast-food and casual chain restaurants.
In fact, 58% of regular fast-food customers reported in July 2024 that they were interested in eating value items. And 34% of people who eat fast food said they would be "much more likely" to place an order if the restaurant offered more value meal prices and options.
Let's look at some successful value proposition examples for food value meal deals.
The Taco Bell Luxe Cravings Box
Taco Bell's Luxe Cravings Box often tops the list of best value meal deals at fast-food restaurants, and for good reason. For just $7, customers get a burrito, Chalupa Supreme, taco, chips and nacho sauce, and a medium drink.
This value meal deal has certainly played a role in Taco Bell's Q2 results, which saw sales up 5%.
Wendy's $5 Biggie Bag
Wendy's joined the value meal trend by offering a $5 Biggie Bag, which comes with your choice of a sandwich, chicken nuggets, fries, a small drink and a small Frosty. Customers save 53% compared to purchasing each of these items separately.
Data shows that this value meal deal from Wendy's is the most popular among all fast-food deals.
McDonald's $5 Meal Deal
To compete with other fast-food chains, McDonald's released its own $5 meal deal, which includes a sandwich, chicken nuggets, small fries and a small drink.
According to reports, this meal deal has a 1-5% profit margin, and it has been hugely popular with customers.
Taste of KFC Deal
KFC began offering value meal options in April.
One of the Taste of KFC deals includes two pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit for just $4.99. Another offers a bucket of 8 pieces of chicken for $10.
Conclusion
Fast-food and casual restaurant chains across the U.S. are now in a value meal war in hopes of winning back customers. Customers who frequent fast-food and fast-casual restaurants are often in search of value, so meal deals and combos are an attractive option that can help drum up sales. But even for sit-down restaurants, offering value meals is a great way to expand your reach and potentially draw in customers you may have never appealed to before.