βurgerβusiness

The better-burger bandwagon rolls on with Fuddruckers announcing that it, too, has improved its beef. Unlike Denny’s and Chili’s, which recently launched burger makeovers, however, Austin, Texas-based Fuddruckers is a burger-focused brand that is bettering its core product.

In its Texas and New Mexico restaurants, Fuddruckers is offering Fudds Prime, a new burger with a lineage. The chain is promoting where its beef is raised rather than breed (such as Angus). This is beef that Fuddruckers says is 100% American born and bred, from “Fudds Herds” on select domestic ranches and available only at its restaurants.

On the heel of Wendy’s pointedly stressing in its new “You know when it’s real” advertising that it sells only “North American beef,” it appears that beef origin is the new point of comparison for burger operators.

“There are few, if any, fast-food, casual or fast-casual restaurants committed to serving premium-cut beef of this caliber born and bred only in the USA,” Dwayne Chambers, SVP of branding and marketing for the 230-unit chain said in announcing the Fudds Prime introduction.

Fudds Prime burgers—in third-, half-, three-quarter full-pound sizes and priced from roughly $5.09 to $8.09 accordingly—will be available at participating Fuddruckers locations nationwide beginning November 17.

Marketing is built around the tagline “Better Beef Makes Better Burgers.” TV advertising (above, from Maloney Strategic Communications, Dallas) supports the introduction only in Houston, initially. A microsite at http://fuddsprime.com provides consumers with information about Fudds Prime beef. One page invites creation of a “wanted poster” that also serves as a coupon for $7 Fudds Deal, and an arcade-style game invites visitors to toss burger patties at passing chickens (take that, Chick-fil-A).