Competitor Analysis: Chick-fil-a vs McDonald's vs Burger King

This document provides a competitor analysis of Chick-fil-a, McDonald's, and Burger King in the fast food industry. It examines their strengths, weaknesses, and strategies, and discusses the level of competition in the marketplace.

Individual report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
An audit of the marketing environment......................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
A competitor analysis..................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) strategy & perceptual map...............................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
Marketing strategy using the 7P’s ..............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
Books & Journals......................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management define as an essential procedure of making decisions, planning,
controlling as well as monitoring all the market aspects of a company in context of marketing. It
is the method which supports all the activities and functionality which consist in the distribution
process of product & services. In this report, Chick-fil-a is chosen as the base company which is
a fast food chain, established in the year 1967. It is a company invented by S.Truett Cathy which
provide fast food products to the customers. In order to expand its market share, a new franchise
is developed in the marketplace of United Kingdom (Atwal and Williams, 2017). Therefore,
before entering into new market area, environmental audit is conducted so that available
competition will be analysed. Furthermore, segmentation, targeting as well as positioning
strategy is adopted by the organisation in order to identify the potential market. At the end of this
report, marketing strategy which includes 7P's are going to be conducted by the marketing team
in order to analyse all the elements in an effective manner.
TASK 1
An audit of the marketing environment.
It is said that marketing environment audit define as a autonomous, systematic,
comprehensive as well as continuous analysis of strategies, marketing environment, objectives
and activities of business. It is said that marketing audit is conducted by third person and not by
the managers or members of the company. In the present context of Chick-fil-a, it is a fast food
restaurant chain of America which provide range of chicken products and sandwiches to their
customers. It has been identified that the company have almost 2300 restaurants within US as
well as the average sales of per outlet is identified which is almost 4m dollars in the year 2017.
apart from this, it has also been identified that at present out of 50, 458 states of America have
outlets which is quite popular among the youth (Bagozzi and et. al., 2018). Now, after getting
huge success at the marketplace of American, company decides to launch its new franchise with
UK. Before doing business expansion it is said that there must be an analysis of macro
environment so that competition level and demands of customers will be identified. With the
help of effective analysis of all the macro elements managers will be able to develop effective
marketing strategies so that they will be able to beat the competition. With the help of PESTLE
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analysis, macro environmental factors of UK will be examined in an effective manner which are
as follows:
Political factor: It is the aspect which consist of all the political and governmental
policies which might affect the overall operations. It has been said that all the political
regulations which is associated with the quality of food, food standards, hygiene and many more
which need to followed by the management team of an organisation deals within the industry. In
the present context, it has been identified that the political environment within UK is quite stable
which provides ample number of opportunities to the chosen company which is Chick-fil-a. This
will assist the organisation in order to run their business functions in smooth manner. Apart from
this, pressure of UK government in order to involve healthy food items within the products might
affect the overall operations of the chosen organisation (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019).
Therefore, it is essential for the organisation to includes all the healthier items within the menu.
Economic factor: This feature of the macro environment is connected with the effect of
trends & condition of the economy. It has been analysed that business operations of fast food
sector is highly affected by the economic recession which might affect the overall revenues &
profit margin of the company while doing business operations at the marketplace of UK.
Therefore, with the help of involving cheaper options and providing high quality customer
service might provide ample number of opportunity to Chick-fil-a. With the help of stable
economic system of the country various opportunities will be gained by the management team of
the company.
Social factor: This element consider social conditions which supports or limits the
business functions within the fast food sector. The behaviour and attitude of consumers highly
influenced by the social trends which impact the business functionality. In the constext of UK, it
has been analysed that the lifestyle of individuals are busy which made them to prefer dine in the
hotels and restaurants like Chick-fil-a rather than cooking food at home. With the help of this,
company will be able to gain opportunity in order to operate in a positive manner within the
marketplace of UK (PESTEL analysis of the UK, 2019). Along with this, managers need to
provide healthy food products to their customers so that there needs and demands will be
satisfied (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2017).
