Problem: Soars with Social Media
When Reema Shetty and her longtime friend from high school, Alia Al Mazrouei, were kicking around ideas for a healthy fast food outlet in the United Arab Emirates, their mutual friend' Mohamad Bitai; suggested promoting Middle Eastern and Lebanese delicacies. By the time the trio was ready to open their first restaurant in Abu Dhabi in 2007, they were already dreaming big. They believed they could take a thousand-year-old vegetarian staple, whose main marketplace incarnation had been as street vendor food, to mall food courts and compete head to head with the likes of McDonald% Subway and Sbarro.
Made from either ground chickpeas or fava beans, they reasoned that falafel could be marketed as a wholesome al¬ternative to typical food court fare. It had never been adapted for food court distribution, so they would have first mover advantage. By using the best ingredients, they would create a healthier; tastier product than the competition, and by diversify¬ing condiments and breads, they could appeal to a wide range of palates.
To start, Just Falafel offered the Original, served with tahini and pickles in pita breads a Greek version with Tzatziki dressing and olives on tortilla bread, and an Indian version with spicy Indian dressing and cucumber pickles also on tortilla bread. By 2010, the company had five locations and had gained acclaim as the caterer for some of the UAE's biggest sporting events. Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, American, and Japanese flavors were added, and Just Falafel began soliciting suggestions for an Emirati version on its Facebook page. A channel was launched shortly thereafter Though not quite sure yet how to leverage their social media channels, the founders had a new dream: global expansion. Franchising was the only way to achieve their ambitious plans for growth. Just Falafel would need partners on the retail front-end so that it could reinvest on the back-end. Fadi Maias was brought on board as CEO in March and the official start of Just Falafel's franchising plan was trumpeted on Facebook: ''Falafill Your Ambitions. Become a Franchisee"
Five new franchises were quickly sold through the Just Falafel Web site for 60/000 dirhams (Dhs) each. Franchisees need approximately an additional 300,000 to 500,000 Dhs to set up shop, for a total investment of between U.S. $100/000 and U.S. $150,000. The Web site was garnering ten to fifteen franchise inquiries a day, and by year end, 25 had been sold. Success offline was translating to Facebook fans online, supported by more active management of the page. By communicating how Just Falafel was growing, where new stores were opening, what new menu items were being considered, and numerous other facets of the business, Just Falafel began building an online community. By the end of 2011, Just Falafel celebrated its 100,000th fan just as its first outlet outside the UAE opened in Amman, Jordan.
Just Falafel's franchising efforts snowballed once the company launched a Facebook advertising campaign linking to a franchise application page. Applications began pouring in from across the Gulf region and from as far afield as India and Canada. Bitar; now the managing director; quickly realized that Facebook could give Just Falafel the highest possible exposure and serve as its main communication highway-and an economical one at that. The total advertising outlay was between U.S. $300/000 and U.S. $400,000, a pittance compared to established fast food operators. CEO Maias believed Facebook was Just Falafel's best chance of reaching both local markets and a global audience. Bitar estimated that Just Falafel achieved a nineteen-fold return on investment from the media spend (over U.S. $8 million in sales). Using Facebook's built-in measurement tools, it targeted people over the age of 25 with disposable income over U.S. $200,000, mixed with less granular general consumer targeting. The over 7 million Facebook impressions Just Falafel now records daily would otherwise have been unattainable.
Traditional marketing and media channels would have cost millions of dollars per month. In 2014, Maias said that approximately 90% of its advertising and digital media budgets are focused on Face book, yielding 1.5 billion impressions for Just Falafel over the previous year.
Facebook is also used to prime new markets, educating prospective consumers about falafel in general and Just Falafel's unique spin. Before a single outlet has opened, country pages are created to actively seek followers. Location pages follow after a franchise has opened. Just Falafel averages 25,000 fans per outlet, ten times more than all other quick service restaurants (QSR) globally. To help build its fan base. Just Falafel sponsors local sporting, fashion, and film events. Once there is a sufficient following, it shares its franchising ambitions and invites interested parties to submit a form. And, of course. Facebook is used to launching marketing campaigns and driving customers to its locations. Just Falafel is one of very few companies to have had case studies conducted on its use of social media by Facebook more than once.
By March 2013y Just Falafel was averaging 100 franchise information requests per day, with the total number of inquiries exceeding 12z000. The menu had been steadily broadened to complement Just Falafel's healthful vegetarian niche. Mexican-style falafel burritos and quesadillas and a baked version of the bean patty were joined by three organic salads made from locally grown produce. The company began to use Twitter in tandem with Facebook as a tactical tool to reach influencers and provide customer service. In its own case study of the social network marketing phenomenon, Netizency found that Just Falafel used Twitter's location-based, follower-based, and interest-based targeting tools to achieve nearly 9 million impressions, 170,000 engagements, and over 10,000 followers. Over 10% of the sales fluctuations at its London location were attributed to changes in Just Falafel's Twitter ad spend, and a targeted franchising campaign in Turkey yielded 455,000 impressions, 4,000 Web site visits, and 43 applications.
The bulk of its nearly 2 million Facebook fans hail from 45 nations targeted for expansion, including Ireland, Australia, Brazil, and the United States. More than a quarter of its fans are from India. With vegetarians comprising 60% of its population, India is a natural fit for Just Falafel. In 2014, Just Falafel opened stores in India, Egypt, Australia, Canada, and the United States. However; in 2015z Just Falafels plans for growth tempo¬rarily stalled, with many of the company's outlets in newer areas of expansion, such as the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom, losing money and closing their doors. Admitting that perhaps the company had focused too much on expansion and growth at the expense of core elements of its business, and that maintaining and optimizing different menus in a wide array of countries was unexpectedly difficult. Just Falafel announced that the company would slow its growth slightly going forward, focusing more on profitability and running its own higher-quality restaurants as opposed to relying on franchisees.
Just Falafel has taken the opportunity to rededicate itself to its food in 2015/ hoping to improve its selection beyond falafel and to improve its recipes. After sampling items from the menu and detecting a dip in quality, Bitar hired a new chef and led an effort to improve its offerings. Just Falafel totally revamped its menu, dropping fava beans and using exclusively chickpeas in its falafel recipe, improving its hummus using techniques from street vendors, and offering choices of sweet potato wedges, among many other changes. After gathering data from its customers. Just Falafel was surprised to discover that nearly 90% of its customers are also meat-eaters, so the company added meat and chicken items to the menu as well. The new menu is devoid of preservatives and boasts reduced calorie counts. To emphasize the changes in both company structure and menu offerings, the company has rebranded itself as JF Street Food. The company also plans to delay an initial public offering of shares until it matures a bit more as a company. Although Just Falafel has pivoted slightly from its ambitious goals of global growth, the company still plans to open new franchises in the United States, Canada, and Europe to go along with its over 40 restaurants across 11 countries as of 2015/ including two new locations in the UAE in July 2015.
Task
1) How did Just Falafel's initial social media presence translate into offline success and an online community?
2) How did Facebook aid in Just Falafel's global expansion?
3) How can Facebook promote a brand in a particular market before it is launched there?