Have you heard the buzz about Red Rooster? Australia’s first and favourite chicken shop is half a century young this year, proving life begins again at 50!

Clint Ault, CEO of Red Rooster, says “As a 50-year-old brand It is important to us that we are embedded in modern, everyday Australian culture.”

The chicken chain remains a favourite with its older customer base but it lacked relevance to the younger generation. As a legacy brand Red Rooster needed a mega boost to get it back to its premium spot in the market. 

The Red Rooster leadership team saw the need to be a part of cultural conversations, and to recruit a new generation of customers. 

Exciting existing customers and tempting new consumers was the key to revitalising the brand and seeing strong growth.

The legacy brand was reinvigorated with a menu that reflected current taste profiles, with tech innovations and fabulous refurbished stores.

Three steps to brand transformation

Red Rooster menu shift

The iconic brand has just completed its biggest ever menu transformation. The classic Aussie roast was at the heart of the business yet the restaurants were missing an exciting opportunity to tap into modern tastes.

Now Red Rooster’s new look menu is tempting even more customers with its stunning crunchy fried chicken and fried tender burger range.

Crunchy fried chicken has firmly shifted the brand’s persona from a classic family favourite to a craveable fun treat. As a result, fried chicken has brought in more youthful and ethnically diverse customers. 

And importantly the revitalised menu has delivered incremental sales without cannibalising the brand’s core roast or burgers and rolls business. Fried tender burgers boosted burger sales 30 per cent over recent months.

Clint says these menu additions are so popular they have boosted store sales growth by more than 25 per cent in recent years.

The menu shift alone has brought in incremental fried chicken sales of $70m in the last 12 months.

In fact Reds is the fastest growing brand in the category for customer traffic and sales!

Red Rooster innovates

“We’ve also been busy updating our brand look and feel and we have made significant steps forward with technology,” Clint says.

Customer-centric technology is crucial in a convenience-driven market. The quick service restaurant (QSR) chain introduced kerbside pickup, in-restaurant kiosks and at-table ordering. Customers can also order a meal using their device and a QR code. 

“This is just the start – we truly want to develop omnichannel experiences,” Clint says. 

The marketing team has a clear objective of embedding the brand into contemporary Australian culture. Led by marketing chief Ashley Hughes there was a switch in media strategy to target under 30s on Tik Tok and other channels. 

Red Rooster targeted media and sports sponsorship, partnering with the Sydney Roosters NRL team and NRL Touch. It started a merchandise ecommerce shop and introduced a sell-out range of apparel.

The Sydney Roosters sponsorship was invaluable in connecting with an audience that was difficult to reach.

Customers were talking about the brand as a ‘money laundering business’ so Red Rooster played along, leaning into the conversation.

Having some fun with this propelled the brand into a whole new space in social media.  

This cheeky approach embedded Red Rooster in relevant culture and the brand became a positive part of the conversation.

Red Rooster’s new look

To complement the tech and menu changes, it was important to improve the overall customer experience across both restaurants and digital channels. 

The aim was to ensure customers were happier after their Red Rooster experience than they were before. And that means delivering service and food with excellence and accuracy.

So the team got to work to update the brand, refreshing restaurant signage and upgrading stores across the country. 

As franchisees had seen the growth spike from the menu shift they were happy to invest in refurbishments and signage. Franchisees were able to leverage 12 month interest free loans secured from PAG, the parent company of Craveable Brands which manages the Red Rooster business.

They also embraced a culture of listening to customer feedback with the introduction of a new Voice of Customer program.

Fastest growth in customer traffic

The three-pronged brand transformation has resulted in rocketing customer traffic and spending. It’s the fastest in the category this year – an impressive 11 per cent lift.

Clint says “We are an Aussie born and bred business that has helped shape the quick service restaurant industry in this country. We’ve employed tens of thousands of people over the years, and given many Australians the opportunity to become business owners.”

Red Rooster is one of the Australia’s most recognised restaurant brands, with more than 350 outlets across the country.

It might be celebrating five decades of business but Red Rooster isn’t slowing down. This is an energetic brand focused on change and innovation to keep providing customers with the best in quick service restaurants. Red Rooster is now one of the fastest growing QSR brands in Australia, and it has an appetite for more exceptional growth.