HuHot Mongolian Grills is known for their all-you-can-eat create-your-own stir-fry. With the launch of their new Carry Out program they are hoping to be known for providing delicious stir-fry that can be enjoyed anywhere.
The program initially came about because of customer requests, and as HuHot began implementing it, they quickly realized that it was a viable program. Initially testing with two of their franchisee groups, one of them saw Carry Out accounting for almost 2 percent of meal sales in 3 months, serving almost 15,000 meals.
The initial goal of the program is to sell 100 carry out orders per location per month driving sales up .5 percent without cannibalizing dine-in sales. Many locations will exceed that goal, especially locations already offering carry out.
To promote HuHot Carry Out, they posted marketing materials in their restaurants and launched a national social media campaign and photo contest on April 17th. Any post with #HuHotCarryOut along with a picture of HuHot Carry Out being enjoyed on Instagram and twitter will automatically be entered. The contest ends April 30th and will pay rewards to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.
The promotion was developed to match their new marketing theme and created by Shine United, HuHot’s advertising agency. For HuHot’s marketing team it was important that the collateral tied in their new “Conquer Bland” campaign as well as make it very clear how the carry out program worked.
