VALUE PRICING IS IN.
Value pricing is a direct response to increased competition for all dayparts and to saturated markets. Speaking of markets, have you tried Boston Market's Chicken Carver Combo for $4.00? It includes a chicken breast sandwich, a side dish and a medium soft drink. Pretty good value, don't you think? Value-priced meals at fast food restaurants usually include a sandwich, french fries and a soft drink. These meals help increase sales of french fries and soft drinks, which are high profit margin items.

Even the mid-scale restaurants such as Red Lobster are moving to value-priced meals. Restaurants are trading lower average checks for increased covers.

THE BURGER SECTOR IS DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
The burger chains did not grow as fast as the pizza and chicken chains over the last five years, but they are still about double the size of pizza chains, the second largest group, in dollar volume and still make up almost half of dollar volume of the total U.S. fast food market which has revenues of almost $100 million. See the chart in this article. The main deterrent of burger chain growth is a more health-conscious American public.

OLD FAVORITES, NEW LOCATIONS
More fast food restaurants are showing up in the strangest locations. Little Caesars is now in K-Mart and McDonald's is now in Wal-Mart. This trend will continue as increased competition and saturated markets cause fast food companies to become more creative in selecting their locations.

OLD FAVORITES, SAME LOCATIONS
The use of "multiple-branding" - whereby several restaurant chains operate at the same location - is an attempt to draw more customers by offering a large number of items from which to choose. Chains that engage in multiple-branding can better absorb fixed operating costs, such as rent. Pepsico, owner of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, has started co-branding where you'll see a Taco Bell kiosk in a KFC store.

Fast food restaurants have become more creative in their pricing strategies, real estate locations and marketing schemes in response to the fiercest competition ever in this industry. As long as the American public continues its fierce competitiveness in the workplace, working longer hours with no time to prepare food at home and continues its insatiable hunger for new restaurant concepts, the most creative and aggressive fast food companies will flourish with these trends and also create new trends.