Restaurants · Demand + Budget Discipline

McAlister's
Why My Fave

A regional test became a $7.9M chainwide campaign.

Demand Budget Discipline UGC Social Voting National Rollout
Industry
Restaurants / QSR
Focus
Demand + Budget Discipline
Client
McAlister's Deli
Outcome
$7.9M chainwide SKU sales

The Story

The brand needed chainwide engagement and product lift without a national-sized budget or heavy talent fees. Rather than bet the budget, I built a guest-testimonial campaign with a social-voting mechanic, launched it as a regional pilot, and let the data earn the scale. Engagement lifted 45%, the program rolled out nationally on the strength of the numbers, it drove $7.9M in chainwide SKU sales, and it cut talent-fee spend materially. Test small, prove it, then scale.

The Results

Demand
Chainwide SKU Sales
$7.9M
Driven by the UGC program
Demand
Guest Engagement
+45%
Lift vs. baseline
Position
Rollout
Regional → National
Scaled on the data
Efficiency
Talent-Fee Spend
Cut materially
Budget discipline held

The Takeaway

Test small, prove it, then scale. A pilot that earns its own scale is cheaper than a national bet that has to be right the first time.

Paul Burkhart · RYI5™ Revenue Yield Index · Indianapolis, Indiana

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