Poutine may be a quintessential Canadian dish, but Mary Brown’s Famous Chicken & Taters is taking a regional approach with two new flavours.
The QSR chain recently launched Spicy Buffalo BBQ and Sweet & Sticky Tater Poutine (made with its signature taters instead of fries) for a limited time at its 120 locations nationwide.
“The two new flavours really capture the different palates across the nation,” said Shelley Berman, VP of marketing at Mary Brown’s Famous Chicken & Taters. “We know that our West Coast guests love spicy… so the thinking was to give a poutine a little bit of a kick.
“And we know there’s a portion of our population, particularly on the East Coast, that doesn’t love the spicy as much and prefers what we call sweet and sticky. So we’re looking to cover off the different tastes across the different provinces.”
While the QSR chain’s main target demographic is families, the new poutine flavours are meant to capture a younger audience. “Poutine is something that is loved across the board and is a very youthful item,” said Berman. “So either as a lunch occasion or a lighter dinner, we feel poutine has legs to go there.”
During the menu development phase, Mary Brown’s turned to its social channels and asked customers if they preferred shredded cheese or cheese curds (cheese curds won).
“It was a way for us to get direct consumer feedback and input on what consumers want,” said Patti Laine, president of Tag Franchise, which handles marketing for Mary Brown’s. “At our company, consumer insights are critical to what we’re doing—we don’t work in a vacuum,” she continued. “So we really need to bring the consumer to the table at every opportunity we have. And this was a great way to do it with Mary Brown’s.”
To drive traffic into stores, the poutine flavours are being promoted with a campaign from Tag Franchise. A separate campaign promotes Mary Brown’s new Big Mary’s 4-Pack—a to-go box for the chain’s signature Big Mary sandwiches. The company is running a $5 promotion for the 4-Pack, and the pack itself comes with another $5 gift card.
Both campaigns include in-store signage, national radio, billboard and transit ads, a 15-second spot that’s airing in Newfoundland, and ads in the GTA’s GO stations.
Berman said the new poutine flavours, which are available until May 31, may become permanent menu items. “The strategy behind offering it for a limited time is to assess the uptake and get some guest feedback,” said Berman. “If we feel it’s a strong contender, then a limited-time offer will become part of an ongoing menu item. So it’s a bit of a test-and-learn strategy.”
