Nandos UK – the Peri-Peri spice is right !

How did Nando’s UK become one of the country’s most popular restaurants ?

Nando’s is a global restaurant chain which is famous for it’s flame grilled Peri Peri chicken and the business has created a strong narrative regarding the brand’s creation. What is appealing is that they have associated the chicken with a miraculous event in Portugal and that Peri-Peri is its heart and soul as it is created from Birds eye chilies grown in Mozambique. There is also a reference in the branding to the fact that this is a South African brand and there is an 87 degrees initiative where all brand headings are aligned at 87 degrees.

Initially the brand was started in the UK in 1992 with the focus on being a takeaway only chicken restaurant and was primarily in the big cites, as with other takeaway food businesses there was a pressure from the customers and there was a move to service restaurants (eat in and takeaway), this was an initiative started by a new executive trying to recover what was a failing business. It is interesting as this was a time of uncertainty the individual restaurants could choose their own design and decoration with only the cockerel ‘Barci’ and the Peri Peri chicken being a brand consistent. At the time for what was an unproved business model, I think the management wanted to see what worked, also the restaurant owners wanted to differentiate themselves from competing chain restaurants such as Pizza Hut.

This is valid as Nando’s pricing is between Mc Donald’s and Pizza Hut and it is difficult to be different at this price point. You can still see some of these design variations in the earlier Nando’s restaurants, however as the brand expanded and more restaurants were built then more branding elements became standard at every location.

This is a Nando’s restaurant in London which shows the earlier brand identity.

Nando’s UK is making changes to its brand and is trying to leverage its origins in Africa to reinforce its mission and brand identity. This is interesting as there is a big focus on the narrative around the Peri Peri sauce and its African heritage, in the UK an interest in chilies is evolving and growing especially around the hotter chilies. This is illustrated in the Nando’s Our Brand Story story where the design of the restaurants are changing to reflect the African heritage, the Cockerel image is being altered and the red colour of the chili is becoming prominent in the restaurant decoration. Also, signage will now be in an African script and elements of African artwork will be incorporated. This will take time as customer feedback will be critical as there are risks in changing brand identity.

This is a Nando’s restaurant in a regional retail park and it shows some of the new brand identity.

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In the UK Nando’s is not the only grilled chicken restaurant and there is strong competition from Caribbean Jerk chicken restaurants, also there are other brands such as Five Guys burgers which also have a good narrative and compete for market share. Nandos’s focus is giving you the best Peri Peri chicken experience in both their restaurants and takeaways. The staff in the restaurants work to make visiting a fun experience.

What is interesting is that after a rocky start Nando’s gathered what is a cult following and this may be something unique to the UK. The timing was good as it was time of Cool Britannia and there was more confidence in the economy and people eat out more. Some marketing genius started the rumour of the mythical High Five / Black card which gave you and four people free Nando’s for a year, there was huge interest in this, which various celebrities were reputed to own. This made the restaurant more interesting and is supported by a page on the website which directs people to the loyalty scheme.

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It is helpful that the popularity of the brand continues and is still visited by celebrities and sporting superstars as this generates media interest and free publicity. Here the brand can work with new artists in advertising that leverages the brand but also as Nando’s is popular the artists brand can get wider attention. Here we see this synergy between Nando’s and a British band ‘The Vamps’

Customer demand has caused Nando’s to supply a bottled range of Peri Peri sauces, marinades , peri-mayonnaise and peri salt. These are sold in supermarkets and compete against other hot sauce brands (Caribbean and US), however it is the customer recognition of the brand which drives sales as they want to recreate the experience they had in the restaurant, it helps that Nando’s provide recipes on their website. I find the Caribbean sauces a little hotter and combine the two as a marinade.

However, this is an established brand with a large number of restaurants across the UK and an example of this is central London where there are 18 restaurants. A problem for a large brand in a competitive market is sitting still and not evolving the brand identity, there is a risk in this as new competitors can by their uniqueness gain market share.

It is possible that Nandos being a very popular restaurant chain with significant word of mouth resonance it is somewhat a ‘cash cow’ and there is less need for investment into marketing campaigns. It is rare to see a Nandos advert on our TV channels and on the rare occasions when there is an advertising campaign they can be a little weird.

This contrasts with the South African parent company whose adverts are deliciously political –

For a popular and established brand it can be difficult to make revolutionary changes to the brand identity as there is a risk of alienating your customers, however there are risks with being conservative as there are other competitors wanting to take your market share.

There is another chicken in town –