Mr. Blue MauMau
Overheard from zee: "McDonald's can make us sell Egg McMuffins all day long. We will lose money on it and become even slower!"
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April 30, 2015
McTweet
Mr. Blue MauMau
Overheard from zee: "McDonald's can make us sell Egg McMuffins all day long. We will lose money on it and become even slower!"
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McDonald's Soon To Be "Not So Secret" Turnaround Plan
As mentioned before, McDonald's announced announced they would release
details of their Turnaround Plan to the public on Monday, May 4th.
When McDonald's franchisees have comments on the turnaround plans this
website is a good place to vent them.
6 Things to Expect From McDonald's Secret Turnaround Plan - Entrepreneur
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details of their Turnaround Plan to the public on Monday, May 4th.
When McDonald's franchisees have comments on the turnaround plans this
website is a good place to vent them.
6 Things to Expect From McDonald's Secret Turnaround Plan - Entrepreneur
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April 28, 2015
A Small Start at Menu Reduction
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McDonald's Axes Seven Sandwiches in Push to Get Menu Right - Yahoo Finance
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“They could cut their burger number in half,” said Michelle Greenwald, a marketing prof. at Columbia Business School in NYC.
April 24, 2015
McDonald’s: What Turnaround?
"Easterbook is a marketing guy, he's not an operations guy."
Technomic's David Henkes and Bloomberg discuss the importance of McDonald's
Operators and our latest Operator survey.
McDonald’s Sales Slump: What Turnaround? - Bloomberg Video
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Technomic's David Henkes and Bloomberg discuss the importance of McDonald's
Operators and our latest Operator survey.
McDonald’s Sales Slump: What Turnaround? - Bloomberg Video
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Simplification at McDonald's
Instead of the average CYT service time of 10 minutes this sandwich took 20 minutes
to deliver to the customer. Will this kind of monkey business build sales at McDonald's?
McDonald's customer uses kiosk to create a massive Mac - Chicago Tribune
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to deliver to the customer. Will this kind of monkey business build sales at McDonald's?
McDonald's customer uses kiosk to create a massive Mac - Chicago Tribune
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April 23, 2015
April 22, 2015
April 21, 2015
5 Ways McDonald’s Can Turn its Business Around
Howard Penny is one of the more common sense analysts covering the restaurant
industry and I believe the first analyst in history to mention OPNAD in any article
or report.
Howard Penny on Fortune.com
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industry and I believe the first analyst in history to mention OPNAD in any article
or report.
Howard Penny on Fortune.com
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April 20, 2015
April 18, 2015
Imagine All The People
I've talked to more reporters in the last 60 days than all of 2014. Usually these folks
cover McDonald's out of Chicago or they cover the industry in general. In either case
they know something about McDonald's so conversations are sometimes routine.
McDonald's had a presence at a technology summit in Austin TX last month and the
reporters covering the event knew nothing about McDonald's. A reporter who normally
just reports on technology developments asked this question:
"How is this digital strategy different from previous initiatives McDonald's franchisees
have been asked to buy into?"
I responded, "It's imaginary".
A better word might have been "conceptual", but I explained that previous initiatives
involved remodeling, adding equipment, or new products. These have been tangible
things that can be tested or observed in other areas of the industry. Mobile payment,
mobile ordering, kiosk ordering, etc. are all in the initial testing stages and nowhere
has any chain proven that they builds sales or fit into the operation of the restaurant.
Last week I shared this line of thinking with a Wall Street analyst and they replied.
"It's working at Panera Bread".
Really?
As of mid-February Panera 2.0 is in 300 of their 1,900 stores and their CEO hopes to
have it 600 stores by the end of 2015, so far only in company operated stores. Panera's Management has been talking about Panera 2.0 for a long time but they haven't yet
proven anything, except it's an expensive implementation.
Smashburger launched their mobile app three weeks ago. Sonic is making noise about
a "21st century network with our customers" but so far it's just talk.
In March, When asked about their digital strategy, McDonald's CFO told an investor conference "We are a little late to the game". No they're not! Everyone's at the
beginning and no one's proven anything.
One of the reasons digital seems like an established part of the restaurant industry is
that much of the hype is created by the people who sell the hardware and software. It's
in their best interest to make digital seem like proven technology.
And it all sure sounds good - maybe some of it will pay for itself?
.
cover McDonald's out of Chicago or they cover the industry in general. In either case
they know something about McDonald's so conversations are sometimes routine.
