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Don't Let Profits Drive Away: 5 Tips to Increase Beverage Incidence

Don't let profits drive away with off-premise orders. Close the beverage incidence gap and increase your profits using The Coca-Cola Company's Drive-Thru Success Top 5 tips to deliver high-impact activation.


Drive-thru traffic represents more than 60% of total traffic at some QSR locations, and it can be extremely profitable business -- particularly when a beverage is included on the to-go order. However, unless restaurant operators are diligent, there is often a 15- to 30-point soft drink incidence gap between drive-thru and on-premise dining. Increasing beverage incidence by just a few points can deliver thousands in incremental revenue and profits annually.


The Top 5 Things to Activate 
As consumers enter the drive-thru line and approach the menu board, you have a window of opportunity to influence their order and increase awareness of beverage options. Here are 5 proven ways to break through consumers' typical drive-thru experiences, meet their needs and encourage purchase of a beverage with every meal:

  • Menu Board Extenders. An easy-to-read menu board extender -- that focuses on a variety of brands, products and packages -- clearly communicates beverage options to consumers and drives beverage incidence.
  • Pre-Sell Menu Boards. Consumers consider options prior to the point of purchase, including the appeal of profitable combo meals. Full meal imagery, featuring a variety of food and beverages, make the most impact. The Coca-Cola Brands with Meals program suggests optimal combo pairings.
  • Combo Menu with Variety Beverage Message. Picture the full combo meal -- sandwich, fries and drink -- and a variety of Coca-Cola beverages on the menu to minimize order time and drive combo purchases.
  • Beverage Menu Featuring Coca-Cola Branded Cups. Cups featuring Coca-Cola brands more effectively provide a clear snapshot of the beverages available than a list or logos, encouraging a beverage purchase to complement a la carte food items.
  • Suggestive Sell Crew Program. A suggestive selling program that trains and motivates your crew can drive beverage incidence and average check size while improving the overall consumer experience. A simple change in a crew greeting - from "Would you like a combo meal?" to "What combo would you like?" -- often makes the difference between selling a more profitable combo instead of a la carte menu items. Suggestive selling gives crew the right words to suggest a combo upgrade, bottled water instead of tap, or an up-sell of the beverage only.

It Works! A Drive-Thru Success Story 
A QSR burger operator, with drive-thru representing 60 to 70% of their traffic, added a menu board extender to improve beverage incidence. The extender, which communicated all of their beverage brands in branded cups -- not a text list -- improved soft drink volume by 3.9%*, increasing profitability with minimal expense or added effort.


Ensure you're maximizing the drive-thru opportunity by following the Top 5 tips. And, ask your Coca-Cola FoodService and On-Premise representative about other ways to increase take-out order beverage and combo incidence.


* Source: Matrix YTD March 09

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