I've had the same experience - walk into a McDonald's and it appears there is no one
involved in customer service. Everyone's in the grill area and all of the managers are
working drive-thru.
Kiosks Won't Solve McDonald's Problems
.
June 19, 2018
June 18, 2018
June 17, 2018
Does McDonald's Have a Plan or Just Following BK?
Aside from a click-bait headline this short article does a good job of summarizing
what's going on in McDonald's.
Reporters often write about the McDonald's "turn around plan". Sure there's a "plan"
but it's modeled after what Burger King (Restaurant Brands International) has been
doing since 2015.
* Refranchisng
* Larger franchisee organizations
* Stripping corporate overhead to the bone (downsizing).
* Maximum cash returned to shareholders
The McDonald's plan is fancier, has more McSpin, but is the same financial engineering.
There's little new here. Wall Street likes what Burger King has been doing so McDonald's
must do the same.
McDonald's Discovers Employees Get in the Way of Profits
.
what's going on in McDonald's.
Reporters often write about the McDonald's "turn around plan". Sure there's a "plan"
but it's modeled after what Burger King (Restaurant Brands International) has been
doing since 2015.
* Refranchisng
* Larger franchisee organizations
* Stripping corporate overhead to the bone (downsizing).
* Maximum cash returned to shareholders
The McDonald's plan is fancier, has more McSpin, but is the same financial engineering.
There's little new here. Wall Street likes what Burger King has been doing so McDonald's
must do the same.
McDonald's Discovers Employees Get in the Way of Profits
.
June 14, 2018
Aren’t Enough Delivery Drivers (or McDonald's crew people)
“It is a quality issue and a food safety issue, but it’s also a brand issue for the restaurants,”
said William Weichelt, a food safety official with the National Restaurant Association.
When there’s an issue, “The customer is going to call the restaurant.”
There Aren’t Enough Drivers to Keep Up With Your Delivery Lifestyle - Bloomberg
.
said William Weichelt, a food safety official with the National Restaurant Association.
When there’s an issue, “The customer is going to call the restaurant.”
There Aren’t Enough Drivers to Keep Up With Your Delivery Lifestyle - Bloomberg
.
June 13, 2018
Jonathan Maze on Quiznos’
"... there are lessons to be learned here for the restaurant business. And the biggest one is this: Make sure your franchisees can make money"
A brief history of Quiznos’ collapse
A brief history of Quiznos’ collapse
June 11, 2018
Field First?
Here's the place for McDonald's Operators to make anonymous comments about the "Running the Play"
memo and Tuesday's Town Hall.
June 9, 2018
Kalinowski Upgrades McDonald’s
And yet, because Mark publishes reports with McDonald's Operator comments, McDonald's HQ labels him a "McDonald's hater".
Why Did Kalinowski Upgrade McDonald’s? - Market Realist
.
Why Did Kalinowski Upgrade McDonald’s? - Market Realist
.
June 8, 2018
June 6, 2018
June 5, 2018
Waiting For A Clue
Continuing with our theory that McDonald's management doesn't know what's going on
in the restaurants - here's another example.
On Monday a CNBC host attended the opening of the new Chicago office building. During
an interview with the McDonald's CEO, CNBC's Jim Cramer popped in with a question
from their studios in NYC. His question, or complaint, was about the slowing speed of
service at quick serve restaurants.
The response was pathetic. It was all about the new gimmicks to speed up customer ordering. Nothing about what's going on in the kitchen. Nothing about operational complexities.
Speaking as one with decades of operations experience, and now a frequent McDonald's customer, the problem isn't about the ordering process. The problem is how long I have
to wait for my food after I order.
If all management intends to do is fiddle with the ordering process then things are only
going to get worse and working at McDonald's will only become more difficult.
As one person put it on twitter, "Thanks McDonald's for the more comfortable furniture.
It gives us a place to sit while we wait for our food".
It's going to be tough to fix an operations problem when so few of the people in charge
know anything about operations.
The service question and the weak response is at the six-minute point in this video.
McDonald's CEO: We are evolving the business in a meaningful way:
.
in the restaurants - here's another example.
On Monday a CNBC host attended the opening of the new Chicago office building. During
an interview with the McDonald's CEO, CNBC's Jim Cramer popped in with a question
from their studios in NYC. His question, or complaint, was about the slowing speed of
service at quick serve restaurants.
The response was pathetic. It was all about the new gimmicks to speed up customer ordering. Nothing about what's going on in the kitchen. Nothing about operational complexities.
Speaking as one with decades of operations experience, and now a frequent McDonald's customer, the problem isn't about the ordering process. The problem is how long I have
to wait for my food after I order.
If all management intends to do is fiddle with the ordering process then things are only
going to get worse and working at McDonald's will only become more difficult.
As one person put it on twitter, "Thanks McDonald's for the more comfortable furniture.
It gives us a place to sit while we wait for our food".
It's going to be tough to fix an operations problem when so few of the people in charge
know anything about operations.
The service question and the weak response is at the six-minute point in this video.
McDonald's CEO: We are evolving the business in a meaningful way:
.