Technology factor: It has been identified that it is very crucial element while operating
business functions in within the food industry. By innovating and modifying technologies it has
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been said that business revenue will be influenced. It has been said that success of Chick-fil-a
mainly rely on the adoption of technologies which provide ample number of benefits to the
organisation. It has been analysed that individuals within UK are highly technical and prefer
online order facilities which requires adoption of new and innovative technologies. Apart from
this, using high tech technologies might enhance the overall production process of the company
and reduce wastage and scrap, so that maximum profit will be gained (Gummesson, 2017).
Environmental factor: This characteristic is associated with natural surroundings &
consequence of ecological tendency on user as well as business. In today's world, people are
highly concerned about the environment and follow all the regulations applied by the
government. Therefore, they want companies to adopt all the regulation in order to secure the
environment. Nevertheless, if Chick-fil-a will adopt each and every regulation which is
developed by the government, they will be able to attract large number of customers towards
them
Legal factor: This factor is linked with different rules and regulation which are
formulated by the governance on different business activities. The health law is linked with
accessibility and availability of the fast food firm at different places. The change in nutritive
values and legal condition are the major factor which are being affected by the law. This
negatively affect the revenues of Chick-fil-a. Amenability with the laws of employment, waste
and management of food will assist firm in order to perform their business operations effectively
with the support of government bodies. Agreement with sales and marketing regulations will
help firm in order to perform business activities in UK market area.
SWOT Analysis
For every organisation, it is very essential to the management team to examine or identify
internal analysis. For this, most appropriate tool used by the managers of Chick-fil-a is to
conduct a SWOT analysis method which are going to be discussed as follows:
Strength Weaknesses
 One of the biggest strength of Chick-
fil-a company is that they provide
impeccable services to their customers.
This will assist them in order to retain
their loyal customers for a longer
 Chick-fil-a do not perform their
business functions at the marketplace of
USA which affect their overall market
presence in a negative manner.
Therefore, it is considered as one of the
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period of time.
 On the other hand, it has also been
analyzed that, Chick-fil-a offer high
quality chicken sandwiches. Large
number of customers daily visit to their
physical outlets.
 Management team of Chick-fil-a offer
food items by serving them through
attendants. This as a result help in
developing healthy relationship with
their customers and create positive
reputation in the marketplace.
biggest weakness of the company.
 Apart from this, it has been said that
fast food industry does not produce
innovative food items which reduces
the overall profitability of the company
at the competitive marketplace.
Opportunities Threat
 If talking about health conscious
people, organisation need to provide
healthy food products which will help
them in attracting large number of
customers towards the organisation.
 Chick-fil-a will be able to increase the
overall profitability of the company if
they expand their offering.
 Threat for the company is that there are
ample number of competitor companies
which affect the overall performance at
the competitive marketplace. These
rival organisations includes
McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King and
so on operates there business functions
at the marketplace.
 On the other hand, there are different
scandals where quantity as well as
quality of chicken affect the whole
image of the organisation at the
marketplace. Therefore, it is considered
as one of the threat for the company.
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Porter's five force model: It refers to a framework used by large number of organisation
in order to analyse the competitiveness within the same sector. With the help of this model,
managers will be able to develop strategies and policies according to the market situation. This is
the framework which includes five competitive forces. All these forces are going to be discussed
as follows:
Threat of new entrants (Low): It is the factor in which threat of new entrant is low as the
food and beverage industry requires lot of investment. Along with this, it has also been said that
skilled and capable staff members is required to operate business functions. For this, appropriate
amount of funds are required so that skilled and potential employees will be attracted. In the
present context, it has been said that company need to examine the current requirements and
needs which consume lot of time and effort whereas rival companies are very well aware about
them. Therefore, it has been concluded that there is low danger of new entrants which provide
positive results to the organisation.
Threat of substitutes (High): It has been analysed that there is terrific risk of substitutes
for the company as large number of rival companies operates their business functions in the same
sector. These competitors provide similar food items to the customers which are similar to the
rival companies and in low cost. This might affect the overall profitability of the company at the
competitive marketplace. Therefore, it is essential for Chick-fil-a that they must provide healthy
food products to the customers within UK as they are health conscious people.