McDonald's had a presence at a technology summit in Austin TX last month and the
reporters covering the event knew nothing about McDonald's. A reporter who normally
just reports on technology developments asked this question:
"How is this digital strategy different from previous initiatives McDonald's franchisees
have been asked to buy into?"
I responded, "It's imaginary".
A better word might have been "conceptual", but I explained that previous initiatives
involved remodeling, adding equipment, or new products. These have been tangible
things that can be tested or observed in other areas of the industry. Mobile payment,
mobile ordering, kiosk ordering, etc. are all in the initial testing stages and nowhere
has any chain proven that they builds sales or fit into the operation of the restaurant.
Last week I shared this line of thinking with a Wall Street analyst and they replied.
"It's working at Panera Bread".
Really?
As of mid-February Panera 2.0 is in 300 of their 1,900 stores and their CEO hopes to
have it 600 stores by the end of 2015, so far only in company operated stores. Panera's Management has been talking about Panera 2.0 for a long time but they haven't yet
proven anything, except it's an expensive implementation.
Smashburger launched their mobile app three weeks ago. Sonic is making noise about
a "21st century network with our customers" but so far it's just talk.
In March, When asked about their digital strategy, McDonald's CFO told an investor conference "We are a little late to the game". No they're not! Everyone's at the
beginning and no one's proven anything.
One of the reasons digital seems like an established part of the restaurant industry is
that much of the hype is created by the people who sell the hardware and software. It's
in their best interest to make digital seem like proven technology.
And it all sure sounds good - maybe some of it will pay for itself?
.
April 16, 2015
Franchise Times on Wendy's Remodels - Offers 'No ROI'
Wendy's pulled the usual trick on shareholders and some of their franchisees.
When they began their reimaging program about six years ago they did on the
worst stores first. This brought sales increases in the 25 - 30% range. Of course,
as they moved into newer, more normal locations the increases fell off and so
did the ROI.
Wendy's Remodel Offers 'No ROI," DavCo Counters in Lawsuit
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When they began their reimaging program about six years ago they did on the
worst stores first. This brought sales increases in the 25 - 30% range. Of course,
as they moved into newer, more normal locations the increases fell off and so
did the ROI.
Wendy's Remodel Offers 'No ROI," DavCo Counters in Lawsuit
..
April 15, 2015
Mark Kalinowski's Take on Taco Bell Receipts
- TACO BELL TWEAKS McDONALD’S FOR PROMOTING… TACO BELL
Following our April 13th industry note in which we noted that McDonald’s of Northeast Pennsylvania was offering a free Egg McMuffin for customers who provided – of all things – a breakfast receipt from rival Taco Bell, Katie Little of CNBC informed us that another group of McDonald’s restaurants is offering the same deal. This involves McDonald’s restaurants in the Coastal Bend of Texas. That group of McDonald’s restaurants tweeted out this past March 30th, “Bring us your Taco Bell receipt, and get yourself a free Egg McMuffin for Breakfast.” Sounds like that doesn’t even have to be a breakfast receipt! - In addition, we’ve noticed several other McDonald’s Twitter accounts mentioning – directly or indirectly – Taco Bell, and/or Taco Bell’s “breakfast defector” marketing campaign. For example, McDonald’s Kansas City tweets “Defect if you’d like… Used to Egg McMuffins every morning? Defect to a McGriddle.” Another example comes from McDonald’s Tampa Bay: “At McDonald’s, we love everyone… even breakfast defectors.”
- Kalinowski’s take: The best response to all this comes from Taco Bell itself: “.@McDonald’s Why not make this offer available nationwide?” Yeah, we’d like it too if the 800-pound gorilla in our industry was promoting us – and in some cases, literally asking folks to go buy our product as part of a promotion. If we were McDonald's, we would mandate that all restaurants immediately cease these promotions of our smaller rival, no exceptions. And, to the extent Twitter etiquette permits this, and to the extent it wouldn’t break any laws, if we were McDonald’s we would even mandate that all McDonald’s restaurants’ past tweets mentioning (directly or indirectly) Taco Bell and/or Taco Bell’s “breakfast defector” promotion be immediately deleted.
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April 14, 2015
April 13, 2015
McDonalds Giving Away Breakfast for Taco Bell Receipts.
Won't this have the reverse result? Won't more people try the new products at
Taco Bell so they can eat free at McDonald's the next day?
Food Fight: McDonalds is giving away free McMuffins in exchange for Taco Bell Receipts
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Taco Bell so they can eat free at McDonald's the next day?
