Wednesday, December 10, 2008

BAG FRIES

What’s the best part of fast food? Bag fries, of course. Even those unfamiliar with the term are surely familiar with the concept: the French fries which fall out of their containers at every drive-thru, usually resulting in a fight over who gets to keep the bag with the bonus fries.

The Idea: menu item bag fries.

Fast food restaurants could offer bag fries as a new item on both their drive-thru and in-store menus. The bag fries would be an order of small fries (usually included as part of value menus already), just without a container. Instead of packing the fries into a paper vessel, the employee would just toss them into the take-out bag. This Idea would bring consistency to a process that has been known to take customers on a roller coaster ride of emotions.

There would be multiple benefits for the restaurants, the consumers, and even the environment. At a time where people are tightening their belts (financially) and watching their waistlines, restaurants could capitalize on the novelty and profit that an extra dollar per order would provide, while at the same time allowing customers the perception of not really ordering a small fry. The consumers would benefit by being able to opt for an order of bag fries over a larger container-bound order, costing them both less money and less calories. Lastly, the environment would benefit from the decrease in container use.

Opponents may argue that the joy of bag fries is discovering them at the bottom and that their uncertainty is their allure. One could dispute this opinion with the distressed jeans argument: jeans become distressed, but people buy pre-distressed jeans because it is a guarantee to get the look that they want; bag fries may occur, but people would buy bag fries because again, it is a guarantee to get the quantity that they want.


To learn more about the potential benefits of fast food innovation, check out forbes.com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A burger chain called 5 Guys, which I don't think exists in the greater Boston area, is well-known for bag fries. The normal styrofoam cup is filled with fries, but an equal amount exist loose in the bag. At lunch, coworkers will even refrain from ordering fries if they know that another coworker is ordering fries, hoping to catch a free ride with the bag fries. The brings up interesting game theoretical strategies when placing a group order at 5 Guys, which is a subject for another time.