Why QSR analysts need always-on brand intelligence

QSR analysts face one of the fastest-moving marketing cycles in any category—where loyalty can rise or fall with a single offer or social trend. Such social trends are impossible to predict, too.

For QSR brand analysts, predicting the flavors, combinations and offers that will resonate with consumers is increasingly difficult. Some of the issues facing analysts include: 

• The loyalty program conundrum

• The speed of changes in the market

• Unpredictable consumer confidence

• Economic pressure for companies and customers

• The difficulties of navigating value and brand perception

Modern tools to deliver consumer insights in real time can help analysts make more accurate predictions, lessening the risk of launching offers that damage the brand. Let’s dive in! 

"It’s almost impossible to find a QSR that doesn’t have a loyalty program."

- Anthony Bambino, founder and CEO of 3Natives Acai Cafe

Imagine being blindfolded and running a foot race with 50 other people. You only have to go 30 yards, but fast—and without crashing into someone else. You have some information — you can hear and smell and feel, for example, and you know where the finish line is even if you can’t see it. But there are some serious challenges aside from the blindfold. You have no idea what the other runners will do, or whether you get off track or not. 

If you’re a brand analyst at a quick service restaurant (QSR) brand, this is a fairly accurate description of your job. You need to reach a predetermined goal, and you have some tools, like promotions, value menus and loyalty campaigns. But, you don’t know with any certainty what consumers will respond to, or what your competitors might do. 

The marketing cycles in QSRs are among the fastest of any sector, yet it can take months to develop new flavors or weeks to test consumer reaction to new promotions. All the while, social media trends that can dramatically affect sales come and go in what seem like mere moments. Loyalty programs have been an important tool in recent times, with experts estimating that 71% of QSRs offer one currently, and projecting that number will be 80% by the end of 2025. Loyalty driven visits are up 5%, as well. Yet, overall traffic is stagnant, leaving a question for analysts: What levers truly create repeat customers and drive brand loyalty today? 

That answer can only be found by keeping a pulse on your consumer.

Leading QSRs are increasingly using AI-driven brand tracking to detect perception shifts and sentiment changes weeks before traditional trackers pick them up. 

By combining always-on data sources like social conversations, app reviews and voice-to-text customer feedback with natural language processing (NLP) and anomaly detection models, these brands can surface subtle shifts in consumer emotion in near real time. These AI models continuously scan for changes in tone, topic frequency and emotion to flag early warning signs around menu launches, ad campaigns or customer service.

The systems typically integrate multiple streams to validate insights and reduce noise, drawing from:

• Social chatter and forums for emerging buzz or complaints

• Delivery and review data for operational or product-level feedback

• Voice transcripts or chat logs for direct sentiment indicators

• Operational metrics (refunds, wait times) for context and corroboration

For analysts, this means moving from reactive tracking to proactive perception management, identifying issues before they impact brand equity. As a result, AI-enhanced tracking doesn’t replace survey-based trackers, it extends them, providing a faster, more granular understanding of evolving consumer perceptions and giving insights teams valuable lead time to act.

Families, businesses and QSR brands today are all under enormous economic pressure and surrounded by uncertainty. Price-driven promotions are one tool, and may seem like the best approach at a time when costs are top-of-mind for everyone. But analysts must track whether or not discount-heavy strategies work in the short term and how they affect brand strength long term. 

One of the current challenges is that consumer confidence indicators no longer indicate accurately. “Historically, gas prices and unemployment were highly correlated with decreasing traffic. However, in 2025, economic factors remain stable, yet guests report fewer restaurant visits, and QSR traffic on the decline,” according to Alicia Kelso, executive editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. 

How consumers perceive the economic situation seems to be veering away from reality, and analysts must account for how that divergence may impact traffic, reaction to offers, menu prices and more. The entire situation is complicated by the fact that developing new menu items or offers can take months—but consumer tastes and trends move very fast. 

Limited time offers (LTOs) from coffee brands, for instance, exemplify the dichotomy between a fast moving market and the time it takes to develop flavors and offers. Brands begin testing and planning seasonal drinks sometimes a year before they’re introduced—which means next year’s fall flavors are already being considered now. “For Kyle Newkirk, Westrock Coffee’s executive vice president of global sales and innovation, the design of a coffee LTO can begin as far as two years in advance,” writes Aneurin Canham-Clyne, reporter for Restaurant Dive. By working so far in advance, the brand leaves time for testing to see how the market responds to the flavors. 

In the testing phase, brand analysts consider all the different elements including the flavors, current consumer confidence and how it affects traffic, pricing, trends, and consumer sentiment toward the brand. This is the phase where the brand analyst is blindfolded and standing on the starting line, getting ready to run the race.

But this is also where brand tracking platforms like Zappi come into play. 

Zappi can’t offer a glimpse into the future. But, understanding what is happening in real-time is close. Analyst-ready brand intelligence regarding consumer awareness, trust and satisfaction metrics offers far more predictive accuracy than traditional methods of measuring sentiment. 

The earlier brands begin tracking new offers, the better.  Combining these results with the analyst’s knowledge and skills, the company’s benchmarks and industry-specific metrics is as close to a crystal ball as we can get. Zappi’s AI Quick Reports also surface sentiment drivers in minutes, helping to bridge the gulf between the time necessary to develop new offers and the speed of the QSR market. Here are some of the advantages QSR brands derive from working with Zappi: 

• Continuous brand measurement that captures how campaigns, promotions and loyalty initiatives impact brand sentiment

• AI-driven diagnostics to identify which emotional and rational cues drive loyalty and repeat visits

• Speed and rigor in tracking perception changes at the pace of modern consumer behavior

• Competitive benchmarks that measure against category leaders