August 14, 2015

Crashing McDonald’s Annual Meeting

If McDonald's Operators cringe when hearing bad news about the brand - much
of the blame goes to the combative way in which the Oak Brook press relations 
people treat members of the media. Reporters rarely write about this abuse but 
Franchise Times is up front.

The solution? Hire some nice people.

Crashing McDonald’s annual meeting - Franchise Times
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August 8, 2015

A Little Politics and Economics

Art Laffer was a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board
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Changing OPNAD

So the chairman says "OPNAD is changing"? Yes, the communications world is changing
and OPNAD must change with it.

But, if things are changing why does OPNAD still have to charge Operators the full 1.6%?

If decisions are being moved to the field why is the OPNAD rate still 1.6%?

A sure sign that OPNAD has too much money is their ability to fund digital menu boards -
or said another way - they have so much money they can fund any Oak Brook driven initiatives.

OPNAD is like most government agencies. They can never accept a decrease in their
budgets and they live on forever.

A few suggestions for McDonald's Operators:

* Pull out your franchise agreement(s) and look for the language that specifically requires
   you to belong to OPNAD.

* Pull out your P&Ls and total up the percentage of sales spent on all advertising and    promotion of the McDonald's business including billboards, sports teams, Ronald visits,
in store materials, - everything. Radical Operators would even include signage, uniforms  (anything with a logo) and the expense of the Dollar Menu and other discounting.

* Reflect on the above when considering the next OPNAD pledge.
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August 2, 2015

Untruths from "McD Truth" on Twiitter

It is my impression that few McDonald's Operators make use of Twitter. That's fine, 
Twitter's usefulness as a marketing tool is limited. But Oak Brook's found a novel use 
for the platform.

Last year an anonymous Twitter handle popped called "McD Truth". This person 

goes back and forth between sounding like a corporate employee and/or a McDonald's 
Operator. He follows various reporters and analysts who cover McDonald's and leaks 
tidbits of information. Since the people he follows think he might be an Operator they 
pay attention, desperate as they are to communicate with a real McDonald's Operator.

But the long term pattern shows him to be a corporate puke trying to manipulate and 

mislead MCD Watchers.

And it looks like he's been instructed to put out the message that McDonald's
Operators
are to be scapegoats for the system's problems.

This weekend McD Truth posted the following tweet:

 

McD Truth (@McD_Truth) | Twitter: "Looking fwd on Mon. Internal webcast on changes
and promotions by U.S. Mgmt. Soft sales isn't purely Corp fault, Zees op's can be blamed 
too!"

This can only mean that McDonald's Operators are about to be pressured and blamed. If 
they don't go along with management's plans any lack of a "turnaround" will be their fault.

For those who participate in the web cast - your anonymous comments are welcome here.
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