WHATABURGER SWOT Analysis A Little Bit of History Whataburger is an American privately held regional fast food restaurant chain, based in San Antonio, Texas, that specializes in hamburgers. The company, founded by Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton, opened its first restaurant in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950. US Locations • Alabama (14) • Arizona (25) • Arkansas (5) • Florida (38) • Georgia (1) • Louisiana (15) • Mississippi (8) • New Mexico (11) • Oklahoma (33) • Texas (672) S W O T ANALYSIS STRENGTHS Reputation Whataburger is a well known and established, family-owned and operated fast food chain in the South with strong customer loyalty. Product Branding Whataburger sells its own products in grocery stores and online with popular Whataburger products: Signature “Fancy Ketchup,” “Spicy Ketchup” “Original Mustard” “Honey BBQ Sauce” and “Jalapeno Ranch” and others. Time Whataburger is open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, giving them an advantage of more sales potential since most of its competitors close during after-hours. Market Recognition According to QSR Magazine, Whataburger boasts the highest sales per unit for a quick service restaurant the US, and the second highest burger sales per unit in all quick service restaurants in the US. WEAKNESSES Location Whataburger is only located in the Southern United States. Reach Whataburger is renown and highly popular in Texas, where it was founded, but it does not have the same reputation nationally. Brand loyalty limitation Whataburger has strong brand loyalty to consumers who grew up eating Whataburger, but for those who did not grow up as consumers, the restaurant is not as special. Limited Menu Options Whataburger has limited flavor options with drinks and food. OPPORTUNITIES Expansion Whataburger has the opportunity to grow its market share by expanding to the Southern United States. College Towns Since Whataburger is a 24/7 service, it would be popular on college campuses so Whataburger should gradually extend its presence to college campuses in Northern regions. Brand Influencers To increase awareness of their restaurant, Whataburger can find popular brand influencers and have them tag and promote Whataburger on social media platforms. Specialty Drinks To target the next generation, QSR having a variety of specialty drinks is an increased interest for the iGeneration. THREATS Fast Food market The fast food market has a very competitive landscape and consumers often have many other options to chose besides Whataburger. Healthy Eating Trends Consumers are looking for healthier options now. National Fast-Food Chains With the fast food industry being so overcrowded, national fast food chains have more awareness with consumers. Cheaper Fast-Food Options Whataburger is not as cheap as restaurants like McDonald’s. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE Indirect Competitors Chick-Fil-A is the biggest indirect competitor of Whataburger. Direct Competitors’ Share of Voice (SOV) Direct Competitors and Market Share Brand Positioning of Direct Competitors TARGET AUDIENCE Audience Segments Demographic: Not married college educated Men 18-24 Geographic: Southern Metro areas such as Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, and Charlotte. Potential Market Size: 88,007,000 Key Attitude and Lifestyle Characteristics • Whataburger’s main Target Audience is usually single, with no children. • Whataburger’s target audience is a heavy user of social/digital media. Specifically on the platforms Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. • Whataburger’s main Target Audience according to Simmons is most active during the late day/ evening hours. • The Target Audience is a big user of TV consumption, specifically sports, crime, and comedy shows. • The Target Audience is a big streamer of media. (Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Amazon, etc.) • The Target Audience receives most news information either through social media, or word of mouth. • A majority of the Target Audience is either a college graduate, or currently enrolled in college. Meet Timothy! Timothy is a recent grad living on his own for the first time in Atlanta. He wakes up for work in the morning to his iPhone 6s alarm, with just enough time to brush his teeth, make his favorite ground coffee from Fresh Market, and head out to take MARTA. If it’s really nice out, sometimes he’ll stop to get an iced coffee from anywhere but Starbucks, which he believes to be overpriced. He is most likely listening to the Spotify playlist he made the week before, to try and wake up for the day. He eventually makes it to his entry-level marketing job downtown, and works on various projects while occasionally taking a break to read his Twitter feed. After a few hours, he’ll usually grab lunch with his co-workers and talk about the latest show they watched, their weekend plans, or how much they love the fact that their lunch meals are much better than their previous dining hall experiences. After lunch, he’ll brew another coffee found in the office kitchen, and finish his work for the day. He’ll head home with plans to cook his favorite easy recipe from the Tasty Facebook page that he secretly always watches. He hates going out to eat alone, which is why he will choose to drive-thru or order togo should he ever not feel like cooking. When he cooks, he tends to keep it healthy, but isn’t concerned with the food being organic or natural, as he hasn’t had time or the energy to care about such things. After dinner, he’ll grab his phone and go for a quick run to try and lose the weight he gained during college. Because he views finally being on his own as a fresh start, he is trying to stay as healthy and happy as possible, but doesn’t feel guilty during a cheat day when he picks up junk food from any of his guilty pleasures. 17 Meet Jordan! Jordan has is working in Nashville as a freelance creative specialist. He doesn’t have a set routine throughout his day, but is most likely going to wake up without an alarm around 9 and work from home all day. Because he works from home, he treats himself throughout the work week by going out and buying dinner rather than making it. He is always looking to try new places to eat, and will never order the same item off the menu twice. He loves his laid back lifestyle, which allows him the time to constantly be aware of trends in the media and pop culture. His weekends consist of waking up at noon and hanging out at his apartment pool. He’ll scroll through his twitter and instagram timeline, and then move onto Reddit which allows him to discuss his favorite parts and theories of the latest HBO show. Jordan has a large group of friends that he has developed, and will always attend the latest trip that someone has planned. 18 References Slide 2 and 3 http://whataburger.com/company Slide 5, 6,7,8 http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=6411c0d1- eb49-4255-9840-84cebf2342c7%40sessionmgr4009 MIntel Quick Service Restaurants - US - May 2017 Mintel Fast Casual Restaurants - US - February 2017 Slide 10 and 12 https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/qsr50-2017-burger-segment? sort=2016_us_average_sales_per_unit_thousands&dir=asc Slide 11 A$pender References Slide 13 MIntel Quick Service Restaurants - US - May 2017 Slide 15 and 16 Simmons One View.