Coalition of Franchisee Associations

October 27, 2012

Is the Dollar Menu the Answer to Tough McDonald's Comps?



There's been a lot of discussion in the press about Oak Brook's plan to re-emphasize the Dollar Menu and "Value". We've expected a lot of discounting to overcome the warm weather comps from the winter of 2011/2012 and have joked with analysts about seeing the Big Mac on the Dollar Menu. But, listening to Don Thompson's comments and reading analyst's notes, maybe that's not all that funny.

After all, the Dollar Menu was launched in 2002 with the Big N' Tasty as the headliner.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

McDonald‟s Operators cannot absorb all these costs, do all this discounting, and still pay to remodel our landlord‟s (McDonald‟s) building. The party is over but McDonald‟s management does not know the business well enough to understand what is happening.

Anonymous said...

McDonald‟s Corporation has lost its direction. Top management has forgotten operations and has
sold out to marketing, anything to bump sales in the short term. We are feeling the effects of having
lost our way, as a result of trying to be all things to all people. Technology is a bust with operating
systems that are totally unreliable, on top of outrageous technology fees forced on the operators. Not
only that, but the technology is far behind what the competition is doing. There are far too many would-be engineers making decisions on technology and equipment that has not been tested properly, nor is it cutting-edge. Top management is sacrificing the goose that laid the golden egg on the shareholder altar, where the directors can line management‟s pockets with stock options and fat bonuses, only to retire and start a business selling products at inflated prices to the system as sole source suppliers. There is no value built in the system for the operator.

Anonymous said...

McDonald‟s Corporation has no concern for Owner/Operators. Cash flow - spend - spend - spend.
Operators are „people,‟ maybe corporate should have „People Week‟ for Operators.

Anonymous said...

Too many "Yes Owner/Operators" in leadership -- ex-company people. We continue to be strong armed into Major Remodel Projects, etc. which causes our taxes to go up and McDonald‟s asset line to look better.”