Coalition of Franchisee Associations

January 24, 2020

Kalinowski Surveys Give Owner/Operators a Voice

McDonald's franchisees worry about Chick-fil-A's success in survey - Business Insider
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really hope at some point we can stop saying the reason Chik Fil a is so successful is because they only own one store. As if we all owned one store, we would be in so much better shape. It is like we are blaming our lack of success on owning multiple restaurants and that’s why we can not have the same level of service. That just looks bad on us. We should be proud we can grow our business and have equity in what we work so hard for.

The real reason is their financial model (they don’t require the reinvestment and debt we have) and the simplicity of their operations. Minimal ingredients and their food can hold well. The same model that made us successful in the 80s. I met a Chik Fil a operator once and they said they got upset with complexity when they had 3 types of cheese. But they have 4 proteins to worry about and during lunch, we have 12 proteins to cook. And the solution from McDonalds is not utilize the second side as often and split the cooking of the protein. So now I can have product ready but can’t have it assembled in a timely manner. So then the answer is “add more people” in a tight labor market. We have to reduce what our people have to do. Maybe automation is the answer but that is another expense and more debt to take. I just hope the 2021-2023 plan has more simplicity then increase in spending.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the bottom part of your Statement.

The Top part should not be ignored. McD. Operators have grown our store count average to 8 and CFA is around 2. If we were honest with ourselves, McDonald’s was better when we each Operator had less restaurants. Operationally we had more control, Local Store Marketing wise we touched more folks personally and we were more hungry.

I know because because I have grown from 2 to 20. Even though I am still ranked Very Very HIGH in our system as it relates any of the 6 measures, especially operations. I am No where near as good as I was when I only had 2 restaurants. We need to be honest with ourselves, we need to be better, we need to be more hungry and we need to Fight for every customer. Sure we have a lot of Headwinds, (Debt, Lack of People, a difficult Ops system and MHQ that doesn’t know Restaurants) but we still must be BETTER as Operators.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, restaurants sell what they advertise. McDonalds advertise discount products, which appeal to that smaller percentage of the market. Yet translate to cheap and lack of quality to the majority of the market.

So when its time to grow TC's, does it target the largest portion of the market? No, it double, tripled, and quadrupled down on the small market.

Its why McDonalds fight for TCs, yet other burger joints like IN & OUT and SMASH, thrive selling $8 burgers and $12 meals. Quality comes at a price, they'll tell you.

All the while, ever shop a Chik Fil restaurant? I never been in one where I saw a discount promotion. Never saw a window cling for a $1 drink. There rewards program is based on actual purchases, not constant bombardment with freebies. Their lobby screams their QUALITY, not DISCOUNT.

You know their real fame today ... Speedy Service.
So now that McDonalds has finally focused (AGAIN) on SUGGESTIVE SELLING, maybe (and hopefully before its too late), it will focus back on SPEEDY service.

That means menu reduction. Real reduction, not just remove a sauce or fried onions.

It means serious marketing with ads that can sell the brand, not just discounting. McDonalds lost the ability to be entrepreneurs; even with 90%+ of restaurants in operator hands.

Read todays NOA message... operators lost there too. Remember when it use to be FOOD, FOLKS and FUN?




Anonymous said...

Small menu is the reason, not number of restaurants.

We didn't buy a job.

Anonymous said...

In the recent past the majority of their O/O's were retired missionary's.

Anonymous said...

Totally disagree with the comments above. Let's keep allowing the company to say that the Operators can do better. Let's not challenge the company to simplify our menus. Or reduce financial burdens such as mass discounting. Let's keep accepting more responsibility and do more work, bearing the weight of the three legged stool all on our leg. How about we tell the company to be as good as us before we say we need to be Better.

Anonymous said...

I posted the original comment and I agree to the person that responded and put it properly. We need to be better Operators. Once we all come to grips with that, we will be able to stop discounting. We have to discount because the majority are not able to execute what we advertise. In and Out, Chik fil A, those restaurants have reliable service. There is hardly a time I get bad service from them. But if you look at our results, you see how our stores are, it doesn’t compete anymore. Once we lead again with QSC, we won’t have to discount as much.

But McD does need to help. They need to reduce menu, let local markets own value (and give them back marketing $ from OPNAD), and let us be owners. Trust us to make decisions. They took control because they don’t trust us. NOA/NFLA should address that. They keep discussing how our trust/relationship is with the company. But maybe USLT needs a survey on how much they trust us. I can assure you that they say the right things in meetings, but behind closed doors they think we are idiots and feel they are better then us. We need to fix that. But we need to fix QSC. Because when we lead in that, we can all dig in and give them the middle finger. We will own the market and discounting won’t be needed. And I know there will be a response to this. But before you respond think about this, why do we keep looking at Chik Fil a/In and out and worried about how they operate and how they move drive thru efficiently? Because we are not. So we aren’t leading. We have to own that. And McD needs to truly help fix that. And not have untrained OAs grade our restaurants and come have “help visits”. Bring back real consultants with real restaurant experience to grade stores and have help visits. And truly hold them accountable for our results. Then they will help.

Also, bring local Ronalds. McTeachers nights ask about him all the time. He is missed and can make a huge impact for us. But that would be on a local level. Since MHQ millennials can’t measure it on social media, they don’t see the impact. But us Operators see the harm in it.

Anonymous said...

Comparing operations that have 8 skus with those that are burdened and dragged down by hundreds of skus and saying that we as operators are the problem is itself a problem of analysis. .

Simple, easy to navigate menus with consistent pricing allow for fast and friendly service. That leads to repeat customer visits from people willing to pay full price, not endless changing discounts that draw only people who won't spend more than a dollar.

McCafe is an easy example. Consumers routinely spend more than a $1 for coffee or $2 for a latte at competitors. We are price limited and can't attract those consumers because they see our coffee as cheap and substandard and we continue to message that and lose breakfast food sales.

Let's focus on the burgers and fries and shakes that made us famous and are what people actually want to buy from us and will pay full price for because they are best in class products. Ignore the other stuff.

Anonymous said...

Its not Ray Kroc's McDonald's any longer …. don't you understand that? Its obvious both senior MCD and Operator leaderships don't. For example, operators NOW need to address SUGGESTIVE SELLING! Well, I could of told you that when it was pulled with ASK, ASK, TELL.

But lets also ignore the $100K investment in the Drive-Thru that takes a SPEEDY picture of the customer, and revert back to a time consuming method of voice - using today's workforce that lives on their phone and have no interactive "VOICE".

Let's ignore how MADE FOR YOU destroyed the SPEEDY system, and instead develop the OPL SYSTEM - which DOESN'T ADDRESS KVS TIME.

When will you (operator) not learn that SPEEDY is a euphemism for antiquated - and with current leadership OLD is OLD, not tried, tested and proven. The system has lost the ability to be agile, and its lost the use of MARKETING tactics that allowed McDonald's to rule the NEIGHBORHOOD.

Instead, it has become another CORPORATE SHIRT - trading the TRUST BANK for the Monetary Bank - and operators allowed it by empowering asshat organizations like OPNAD, NFLA - where a representative doesn't serve the operators. The operators now serve the electorate.

Just like paying damn service fee's for INSPECTORS, not brand ambassadors to improve the system. Oh, they will tell you, YOU got it all wrong - they are here to help. Just like the government. Question anything. I dare you. And it doesn't matter if your metrics are great - the borg will deem you a threat when you question the assimilation.