MARKETING
How Gen Z is changing restaurant marketing CMOs from Bojangles, Caribou Coffee, Chicken Salad Chick, and Smoothie King share insights. G eneration Z spends near- ly 75% of its time online, so marketer are wise to recognize that, they told BY RON RUGGLESS SENIOR EDITOR NATION’S RESTAURANT NEWS
restaurant operators during the recent National Restaurant Associ- ation Show. At the “Cracking the Gen Z Code” education session, chief market- ing officers from Tom Boland at Bojangles, to Marianne Radley at Smoothie King, Erin Newkirk at Caribou Coffee and Tom Carr at Chicken Salad Chick shared their insights into Gen Z, those ages 12- 27 and born between 1997 and 2012. Caribou Coffee, for example, is creating a dating show thay will re- side on TikTok, Newkirk said. It will culminate in dating pairs in June and July, Newkirk noted. “It’s a product of innovation,” Newkirk said.
From left: Tom Boland, CMO of Bojangles; Marianne Radley, CMO of Smoothie King; Erin Newkirk, chief brand and marketing officer at Caribou Coffee; and Tim Carr, CMO of Chicken Salad Chick.
14 months by emphasizing imag- es, Radley said. “The response among the 18-34 age group has really shifted,” Rad- ley said. Even Chicken Salad Chick, which offers a variety of chicken salads, has taken advantage of the inno- vations in online image platforms, working with Influencers in local markets, Carr said.
Bojangles, a Southern stalwart, has got into the Instagram crowd by expanding its longtime Bo-Ber- ry biscuit platform to cookies, Bo- land said. “It also takes advantage of the trends in snacking among this group,” he said. Smoothie King, known for its bowls and smoothies, has shifted its audience younger over the past
Reaching the TikTok Generation
Erin Newkirk of Caribou Coffee talked with Nation’s Restaurant News man- aging editor Leigh Anne Zinsmeister about how the brand is working to meet younger consumers where they are, in- cluding through its latest social media activation, a TikTok dating show.
https://youtu.be/hQ6mxTINBsQ
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National Restaurant Association Show 2024
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