Coalition of Franchisee Associations

April 20, 2018

Walmart Brings McDonald's CEO on Board





Walmart Nominates McDonald's CEO To Board - Nasdaq.com
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Why Pizza Has Little to Fear from 3rd-Party Delivery

Reporter Jonathan Maze covered the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Phoenix this
week. Here's more reporting on restaurant delivery.

"If they (delivery companies)charge more to restaurants—and many, many chain executives
we speak with complain about the losses they take on delivery orders—then those companies will be less likely to promote or push the service."

Why pizza chains have little to fear from third-party delivery
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The Ever Tightening Labor Market

Is Uber competing with restaurants for workers?
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April 19, 2018

Is Starbucks Making Things Worse?

Having been around food service and also having experience dealing with the media ...
in my humble opinion Starbucks is turning this unfortunate event in one store into a 
national scandal.

Starbucks could have terminated the managers who made all the wrong decisions, 
maybe closed that store for while, and conducted a national internal audit of their own 
corporate culture.

But no, they plan to close 8,000 stores for a one day training effort. So instead of
admitting they had a problem in one store they are demonstrating that they have a 
systemic nationwide problem.

This is one publicity stunt that will backfire, turning an embarrassment that would
have faded away in a few months into something that will be with the brand for years.

Could McDonald's gain fresh hangout status amid Starbucks controversy?
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April 16, 2018

Why McDonald's Stock Turnaround May Fizzle

Why McDonald's Stock Turnaround May Fizzle - from Investopedia
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And Now a Word From the Left Wing Wackos



The contemptible Robert Gibbs has a dream job. In addition to his huge McDonald's salary and perks he gets to infect the system with fake science from the Obama administration.

The beauty is, Operators will absorb the cost of many unnecessary changes to the system.

Then Gibbs will leave to assist with Senator Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential campaign.
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April 12, 2018

Hepatitis A Warning Linked to McDonald's in Kentucky





McDonald's stock drops on hepatitis A investigation - Business Insider
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"Unfrozen" Will Be The Next Disney Movie

I've sampled enough unfrozen, HOTG sandwiches to have some opinions in my role as 
a McDonald's customer.

Is it a better product? ... Sometimes.

As I consumed the first few QPCs I was struck with the thought, "For 45 years McDonald's
has been over-cooking all those millions of quarter pound patties".

I've sampled about 40 sandwiches over the past few months and my impressions are:

* In a Quarter Pound with Cheese it's better than frozen but only when everything is 
   done perfectly.

That's because the QPC is a pretty simple sandwich.

 * In the Signature Sandwiches the difference in meat patties is unnoticeable. There is so much going on in each of those sandwiches, so many flavors, so many textures that the actual meat patty gets lost in the battle. This lack of difference will become even more noticeable as the builds become more exotic, Angus flavoring, etc.

* One in five patties were pink enough to have failed previous food safety standards. Now, 
don't get me wrong, I like them that way. As a McDonald's Operator I'd often cook a couple 
of quarter pound patties as a low carb, high protein lunch. They were quite pink in the center and I would have never served them to a customer.

However, McDonald's has been overcooking beef patties for so many decades McDonald's customers don't know what a "medium" patty looks like. I foresee many returned sandwiches.

* I was served a few sandwiches that were dripping with fat (very unusual at McDonald's). And, about a third of the sandwiches did not have the brown wrapper, just the box and
the sandwich. That wrapper is essential, especially with the Signature sandwiches and if 
the sandwich is eaten on the road.

* There is a perceptible slowing of service times at the stores I visit regularly. I'm seeing 
more cars pulled to the side and more long waits at the presentation window. Since I'm 
not in the kitchen I can't tell what's holding things up or if this slow down is related to 
HOTG. It might be the nationwide staffing problems. Maybe it's the three patty thing.

Will this change increase sales at McDonald's? Will it be worth the hassles and risks? I'm 
sure there will be a lot of trial when the advertising begins but only time will tell if it 
will build sales.

Meanwhile, Wendy's and other competitors will continue to bark about frozen beef at McDonald's. Unfrozen quarter patties will not solve that problem.
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April 7, 2018

Better Hope That High Volume Store Isn't Too Valuable

In Washington DC McDonald's is selling the land under a store for $31 million. 

It's hard to get a rewrite if McDonald's Corp. sells the property

JBG Smith pays $31M for NoMa McDonald's - Washington Business Journal
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April 5, 2018

5 Reasons McDonald's May Be Unstoppable

Normally we don't pay much attention to what's published on Seeking Alpha (except for their transcripts) because most of the articles are written by want-to-be analysts looking 
to make a few bucks for the article.

But, this is written by a substantial company and their comments about refranchising and McDonald's Operators are interesting.

5 Reasons McDonald's May Be Unstoppable - Seeking Alpha
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April 2, 2018

What Do Hotels Have To Do with Food Deliveries?

"Incremental Sales" can be a misleading term. Of course in a franchise system corporate 
and shareholders love incremental sales because they get their slice of the action no 
matter what happened down the line.

The example of a hotel operator being happy to pay a commission to rent an empty room 
is apt. The room's sitting there ready to go and all the hotel has to do is hand the guest 
their key and re-clean the room the next day.

But incremental sales at a restaurant are different. The restaurant operator has to pay 
for the food, packaging, labor,and all other misc. costs. Plus pay the franchisor rent and royalties on the sale. Plus put up with a distraction in their operation. In the end, the 
restaurant operator absorbs all the liabilities of a delivery order and would probably be 
better off without that "incremental" sale.

Thanks to "anonymous" for this link.

What the fast casual industry can learn from hospitality's $2.5 billion braw.
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