November 22, 2020
November 19, 2020
Scores of Stores on the Block
Now that big restaurant companies no longer want to be in the restaurant business
it's harder and harder to sell large groups of franchised restaurants.
November 18, 2020
November 13, 2020
New CEO Single-Handedly Saves McDonald's
Maybe it's because their ancestors were ruled by kings and queens but European journalists generally treat big company CEOs like royalty. They love publishing glowing articles, even
about mediocre executives.
When the U.K.'s Steve Easterbrook was promoted to CEO of McDonald's it was bigger news
than the D-Day landing at Normandy.
November 11, 2020
November 9, 2020
The McDonald's System Invented Diversity
McDonald's veterans are universally proud of the system's track record on diversity and inclusion dating back to the 1960s. So most of these "McVets" are disappointed to see
headlines and news articles such as the one below.
I don't have any internal insight but from 30,000 feet it's apparent that the new McDonald's
CEO is attempting to make the case that he was handed a company rife with racism and he intends to bring in people who will fix the problem. He alone will valiantly expunge the Klansmen from McDonald's.
But any examination of the current problems will show that the complaints are about events
that occurred during the Easterbrook/Chris K. regime.
Downsizing a company is a messy business and if not done properly it leaves a trail of angry
and disappointed people. That's the work product of the past five years.
Steve Easterbrook couldn't have understood the culture of diversity in McDonald's USA
because he spent his McDonald's career in Europe. Chris K. couldn't understand the culture
of diversity in McDonald's USA because his business "knowledge" comes from sitting in the classrooms of liberal colleges. Then he rode around in corporate limousines for a few years
before becoming President of McDonald's USA.
Not knowing what they didn't know management steamrolled ahead thinking they were making McDonald's Modern and Progressive.
As usual, in a franchise system, everything rolls downhill. McDonald's Owner/Operators can expect that they will be lectured and talked down to about these issues. And, ultimately, McDonald's Owner/Operators will be blamed for the problems.
It's nice that these new folks have these good jobs but they will soon learn that the root of the problems they were brought on to address is the person who hired them.
November 7, 2020
November 5, 2020
November 4, 2020
October 29, 2020
Red Chains, Blue Chains
"Only five of the 10 CEOs on Eater’s list openly donated to political causes — mostly via
their company PACs. Just one CEO, Chris Kempczinski of McDonald’s, donated exclusively
to Democrats, giving $2,500 to Joe Kennedy’s Massachusetts campaign for U.S. Senate.
Most of the other donations went to Republican candidates and PACs."
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