Coalition of Franchisee Associations

September 30, 2022

McCEO Has a New Fan Club

Restaurant Business magazine thinks McCEO is golden - by Jonathan Maze

"..... one thing has become clear: Kempczinski has put his mark on the Chicago-based burger giant and is in as strong a position as any other CEO of a publicly traded restaurant company."

Jonathan Maze E-mail - jmaze@winsightmedia.com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last time I read RB and MAZE- Talk about pandering !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He must be a fool to not see the damage and destruction that Chris K and Joe E have inflicted on the most successful franchise organization of all time!

Anonymous said...

Maze must be fishing for more advertisers

Anonymous said...

A couple of years ago, this guy Maze spoke at a NOA meeting. Apparently he learned nothing about Chris K

Anonymous said...


Jonathan,

We know you read this blog.

We now know you don’t listen to the McDonald’s licensees. We now know you’ve fallen prey to the woke, liberal corporate, non-entrepreneurial company snowflakes. Without your support (and others), who will create the next Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish (which some newbies call a fish sandwich), drive-thru or many of the other innovations that were incubated in an environment where differing opinions were encouraged?!

Did you think the company folks included you when McDonald’s recently demanded McDonald’s licensees not speak unless spoken to? Did you think that you are now required to either support the company agenda without reservation or call out those that do not support the company’s, snowflake, non-entrepreneurial agenda? We now know you support the company folks that preach a care of people culture, but can’t walk the talk.

Richard Adams said...



Even though I cracked wise with the headline for this post I think Jonathan did a pretty balanced job of covering the situation at McDonald's. He reviewed the successes but also listed some of the problems being created by an arrogant CEO.

A reporter has a very limited reach into what's really going on inside a company. Especially since they typically cover entire industries and have limited exposure to the internal workings of individual companies. And, as pointed out, they only get the positive spin from the corporate folks.

However, while covering a franchise system they have a unique opportunity to communicate with a body of stakeholders who know the business much better than the corporate pukes.

But, if those franchisees hide from members of the media there's a huge gap in the coverage. In other words, if you haven't picked up the phone and called Jonathan, or one or more of his peers, then you have little to complain about.

How else could a reporter get the franchisee's side of the story?

What's interesting here is that the CEO is getting all the credit for "winning the pandemic" when it was the Owner/Operators who provided the hard work, creativity, and entrepreneurship to assure the system survived the biggest challenge in its history. Yet the CEO will walk away with all the credit (and million$).

But this shouldn't fall on one member of the media. The huge hole in McDonald's Owner/Operator activities for the past 50 or 60 years has been there's been no priority on "external communications" (or whatever you want to call it).

The formation of the NOA and the publicity that generated has been a great start in this direction. If the Owner/Operators don't feel their story is getting told it's time to take it to the next level.
.

Anonymous said...

You dont have to rely on Maze for coverage if you feel he was not objective. MULTIPLE other reporters are HUNGRY for your input and promise anonymity. Just a few are :

Heather Haddon- Wall St Journal- heather.haddon@wsj.com

Katherine Rogers -CNBC - Kate.rogers@nbcuni.com

Howard Penney - HPenney@hedgeye.com

Leslie Patton -Bloomberg News- Lpatton5@bloomberg.net

DONT be a lemming led to the slaughter-get the word out!!
The NOA needs a Public Relations/Media arm to make sure the truth gets out!



Anonymous said...

IF you dont speak up-dont complain.

Mcd is banking on your silence!

Anonymous said...


If the n f l a does not stand up and use the “legal finding” of $75. Per store to take a stance on these rewrite changes, than what is the point?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If the NFLA does not stand up and use the “legal finding” of $75. Per store to take a stance on these rewrite changes, than what is the point?



Spot on. Thats why I am refusing to contribute to NFLA next year. Waste of $75

Anonymous said...

The NOA having 100% participation and leading the way is the ONLY answer. MCD can't do it to you if its ALL of the operators that own the restaurants. