Qdoba this week launched its first national campaign, just days after promoting Vice President of Marketing Jon Burke to chief marketing officer. The effort comes as the Mexican fast-casual chain works to double its footprint by 2032.
The first creative, which debuted on Oct. 1 and can run into November, is about to the tune of Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” and promotes the chain’s long-standing free guacamole and queso offer — a value proposition that the chain hasn’t all the time advertised.
“The previous [ownership] group said, ‘Let’s do it, but let’s hide it from the customer,’ versus celebrating it,” Burke said. “We’re really how we have a good time this stuff, especially in the current environment. We know customers are in search of value.”
Along with creative about free guacamole and queso, the campaign — which runs through 2026 — will include flights dedicated to menu items, holiday catering and customization options. The effort will span streaming, social media, influencer, online video, digital and live sports (specifically, football) on TV. Qdoba is a a part of Modern Restaurant Concepts, a fast-casual portfolio company owned by Butterfly Equity.
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Courtesy of Qdoba
Burke, who joined Qdoba in 2023 after stints at Jollibee, Applebee’s, McDonald’s and Del Taco, will oversee brand storytelling, integrated marketing and media, loyalty and digital engagement, in addition to culinary innovation, as CMO. His tenure at the chain has coincided with an expansion plan that sees the chain working so as to add 600 new restaurants to its 800-plus footprint.
“We’re in a category… that does not have a ton of competition. It’s Chipotle that actually leads it. We’re number two, and there is a lot of white space on this category,” Burke said. “It’s a good spot for us to give you the option to grow significantly, while even our competitors having white space to grow.”
The executive spoke with Marketing Dive about the chain’s marketing evolution, its agency roster and more.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: How has Qdoba’s strategic vision evolved because you joined in 2023?
JON BURKE: From a marketing perspective, even a company perspective, we were a brand that a lot of various private equity groups were passing around; Jack in the Box owned the brand for a while. Ultimately, it didn’t necessarily have a clearly defined strategy and goal. We had a very limited approach to media and to marketing usually. We had one in all the lower-end contribution rates. We weren’t really investing in marketing as a lever, and I believe the brand suffered from it. More people in the U.S. do not know who we’re than know who we’re, and we’re a brand that began in the ‘90s.
Over the two years I’ve been here, prior to the promotion, I’ve been really focused on how we take into consideration our guests, how we take into consideration our targeting and our positioning.
We’ve brought in some great agency partners to essentially help elevate the way we take into consideration the brand. We were a little limited in our talent pool, from a marketing standpoint; we have gotten more distant when it comes to our approach to finding the best talent in the restaurant industry so as to add to the marketing team and it’s paying us dividends.
How do the new campaign and other efforts speak to your marketing priorities?
We’re in a place right away where it’s nearly awareness. The proven fact that most individuals do not know who we’re, that is a huge opportunity. Once they discover us, we’re finding that they struggle our food and so they actually prefer our food. We’re laser focused on getting more people in the door.
Loyalty and CRM are a couple areas that we actually didn’t capitalize on [before]. Our key competitor does a great job with their loyalty activations; they’ve taught our customers how a lot of these items works.
The biggest thing is moving into national marketing and having a significant amount of dollars — though still relatively small in the industry — it’s definitely going to get our word out greater than we have ever done before.
Qdoba has looked to franchising for growth. How does that affect marketing?
Historically, the brand has relied on local and franchisees to drive [marketing]. As a part of the national campaign, we proved it out. We went into markets, we tested this in a handful of restaurants the past 12 months, to really get learnings and buy-in, after which also show the franchisees what it could do.
That partnership is actually strengthened, especially since our CEO, John Cywinski, joined a few years ago. He’s brought in new management that understands the industry and tips on how to work with franchisees. We have a franchisee advisory committee and we have a look at them as partners, hand in hand. Now we work together. It’s a different place than where we have been before, culturally.
Qdoba appointed Leo as AOR in 2024. What have you ever searched for in agency partners?
It really is about diversifying things this present day. A giant attract [Leo parent] Publicis Groupe was Epsilon and our ability to activate data and begin understanding guests; that was a huge push. Infinite Roar, one in all their media arms, has been a great partner when it comes to buying power. We still have relatively small budgets; If you have a look at our industry, our share of spend is small. We imagine working with partners like this may give you the option to maximise the dollars that we now have.
They’ve also been in a position to add Influential, [production arm] PXP and other agencies that we have tapped into, and we have seen some pretty good traction when it comes to increasing our awareness and our impressions on social in a short time period. It’s definitely something that we proceed to take a look at with artificial intelligence where the industry is heading. It’s helped us to construct the foundation we’d like to turn into a national brand.
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