How does a burger war prove that the customer is always right, even when they are embarrassingly wrong? (2024)

A&W Restaurants is a chain of American fast-food restaurants (900+ locations) that are famous for two things: the first is their 'frosty mugs' (kept in a freezer and filled with root beer just before serving) and the second is their ability to make delicious burgers.

In the 1980's, A&W squared off against McDonald's with a burger that had more meat (1/3 pound), performed better in blind taste tests than the McDonald's alternative (1/4 pounder) and sold at a lower price. With all these attributes, A&W were predicting a landslide win.

What actually happened was a magnificent flop. Alfred Taubman, the owner of A&W at the time, immediately launched an investigation and employed the famous social scientist Daniel Yankelovich to help his team of in-house hamburger experts discover the reason why.

Yankelovich began by questioning a focus group of A&W's target demographic and quickly uncovered negative pricing sentiment. The feeling was, “Why should we pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as we do a quarter pound of meat at McDonald’s?".

It became apparent that the tastier and bigger burger was lagging behind its more expensive and smaller competitor because of a belief that a third of a pound was less than a quarter of a pound (three is less than four). The lesson: no matter what the reality, the customer is king.

In short, stakeholder engagement matters. So, whether you are returning to the office after Omicron, or launching a pandemic business, success involves having a full understanding of your end user because 'who' they are is critical in 'how' successful you are in satisfying them.