Farm-to-table program: ‘Farmvocacy’ is its own reward

FOOD GROWERS IN TAGUIG Kenny Rogers Roasters’ third Farmvocacy Program offers support to schools through Urban Farmers PH. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Kenny Rogers Roasters is not resting on its laurels but is, instead, using the recognitions it has received for its Farmvocacy Program as an inspiration to do more.

Now on its third year, Farmvocacy is a farm-to-table program. Every purchase of a Kenny Rogers Roasters’ selected menu item supports local farmers. This year’s featured fundraising menu item was the Chimichurri Roast, the ingredients of which are sourced locally.

Sales of the popular roasted item supported Urban Farmers PH, a group that promotes the use of idle public spaces for farming.

READ: Kenny Rogers Roasters lands top spot on Philippines’ Best Customer Service 2023 list

The P300,000 raised was used by Urban Farmers PH to support the Taguig Integrated School and Barrio Obrero Elementary School to provide essential resources for plant beds, seedling nurseries and technical training in urban farming.

Kenny Rogers Roasters believes in “Innovation with a Purpose,” which illumines its marketing strategy and campaigns.

The restaurant chain’s corporate social responsibility initiative received at last year’s 59th Anvil Awards the Silver Anvil Award in the PR Programs (Cause-related/Public Awareness/Advocacy) category for Farmvocacy.

The brand, a proponent of healthy eating and which adopted the slogan “Eat Healthy, Help Greatly,” won three highly-coveted recognitions during the annual event presented by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines to honor outstanding public relations programs, tools and practitioners.

Another Silver Anvil in the same category was presented to its campaign “Influencing Palates: Kenny Rogers Roasters Introduces Truffle Exclusive Influencer Seeding Initiatives” that featured a partnership between the brand and influencers to showcase the luxurious Truffle Collection for Valentine’s Day.

Under the PR Tools (special events) category, the chain won another Silver Anvil for the Kenny Rogers 3D Billboard Launch, the biggest and first-ever three-dimensional billboard by any restaurant brand in the country on Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare, Edsa.

Innovative mindset

Kenny Rogers Roasters’ trendsetting marketing campaigns also brought honor to the creative and innovative mind behind them.

Marketing director Lorent Martin Adrias, who is behind the award-winning strategies and campaigns, won the 2023 Mansmith Young Market Masters Award, which recognizes excellence in marketing, sales and entrepreneurship.

The business management alumnus of the Asia Pacific College with more than 10 years of experience in the food and beverage industry is a firm believer in planning ahead. “If we’re able to plan, then our approach would be more strategic rather than reactive,” he says.

“I work closely with [the chefs] … I give them ideas and they give me ideas but what I provide is direction—where I want to take the brand. I encourage a free flow of ideas … not just from our chefs, but also our suppliers and the different departments involved in innovation,” he adds.

Adrias stresses, “We work as a team. Teamwork is very important … You need to get input from everybody …”

It is not only the marketing team that is doing the work, he says. “It’s the whole organization having that innovative mindset, it’s the organization welcoming new ideas, it’s the organization trusting marketing that we are driving the brand towards the right path.”

While each campaign has to drive sales, Adrias says it has also to be relevant and should appeal to both current and potential customers. The brand has to be future-proofed.

The awards the brand and he personally received are, to Adrias, “affirmations that we’re doing something really good not only for our brand, but also for our community and the Philippines as a whole —because the objective of the company is really to elevate the dining experience of Filipinos”.

Aside from the Anvil awards, the chain’s Truffle Collection launch, a partnership with super app Grab, won the Green Boomerang award from the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines for Retail Media Network.

At the 2023 Golden Grab Awards, Kenny Rogers Roasters also bagged Campaign of the Year and Gold Ad Trendsetter. It was also named, for the second-year in a row, Fan Favorite in the roasted chicken category. It won the gold in the combo meal category.

Foodpanda named Kenny Rogers Roasters the Most Innovative Brand for 2023.

The chain was ranked No.1 in the Fast Food/Restaurant category for Best Customer Service by Statista and the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It received the Marketing Excellence Award in Brand Awareness and won gold for its Chimichurri campaign.

With other brands recognizing they have a formidable competitor in Kenny Rogers Roasters, the chain welcomes the challenge and opportunity to always be better. —CONTRIBUTED