Tabasco Canada is supporting the recovery of the restaurant and foodservice industry with the launch of its Break-Free Brunch promotion, which will begin on July 1 and run for eight weeks. Tabasco’s Canadian foodservice and industrial distributor, C.W. Shasky & Associates Ltd., is running the digital campaign in partnership with four quick-service restaurant chains from across the country: Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie, Ricky’s All-Day Grill, Sunset Grill and The Pickle Barrel.
“We wanted restaurants that specialized in brunch foods and we wanted to have a good representation geographically for Canadians,” says Daryl Lunney, vice-president of Marketing and Business Development at C.W. Shasky and Associates Ltd.
With COVID-19 vaccinations on the rise, the Break-Free Brunch promotion represents a freedom of movement as Canadians start to break free from the confines of the pandemic. The promotion will feature Tabasco-enhanced brunch recipes from the participating restaurants to encourage consumers to visit the restaurant, order takeout or re-create the recipe at home.
Tabasco’s Break-Free Brunch promotion is largely social-media based, and each restaurant will get two weeks of amplified promotion on Tabasco Canada’s Facebook and Instagram accounts to increase brand awareness and community engagement. For the duration of the campaign, Tabasco Canada will run a giveaway where consumers can enter to win a $100 gift certificate to one of the participating restaurants. A new winner will be drawn every day for 56 straight days. Additionally, more than 50 influencers will visit the restaurants to try the brunch recipes and share their experiences on social media. The campaign will also be promoted through other forms of media, including TV, radio and magazine.
“This campaign puts very little burden on the restaurants to contribute heavily financially, if at all. All we’re asking for is their love, their passion and their innovation for flavour using a beloved ingredient like Tabasco,” says Lunney. “We’re trying to provide them with as much as we can while asking them to do as little as possible other than celebrating a great partnership.”
On Canada’s East Coast is Bill Pratt’s Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie, which will be serving up two new brunch dishes for the campaign, the Scorpion Burger and Sriracha Chicken Poutine. “Tabasco is a great brand that I’ve used in my restaurants for many years,” says Bill Pratt, founder of Chef Inspired group of restaurants. “I’d love to expand to the Ontario market, so if I can create a burger and it works for both us, then that’s a great partnership.”
The campaign is a unique way to incentivize consumers to return to foodservice businesses that will help kick-start the sector’s recovery. For restaurant owners that have either been forced out of business or continue to struggle to make ends meet due to the pandemic, social media is the most cost-effective method to reach and engage new consumers while continuing a dialogue with existing ones.
“It’s a very difficult equation to commit marketing expenditures if you’re a restaurant chain who regularly advertises in print, in billboards, in transit and various other medium and your core business is a dine-in restaurant business. If you’re not open, then the marketing investment is essentially a waste,” says Lunney. “We’re giving them an opportunity to meet consumer demand and bring consumers’ eyeballs back to their businesses.”
By Nicole Di Tomasso
