Spend 56 years developing a niche brand and then hire a D.E.I. CEO who sets out to modernize the brand and look at what happens. Remember when the pajama boy regime tried to do this to McDonald's?
Cracker Barrel scraps new logo design - Fox News
August 26, 2025
August 24, 2025
August 20, 2025
Pajama Boy Knows Best
Today's Wall Street Journal article on McDonald's price fixing starts off with this headline:
"McDonald's to cut combo meal prices after convincing franchisees"
Reuters issues some preliminary coverage of the WSJ article.
August 19, 2025
Comment on Q3 Conference Call
Anonymous made a comment about analyst's questions on the recent McDonald's conference call with analysts.
"Most of them seem more interested in cheerleading than challenging the narrative."
They were softball questions, weren't they?
The truth is that analysts aren't here to tell management how to run the company. I'm sure only a few of them have any restaurant experience or skills. They are financial people who create expectations and try to explain why these expectations are or aren't met. However, that expectation is limited to the numerical results that have been released. An analyst rarely digs into internal matters such as morale or corporate organization. Or management's operational competence.
One exception to this was the last three years of McDonald's CEO Jack Greenberg's regime. Tired of being lied to, the analysts became outspoken about the need for some turnover.
But on this particular call, the results released by McHQ were an improvement over recent quarters, and the CEO went from zero to hero.
Owner/Operators should listen to these quarterly calls based on the theory that O/Os can tell a lot about the future of their business by listening to the discussion of corporate plans.
And, trends in analysts' comments and questions reveal a great deal about the future. With this Chicago regime, they are the tail being wagged by Wall Street's dog.
But don't expect a cage match with the CEO. The analysts will always be courteous and professional, no matter what they write in their reports.
The tough questions must come from the Owner/Operators.
August 14, 2025
Top Notch Commercial !!!
It's great to see Ronald back on the job.
August 13, 2025
Eroding Your Equity
* The only thing that gives your franchise business any resale value is the stability of the franchise agreement.
* If you sell a franchise agreement that has XX years left to run, your buyer must be sure that that agreement won't be changed or "renegotiated".
* In any contract renegotiations, there is a winner and a loser, and with a powerful franchise company, the corporation always wins.
* Anytime a franchisee is asked to change the terms or the application of those terms, they are damaging the future value of that franchise.
* A franchise agreement that's constantly changing and renegotiated eventually becomes worthless.
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August 10, 2025
Price Fixing?
Once upon a time, McDonald's Corp. was concerned with the legality of dictating menu prices to franchisees. To the point that direction came down from corporate legal that company (MCD) employees should not be involved in menu price discussions with franchisees. Legal said that, if, in a Co-Op meeting, franchisees were discussing a menu price promotion, the MCD employees should leave the meeting.
Of course, this was widely ignored in the field. It was especially impractical because at the time, something like 20% of USA stores were operated by McOpCo. Deep discounting made a major dent in corporate profits.