Moe’s Offers Downsized-Burrito Value Meal

Moe's is promoting a scaled-down version of its Joey Bag of Donuts burrito as part of a $4.99 value meal.

By Christine LaFave, Associate Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 1/5/2009 2:03:00 PM

Like several of its quick-service- and fast-casual-Mexican brethren, Atlanta-based Moe’s Southwest Grill touts burritos almost big enough to double as hand weights. But acknowledging that not everyone wants to eat—or pay for—a burrito that can weigh in at more than 1 lb., Moe’s now is promoting a scaled-down version of its Joey Bag of Donuts burrito as part of a $4.99 value meal.

The Joey Jr. features the same ingredients—choice of protein, black or pinto beans, rice, pico de gallo, lettuce and shredded cheese in a tortilla—as the full-size Joey Bag of Donuts, but it’s made with a 10-inch rather than a 12-inch flour tortilla. (The net weight loss is 6 ounces.) Add chips and salsa and a beverage, and the result is the Joey Jr. Bundle, available for a suggested price of $4.99 at all Moe’s locations.

“A smaller portion really appeals to a lot of adults, especially at this time of year, and some people just don’t need a huge portion to be full,” says Sara Riggsby, Moe’s director of marketing. “It was about two years ago that we started thinking about this—we know that healthy eating is always something that’s in vogue.”

And with more consumers resolving to trim their spending in 2009, menuing a value meal just made says, Riggsby adds. As to whether a different value-centered offering will debut once the Joey Jr. Bundle promotion ends on March 1, she says: “Anything is possible—we know that the portion issue isn’t going to go away, and the value issue isn’t as well.”

In conjunction with the rollout of the Joey Jr., which is available à la carte, Moe’s downsized its kids-menu burrito, the Moo Moo Mr. Cow, from a 10-inch to an 8-inch tortilla.  

Moe’s placed No. 123 on R&I’s Top 400 Restaurant Chains list in 2008, posting sales growth of 6.2% over 2007 and unit growth of 18.5% over the same time period. Additionally, the chain received the Gold Award—behind Platinum Award winner On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina and ahead of Silver Award winner Chipotle—among Mexican chains in R&I’s 2008 Consumers’ Choice in Chains (CCIC) survey.

Among the seven categories on which consumers rated chains for the CCIC survey, Moe’s tied with Chipotle for first place among Mexican chains in food quality and took third place, behind Taco Bell and Del Taco, in value.