Coalition of Franchisee Associations

May 28, 2014

What Are the Analysts Thinking?

From RBC Capital Markets - Analyst David Palmer's Latest Report on McDonald's
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NYC Restaurant Health Department - $30 Mill in Fines a Year




Nice little profit center

The Wealth Transfer Continues

McDonald’s Plans Up to $20 Billion in Buybacks, Dividends - Bloomberg

Corporate press release is HERE

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Form 8-K for MCDONALDS CORP


27-May-2014
Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Regulation FD Disclosure, Financial Sta

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. Timothy Fenton will retire from McDonald's Corporation (the "Company") on June 30, 2014. In connection with his retirement, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company agreed to waive certain notice and service requirements pursuant to the terms of his outstanding compensation awards. These waivers will permit Mr. Fenton, upon retirement, to qualify for retirement treatment pursuant and otherwise subject to the terms of his respective awards, and in addition, with respect to his 2014 stock option and RSU awards, he will receive credit for service through March 1, 2015. Mr. Fenton will also receive a lump-sum payment of $375,000, payable on December 30, 2014. 
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May 25, 2014

Thompson: "Increase in Minimum Wage OK With Me"

"You know, our franchisees look at me when I say this and they start to worry: 'Don, don't
you say it. Don't you say we support $10.10,'" Thompson said. "I will tell you we will 
support legislation that moves forward."


Are Oak Brook approved unions next?
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May 22, 2014

McDonald's Addresses Pressures Over Wages, Marketing

NRN recaps McDonald's shareholder meeting
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If you’re on LinkedIn, you’ve likely seen this oft-repeated hypothetical exchange
between two executives: A CFO asks a CEO, “What happens if we invest in 
developing our people, and they leave us?” The CEO responds, “What happens if 
we don’t, and they stay?”
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May 21, 2014

Organized Labor Destroys Everything They Touch

But they have been successful in changing the perception of the minimum wage from 
"entry level" to "a living wage". But what's a living wage? Can employees buy a home? 
How many cars does that include? 19 or 40 inch flat screen? Sonic or Ruth's Chris?



McDonald's Protesters Arrested Outside Oak Brook

USA Today Reports
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Time to Raise Prices?

Restaurant chains ready to pull the trigger on menu price hikes
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May 6, 2014

When I Get Where I'm Going

Restaurant magazines and websites are bursting with articles about digital payment and 
ordering. Unfortunately many are lumping the two things together as one process.

The truth is, major QSRs should have mobile payment now, not next year. Starbucks was 
an early adopter of mobile payment that now represents 14 percent of their sales.

The mobile ordering part can come along later because it’s unlikely that pre-ordering is 
going to work in a quick service restaurant. I’ve talked to many McDonald’s Operators 
about this idea and we all have years of experience doing things like making up a 100 
sandwich order for the local Little League only to have the team parent show up 45 min.
late for the pickup.

The reason? Customers just don’t know when they are going to get to McDonald’s or any 
other QSR. There are just too many variables in our lives. Pre-ordering is fraught with 
expenses for the restaurant and disappointments for the customer.

Should QSRs eventually have digital pre-ordering? Maybe, but it’s hard to see how it 
could ever be a significant sales builder. If pre-ordering was an opportunity for chains like 
McDonald’s why hasn’t there been internet ordering? The technology has been available 
for a decade or longer.

The danger is this arena is that the people designing these systems are most often unfamiliar
with what goes on in a QSR and don’t know the difference between a hamburger / chicken 
chain and a Pizza Hut. Unfortunately most of the decision makers on the corporate side aren’t restaurant people. Some chains will try to combine payment, ordering , social media, and loyalty rograms into one big platform that will end up crashing like a health care website.

The time has come for mobile payment but only people who don’t understand QSRs will 
plunge into mobile ordering.
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