The economy sucks, but Mickey D’s is thriving. How they turned it around:
It lays out where McDonald’s wants to be and how it plans to get there, all of this revolving around the “five P’s”: people, products, place, price and promotion.
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For instance, the company’s mission was changed from “being the world’s best quick-service restaurant” to being “our customers’ favorite place and way to eat,” said Larry Light, who was the company’s global chief marketing officer at the time.
That shift in emphasis forced McDonald’s employees to focus on quality, service and restaurant experience rather than simply providing the cheapest, most convenient option to customers.
They added salads (surprisingly good), apple slices (childhood=ruined), better coffee (great), more chicken options, opened earlier, stayed open later.
January 13, 2009 at 10:16 am |
I can’t lie, last summer when I took the bus to work, we went by a McDonalds and some days I would stop there to get iced coffee before work because thier coffee is immensely better than Dunkin Donuts (even though there is a DD right next to my office).
January 13, 2009 at 10:22 am |
But one thing they still need to change:
They need to make ALL of the locations feel comfortable and less sterile. It still feels embarassing to go into a McDonalds because even though the food options have changed, the look of the place has not. It’s still looks like the place you spend $7 on a big mac value meal and gain 3lbs in the process.
They need to bring in some comfy chairs, change the lighting and get some dark wood tables.
Also, it might not hurt at all if all the locations had slight variation to them. McDonald’s is a huge corporation…it would be really cool if rather than just buying all their remodeling shit from a supplier, they gave each franchise X amount of dollars to get their new design materials from local craftsmen. Ort maybe instead each location could hire a local interior designer to take charge of these things. That would give them all a different feel and look. Not that this would ever happen, but that would be cool. It would really completely take away the whole “this is big greedy company” vibe. Like Starbuck’s is…but because they have nice chairs, people never question them…
January 13, 2009 at 11:22 am |
i don’t know, the big difference is that starbucks doesn’t mind if you hang out there. the point of mcdonald’s has always been to feed as many people as quickly as possible, and a lot of people like knowing that wherever they go they are going to get EXACTLY the same thing.
if you had comfy chairs you’d have our sixteen year old selves sitting there for four hours nursing free refills all day.
January 13, 2009 at 11:27 am |
They would just take away the free refills.
And I think McDonald’s WANTS people to hang out there. In theory, the more you hang out the more you spend. Especially if they have free wi-fi.
In Paris people hang out in cafes all day and just buy like a $1 coffee once. Nothing bad is happening there…
except for the racial issues….
January 13, 2009 at 11:32 am |
“fast food nation” talked about about how mcdonald’s intentionally kept the place uncomfortable so people wouldn’t hang around.
the article said that 60% of their business now is from drive through, so maybe they’re not as worried about people lingering, but i still think the idea is to get people in and out.
January 13, 2009 at 11:58 am |
I think that is the business model for fast food restaurants…
I believe McDonald’s is currently trying to establish themselves as a cafe. I think that whole “pack ’em in and get ’em out” thing WAS their model for decades but now they are trying to corner the lasting market on coffee, salad, health food and ALSO offer delicious unhealthy treats.
But even their unhealthy treats have gotten healthier. trans fats gone. White meat chicken. Grilled chicken snack wrap? Can you even imagine McDonald’s having health conscious junk food when you were a kid? When I was a kid I loved their Nugs, and they had GRAY meat in them. It wasn’t just dark meat. It was a toxic GRAY color.
January 13, 2009 at 12:04 pm |
the article gave the opposite sense, that they use the healthier stuff as a way to get people into the door or to make people feel better about being in the door. it’s still a sandwich and french fry business. and the salads still have 30 grams of fat.
January 13, 2009 at 12:06 pm |
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_mealSuggestions.html
suggest meals from mcdonald’s.
they understandably de-emphasize the fries, because those things are just entirely horrible for the body.
January 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm |
The salads only have 30 grams of fat if you use the 3 tablespoons of dressing on them (or whatever the size is they give you).
But the fact that McDonald’s is still gaining a shit ton of profit shows that they know what they are doing. Look at Starbuck’s and all the mis-steps they made with their stupid “media” ideas…
January 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm |
Anyone who doesn’t know that salad dressings are high in fat is a moron.