Does Cook Out's brand identity match their brand's image?
Cook Out presents themselves as a family restaurant with strong Christian values that serves affordable barbecue. While this might be true on the inside, there is a disconnect from what we see on the outside. Their average consumer is not drawn here for those reasons.
After surveying close to two hundred people, we learned that their identity did not in fact match up with their consumers. The consumers were headed to Cook Out Restaurants for cheap food, late at night, and none of it was because of the family/Christian atmosphere. In fact, very few people named Cook Out as a place that had Christian family values or one that they would go to for barbecue.
To close this divide, my team and I decided that we needed to reposition Cook Out's identity, as this would be a cheaper and simpler approach than trying to get the consumers to realize Cook Out's message. Our suggestion was to go to market pushing the affordable combo options, and their popular menu items, not the barbecue. This would strengthen the brand's identity and would in turn, increase brand recognition when asked to recall fast food options.