Burger King’s Satisfries, the newly innovated, healthier french fries that contain 20% fewer calories and 25% less fat than its classic fries, has been recently taken off menus in less than a year after they made their debut in September 2013.

Failed Positioning

Whilst Panera Bread and Chipotle Mexican succeeded to capture a health-conscious market as substitutes for Burger King and MacDonalds, BK once again unsuccessfully tinkered with its fries to cater an additional target market in an attempt to increase sales.

Burger King has been widely known as a fast-food chain, thus providing a cheap and tasty range of unhealthy food. Parallel to Ries and Trout’s view on positioning, BK’s customers have faced information overload with the presence of a myriad fast-food competitors including MacDonalds, KFC, Subway, Domino’s.

It is difficult to change consumers’ perspectives of a brand once it is formed. Health-conscious consumers would not even enter a BK store, and BK’s current consumers, who tend to be more ignorant about healthy eating, would not exchange for its iconic french fries.

“French fries are an indulgence, just like ice-cream” 

Some might claim that first-mover advantage is the most successful to get into the mind of customers. Yet, in reality, consumers’ perception is extremely hard to alter. French fries has been embedded in people’s mind as an indulgence. The big question is, will fast-food chains ever be able to expand to the growing niche market of health-conscious consumers?