Bargaining power of customers (High): In this context it has been analysed that,
negotiation power of users are quite high as there are large number of substitutes available at the
marketplace. This is one of the biggest threat for the company as customers easily attracted
towards new companies who offer low price offerings. This as a result, reduce overall sales of
the company deals in food and beverage industry. Therefore, in order to maintain the
sustainability of the company at the marketplace for a longer period of time, company need to
offer high quality food products in affordable prices.
Bargaining power of suppliers (Low): Chick-fil-a holds positive and good presence at
the marketplace of UK. There are ample number of suppliers who provide high quality raw
material to them so that they can produce goods in an effective manner. In the present context of
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Chick-fil-a there are ample number of suppliers who provide goods to them according to their
quotations.
Competitive rivalry (High): It has been said that, company have high level of
competition within food and beverage industry. For example some of the rival companies
includes McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King. All these companies provide high quality products
to the customers which increase the level of competition.
With the help of above mentioned analysis, managers of the company can examine
competition level within the given industry in an effective manner. Along with this, they can
develop strategies as well as policies accordingly so that they can beat the competition available
at the marketplace.
TASK 2
A competitor analysis
The term Competitive analysis denotes to weak area, strong factor, strategies and smart
objective of current business rivalry. The investigation includes both offensive and defensive
strategies in order to know about their opportunities to achieve growth and threats which are
becoming obstacles in their operations. The model of competitor’s investigation is the most
effective way to compare products of Chick-fil-a's with their competitor Akin at the market place
There are different fast food chains operating at the market place such as Subway, Greggs,
McDonald's, Five Guys, Burger King etc as they are offering same products as compared to
Chick-fil-a. All these firm will give high competition to their rivalry firm while operating their
business activities at market of UK (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017) . The competitive
analysis model will assist Chick-fil-a in fighting competition with the rivalry firm composed of
good knowledge about strategy which are used by the competitive party. The firm should be
flexible in their business activities according to fluctuation in market situations and ways by
which they can position themselves at the market place. The competitive analysis table of Chick-
fil-a is evaluated below as:
Aspect / Feature Chick-fil-a McDonald's Burger King
Strong Points High quality food
product choices and
hygiene factor.
They are having their
operations at global
scale thus established
They have gained
higher market share
thus retention of loyal
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strong brand image. customers.
Weak Areas The presence of social
media tool is not
effective and they are
having limited food
items in their menu.
They are having their
negative publicity and
unhealthy food menu.
They are having very
narrow targeting
listeners and they have
used scattered
marketing campaign.
Strategy of
Pricing
They have adopted
competitive strategy of
pricing.
They have executed
psychological and
bundling price strategy.
They have adopted
market oriented pricing
tool.
Origin Country America America America
Customers
Targeted
The kids and family
members who want to
consume fast food
which is healthy and
hygiene.
The family people and
small children who can
spend money for dining.
The educated and
working class
individuals who can
easily devote money on
quality of food and
service.
Industry/ Firm franchises of fast food Junk food franchises Firm dealing in fast
food.
Foundation year 1967 was the
foundation year
1940 was the base year 1954 starting year
There are different competitors available at UK market Chick-fil-a restaurant need to
develop plans in order to make a difference from other business unit who are providing the
similar services and want to retain for long time at market area. The firm such as Burger King
and Mc Donald’s are have retained loyal customers and established strong brand image which
have negative impact on Chick-fil-a as they are not able to gain higher revenues. The choice of
hygiene and healthy food will help firm to achieve competitive gains from their competitors.
The end result of this is it helps in capturing attention of customers by providing them healthy
food products which consist of lower calories. The firm is offering food for all age group who
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are willing to consume healthy fast food thus differentiating them from their competitors. The
prices of the junk food product set by Chick-fil-a are according to the pricing strategy which are
being by their competitor firm (Johnsen, 2018). This will result in attracting large number of
customers who will consume their food products. This is beneficial for firm in order to gain
competitive edge by making a difference from their rivalry.
