Summary
The British love fast food. Each year we munch our way through thirty billion pounds worth. On The Bottom Line this week Evan Davis and guests discuss the burgeoning burger market. There are new challengers to the traditional big boys, like Five Guys, who claim to offer better quality burgers and a "casual dining experience." Whilst one old famous brand from the 1970s, Wimpy, is attempting to make a come-back with re-branded restaurants and menu. But what's the recipe for success in this already over-crowded market?
Guests: John Eckbert, Managing Director of Five Guys; Bruce Layzell, Managing Executive of International Markets at Famous Brands (the South African company who own Wimpy and Steers) And Martin Breeden, Regional Director of Intu, who own some of Britain's biggest shopping centres.
Producer: Jim Frank.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Evan Davis and thank you for downloading this program. In this edition of the |
| 0:04.4 | bottom line, we're looking at the burger business. Hello and welcome to the program. Now, |
| 0:10.0 | if there is one product which can tell us more than any other about business, capitalism, |
| 0:14.9 | competition, consumer tastes, affluence and aspiration, the domination of the United States |
| 0:20.0 | and the global economy, |
| 0:21.5 | the one product that can tell us about everything. It is the burger, and that's our topic today. |
| 0:26.9 | We're focusing on that one sector, one that came from the US and conquered the world. |
| 0:31.1 | We saw the post-war rise of industrial fast food chains, more recently the emergence of premium products |
| 0:37.0 | and a bewildering array of |
| 0:38.5 | new entrants, each trying to desperately distinguish itself from the others, all appealing to |
| 0:42.9 | the taste of consumers with more income, putting more weight on taste, natural ingredients and |
| 0:48.4 | the restaurant's experience. Such a simple product, but so much to say about it. Well, with me are two burger bosses |
| 0:55.3 | and a man who they'll be keen to meet as he helps run some of the UK's biggest shopping centres |
| 1:00.8 | and can say yes or no to brands, hoping to secure a slot, which guarantee plenty of potential hungry |
| 1:07.8 | customers. Let's meet my guests. First up is John Eckbert, who's chief executive |
| 1:12.6 | of Five Guys, UK. It is one of the premium brand, started in the US and has come over here. |
| 1:19.0 | Tell us a bit about Five Guys, John. So then the first thing you have to know about Five Guys is that |
| 1:23.8 | it's a family business. So it was founded by the Morel family in 1986, and there was a dad |
| 1:29.5 | and his four boys, and collectively they were the five guys. And the oldest son came of college |
| 1:35.9 | age and the dad had been saving for to send his boys to university. And his oldest got of the |
| 1:41.5 | right age, but he wasn't sure that he had really made the academic commitment to university. |
| 1:46.0 | And so he asked him, he said, look, do you really want to go to uni or should we start a business? |
... |
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