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The American college-student market is getting bigger by the
day. In 1998 about 14 million individuals in the age group of
18-24 were enrolled in US higher education institutions ( about
one third of the entire age group). An advertising firm
estimates the spending power of college students is $90 billion
with full-time four –year students spending $30 billion
Three-fourths of these students 10 million plus reported the
they ate at a fast food restaurant in the previous week. College
life and fast food go together. Fast food restaurants are often
conveniently located on or near campuses.
But why do students go where they go? The
driving force of 69 per rent of these students was how clean the
restaurant is. The top ranking surprised the researchers but they
gradually sensed that an underlying factor influencing students
responses was the attention the media has been giving to food
borne illnesses. In other words consumers are progressively more
aware of and concerned about the safety of the food they consume
including of course the cleanliness with which it is prepared.
Cleanliness was followed closely by
friendliness (67.5 per rent) and price (67 per cent) That price
was one of the top ranked influences is no surprise in the light
of previous research about fast food choices. In addition most
college students are on limited budgets so they are naturally
concerned about the price of everything. The researchers believe
that price refers to the base or menu listed price of the
restaurant food because the effect of coupons (43 per cent for
discount 25.5 per cent for add-on) or even of combination meals
(43 per rent) was much weaker. Thus while cutting prices for the
short term may drive some immediate sales with the college
segment it does not seem to affect the overall positioning of a
restaurant.
The researchers were puzzled initially
about the importance of friendliness to these students. So they
studied the focus group notes as well as comments made during
telephone surveys. Stress and feeling like a number are
apparently umderlying elements in the students lives. Many are
working to put themselves through college: they are pressured to
earn top grades, they interact more with technology and less with
people and in a university as large as Michigan State many
become frustrated with the system. For them a friendly restaurant
is a welcome respite from being just another number. Clustered in
a second tier of factors are those commonly associated with fast
food restaurants- speed of service (61.5 per cent) consistency
(60 per cent) menu variety (59.5 per cent) and location (59 per
cent). In the bottom tier the researchers found that such factors
as short term promotions (including combination meals) discount
add-on coupons and promotions for new menu items, atmosphere , being able to drive through are also factors in this tier.
McDonald’s dominates the minds of students who ranked it
either first of second in all image attributes. The Chicago
based chain was the leader when it comes to what characterizes
as a fast food restaurant consistency (35.5 per cent) value
(30.5 per rent) couponing (30.5 per cent) and speed (29.5 per
cent). McDonald’s was also seen as having the best combination
meals (45 per cent)
The researchers concluded that the common
wisdom that college students and fast food go together seems
valid. Those young adults form a substantial market for the fast
food industry. Multiplying the number of times per week (three to
four) they eat a fast food meal times the number of dollars
(four to five) they generally spend each time times the average
number of weeks (32) in an academic year and one finds that a
typical student may spend $484 to $640 on fast food each
academic year Now extending those numbers to the population of
14 million college students in the US and one easily sees why
the fast food industry should specifically target this market.
Next menu price influences college students
choice of a fast food restaurant .But as a determining factor it
ranks third. So while the industry can and should continue to use
price promotions in their short term strategies to drive sales,
there is an opportunity for an individual chain to position
itself on the more personal attributes of the clean alternative
or the friendly place to eat, a reputation that SUBWAY apparently
has among these students, yet on which the chain has not
capitalized.
Thirdly there is a clear dichotomy between those
restaurants that have established an image for itself and those
that have not. Some observers have called McDonald’s image a
cultural icon giving it a powerful advantage over the
competition. SUBWAY too has been able to build a brand image of
being good for you while Taco Bell was ranked as price category
leader in this study
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