BCBusiness

38 BCBUSINESS FEBRUARY 2017 WHITE SPOT campaig n by Vancouver's Rethink Communications fea- turing actor Allen Lulu as a kindly store manager. These efforts may help explain why A&W has risen from 20th to 17th in our Most Inƒuential Brands ranking. It climbs the chart with another burger purveyor, local †ixture White Spot, which gains four places to ˆnish 12th. "They've each managed to carve out a nice segment based on mov- ing away from the old theme of 'We're just a burger joint,''' says Lindsay Meredith, professor emeritus of marketing at Simon Fraser University. A&W, which has some 190 restaurants in B.C., expanded its so-called better ingredients initiative to include antibiotic- free poultry and pork, and eggs from chickens fed a vegetarian diet. This move reinforced the message that its brand "stands for trust and transparency," says Brian Saul, co-founder and cre- ative director of Fluid Creative, a Vancouver-based agency special- izing in natural brands. "We've all grown up think- ing that fast food is highly pro- cessed garbage,'' Saul notes. "To be a fast-food restaurant that has antibiotic-free chicken or steroid- free beef is exceeding expecta- tions in that category.'' Founded almost 90 years ago by Vancouverite Nat Bailey, White Spot has faced its own challenges along the way, including a 1985 botulism outbreak and later questions about whether its brand was growing as stale as a day-old Legendary burger. Like A&W, the company has taken steps to keep pace with changing consumer tastes—while staying true to its humble B.C. roots. "White Spot's positioning is very down- to-earth,'' says SFU's Meredith. "They're serving the average person nothing too fancy, just good down-home nutrition.'' Feel free to hold the Triple O sauce, though. Over the past decade at its more than 60 full-service casual restau- rants throughout the province, White Spot has remodelled and updated dining rooms and improved kitchen training by joining the Red Seal certiˆ- cation program. In 2015, in a bid to strengthen its relationship with millen- nials, it revamped its menu by introducing 10 new dishes to an ever-changing lineup. "We used to have liver and onions on our menu,'' says Warren Erhart, president and CEO of privately held White Spot Hospitality. "Today we don't sell liver, but we sell tons of quinoa, B.C. wines and gluten- free buns." For White Spot, being a B.C. main- stay is a strength and a potential worry. Its strong brand and dominant presence have stopped Swiss Chalet and other Eastern Canadian peers from establish- ing a big footprint in B.C., says Patrick Parker, president of P.E. Parker & Asso- ciates Inc., a Vancouver-based mar- keting and management consultancy. The rub? "White Spot, because of its high level of B.C. focus, needs to ensure that it adds value as it grows,'' main- tains Parker, a former general manager with the company. A&W shouldn't take its current suc- cess for granted either. "Customers vote with their wallets for winning companies that are energetic, grow- ing and innovative,'' Parker says. "If, ˆve years from now, A&W is still almost exclusively focused on burgers and no hormones, it'll be in a real pickle." —Christopher Donville "White Spot, because of its high level of B.C. focus, needs to ensure that it adds value as it grows." –Patrick Parker, P.E. Parker & Associates

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