The judgement and the decisions related to marketing are affected by the complex
elements which are present in the business environment. As there is much higher competition in
fast food industry operating at UK So Chick-fil-a should formulate plan and strategies in order to
place itself at market area and gaining customer attention. In order to develop plan for expansion
of business activities the data should be gathered from market area in order to formulate most
effective marketing strategy thus establishing strong image. The plans should be executed
keeping in mind the strategies used by the competitors. This will be beneficial for management
of Chick-fil to achieve competitive gains.
SMART Objectives
Developing effective marketing objective plays very essential role in order to implement
marketing plan. It has been said that while carrying out business functions at the market place of
UK, management team develop various SMART objectives which they need to be attain in an
effective manner: “To raise the overall revenues of the organisation by 15% within next 1 year.” “To increase the whole market share of the business entity in the whole wide world by
5% within next 6 months with the help of effective social media marketing strategies.”
TASK 3
Segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) strategy & perceptual map
It has been said that market segmentation refers to a process where segmentation of
market is done on the basis of potential consumers. This will assist the marketing team of Chick-
fil-a in order to modify their marketing campaigns so that they can attract customers in an
effective manner. Along with this, with the help of grouping consumers who have same features
and characteristics help the marketers in order to target customers within cost effective and
appropriate manner. Furthermore, with the help of segmentation, company will be able to reduce
or minimise the risk which is associate with their marketing campaign. It has been analysed that
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there are mainly four kinds of market segmentation with the help of which whole market is
divided. Such segmentation includes geographic, demographic, behavioural and Psychographic.
The present report is based on a food chain company which is Chick-fil-a who wants to bring a
franchise in the marketplace of UK. Therefore, it is essential for them to segment their market
area on the Demographic as well as behavioural segmentation. In case of demographic
segmentation, organisation categories its whole market on the basis of gender, age, income level
and many more (Kienzler and Kowalkowski, 2017).
On the other hand, target market define as the selection or choosing of potential
customers to those organisation wants to sell their products and services at the competitive
marketplace. In context of Chick-fil-a, targeted market is family, kids, youngsters and those who
belongs to high as well as middle level group of people. They are the one who mainly visit to the
hotel and restaurant on a regular basis.
Positioning define as the strategy which identifies the place mainly acquire in the mind
of consumers. It refers to the ability as well as capability of the company in order to influence
perception of consumers. In the present context of Chick-fil-a position the business operations at
the marketplace by providing high quality food products to the users within affordable price. In
the present context, it has been analysed that the company provide healthy food items so that
large number of individuals will be attracted towards the company (Zimmerman and Blythe,
2017).
Perceptual Map:
Perceptual map refers to a visual representation about the perception of potential
customer regarding specific features and attributes of the company, its product, idea, brand or
services. With the help of this map, marketers will be able to identify the competitive position as
well as the view and thoughts of customers about Chick-fil-a.
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TASK 4
Marketing strategy using the 7P’s
Each and every organisation have their own aim and objective for which they perform
their business operations. In the present context, the primary objectives of Chick-fil-a includes:
 To enhance their overall profitability of the company by almost 20% within next 1 year.
 To expand its market share by 10% in next 3 year.
Marketing strategy define as an approach used by every organisation in order to attain
competitive advantages at the market place. It consist of elements of marketing mix which assist
in understanding what type of products as well as services will be offered to the users so that
they gain positive response at the market. It refers to a tool which involves set of different
actions which is used by organisations in order to promote the products at the marketplace. In the
present context of Chick-fil-a, managers of the company wants to expand its business operation
by opening a new franchise at the marketplace of United Kingdom (Kotler and et. al., 2018). All
the elements of marketing mix are going to be discussed as follows in an effective manner.
Product: It refers to an object or item which is available for the consumption of
customers. In reference to the present company which is a fast food chain named as Chick-fil-a
will offer range of chicken dishes as well as sandwiches to the users which are of high quality.
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Along with this, managers of the food chain keep in mind that the products offered to customers
are made in clean and hygienic manner. Apart from this, they also offer various healthy food
items in their menu.