Food Fight: McDonalds is giving away free McMuffins in exchange for Taco Bell Receipts
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Pay Drops for McDonald's Execs - Director Resigns
Visitors to this website have suggested some turnover on the McDonald's board of
directors with some younger blood. One director is suddenly resigning but unfor -
tunately it's one of the younger directors.
Crain's Chicago Business reports
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directors with some younger blood. One director is suddenly resigning but unfor -
tunately it's one of the younger directors.
Crain's Chicago Business reports
.
April 11, 2015
April 9, 2015
An Indie McDonald's Operator Group?
There are comments on this website about an independent McDonald's Operator group that would theoretically have some influence on McDonald's corporate franchising decisions.
That group already exists - it's called OPNAD.
How preposterous would it be for McDonald's Operators to go though the angst and expense
of forming an independent association while at the same time voluntarily sending Billion$ into the OPNAD fund? And, in doing so, Operators would continue to spend two and three times their contractual obligation on advertising and promotion?
Operators should review their franchise agreements and live up to 100% of their obligations. Any thing beyond that is a contribution to enrich McDonald's shareholders and Oak Brook executives.
Once you have OPNAD under control (or out of business) then we should talk about a McDonald's Operator association.
McDonald's Operators could influence the direction of the system with their participation or non-participation in OPNAD. It would take a lot of intestinal fortitude but so does starting
and belonging to an independent franchisee association.
Please visit our previous post on this topic HERE
..
That group already exists - it's called OPNAD.
How preposterous would it be for McDonald's Operators to go though the angst and expense
of forming an independent association while at the same time voluntarily sending Billion$ into the OPNAD fund? And, in doing so, Operators would continue to spend two and three times their contractual obligation on advertising and promotion?
Operators should review their franchise agreements and live up to 100% of their obligations. Any thing beyond that is a contribution to enrich McDonald's shareholders and Oak Brook executives.
Once you have OPNAD under control (or out of business) then we should talk about a McDonald's Operator association.
McDonald's Operators could influence the direction of the system with their participation or non-participation in OPNAD. It would take a lot of intestinal fortitude but so does starting
and belonging to an independent franchisee association.
Please visit our previous post on this topic HERE
..
April 8, 2015
Tweet From ChiTrib
Digital chief Atif Rafiq: hiring from outside McDonald's "can reenergize us" Sees digital team growing to close to 250 people this year.
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April 7, 2015
MCD - Two Wall Street Analysts Are Talking
Analysts and activist investors continue to discuss McDonald's real estate. Management
is eventually going to have to provide some transparency about their real estate dealings
over the past twenty years.
This has come up before but it's different this time. Investors are not expecting a lot of
growth in the McDonald's share price so they're looking at mining other company assets.
McDonald's Shareholders: 2 Top Wall Street Analysts Are Talking - Yahoo Finance
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is eventually going to have to provide some transparency about their real estate dealings
over the past twenty years.
This has come up before but it's different this time. Investors are not expecting a lot of
growth in the McDonald's share price so they're looking at mining other company assets.
McDonald's Shareholders: 2 Top Wall Street Analysts Are Talking - Yahoo Finance
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April 3, 2015
ChiTrib on McOpCo Pay Raise
"But it was served up with the potential for backlash — notably from its franchisees that
operate about 90 percent of McDonald's restaurants in the U.S.
Essentially, the world's largest restaurant operator has pitted its own stores' pay scale
against those of its franchisees and other fast-food chains, as well as against other service-
sector companies such as Target and Wal-Mart."
McDonald's pay raise helps company achieve multiple goals - Chicago Tribune
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operate about 90 percent of McDonald's restaurants in the U.S.
Essentially, the world's largest restaurant operator has pitted its own stores' pay scale
against those of its franchisees and other fast-food chains, as well as against other service-
sector companies such as Target and Wal-Mart."
McDonald's pay raise helps company achieve multiple goals - Chicago Tribune
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April 2, 2015
McDonald's CEO: Why we're Raising Wages
Easterbrook sets a new record for the use of the word "I" in a McDonald's corporate
memo or press release.
McDonald's CEO: Why we're raising wages - Chicago Tribune
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memo or press release.
McDonald's CEO: Why we're raising wages - Chicago Tribune
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April 1, 2015
McOpCo Pay Increase
A win-win for Oak Brook - higher pay in McOpCos pressures Operators to
raise wages and raise prices which raises revenues to McDonald's Corp.
And Easterbrook looks like a hero all around.
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raise wages and raise prices which raises revenues to McDonald's Corp.
And Easterbrook looks like a hero all around.
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