Price: It defines as the value or amount willingly pay by the customers in order to
consume the products and services. It has been analysed that management team of Chick-fil-a
adopt competitive pricing strategy in order to beat the competition by offering low pricing food
products as compare to their competitor firm. With the help of using low or competitive pricing
strategy, company will be able to attract large number of customer towards them.
Place: It is said to be that area where the product or commodity is being sold by the
company. There are various physical outlets with the help of which company will be able to
attract their customers towards the, in reference to Chick-fil-a, management team decides to do
business expansion in the marketplace of United Kingdom as well as offer their fast food product
within London (Rinallo, Bathelt and Golfetto, 2017).
Promotion: This is the way through which promotion of the product is done so that large
number of customers will be able to attract towards the company. It includes all the techniques
with the help of which products and services of the organisation is being promoted at the
marketplace. In reference to the present organisation, Chick-fil-a use social media tool in order to
promote their products and services at the new marketplace. This as a result assist in grabbing
attraction of large number of customers towards the company.
People: Under this element, all the individuals are included who are mainly accountable
for each and every factor of sales, marketing, finance and other activities. It is very essential for
the management team of Chick-fil-a that they provide training sessions to their staff members so
they will be able to produce positive result at the competitive marketplace.
Process: This is the process with the help of which goods, products and services
effectively deliver to the end user (Wierenga and Van der Lans, R. eds., 2017). In reference to
the present context of Chick-fil-a, managers of the company use highly upgraded technologies in
order to prepare high quality products and services. This will assist them in order to retain their
customers for a long period of time.
Physical Evidence: This element includes each and every factor which is seen by
individuals when they make any kind of interactions with the company. In reference to the
chosen organisation which is Chick-fil-a, it has been identified that there is highly attractive
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interiors in their outlets so that they can attract large number of customers towards the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
With the assistance of above mentioned report, it is concluded that before entering into
the new market, environmental audit is required. In this both macro as well as micro
environment has been analysed by the marketing team of an organisation. Along with this, there
are some factors available at the marketplace which might affect the overall business functions
and operations. It has also been analysed that before providing goods and services to the
customers, it is required to identify their needs and wants so that they can maintain their
sustainability at the marketplace. Furthermore, distribution of market environment is necessary
which is done by using STP approach. This will assist in attracting potential customers towards
the organisation. Along with this, with the help of 7P's of marketing help in doing business
expansion at the competitive marketplace.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Atwal, G. and Williams, A., 2017. Luxury brand marketing–the experience is everything!.
In Advances in luxury brand management (pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Bagozzi, R. P. and et. al., 2018. Marketing-Management. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Deepak, R. K. A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A. and Hinsch, C., 2017. Elements of strategic social media
marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research. 70.pp.118-126.
Gummesson, E., 2017. From relationship marketing to total relationship marketing and
beyond. Journal of Services Marketing. 31(1). pp.16-19.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 45(3). pp.377-401.
Johnsen, T. E., 2018. Purchasing and supply management in an industrial marketing
perspective. Industrial Marketing Management. 69. pp.91-97.
Kienzler, M. and Kowalkowski, C., 2017. Pricing strategy: A review of 22 years of marketing
research. Journal of Business Research. 78. pp.101-110.
Kotler, P. and et. al., 2018. Marketing management: an Asian perspective. Pearson.
Rinallo, D., Bathelt, H. and Golfetto, F., 2017. Economic geography and industrial marketing
views on trade shows: Collective marketing and knowledge circulation. Industrial
Marketing Management. 61. pp.93-103.
Wierenga, B. and Van der Lans, R. eds., 2017. Handbook of marketing decision models (Vol.
254). Springer.
Ziemba, P., Jankowski, J. and Wątróbski, J., 2018. Dynamic decision support in the internet
marketing management. In Transactions on Computational Collective Intelligence
XXIX(pp. 39-68). Springer, Cham.
Zimmerman, A. and Blythe, J., 2017. Business to business marketing management: A global
perspective. Routledge.
Online
Fast Food Industry PESTEL Analysis, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://notesmatic.com/2016/09/fast-food-industry-pestel-analysis/>
PESTEL analysis of the UK, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.howandwhat.net/pestel-analysis-uk/>
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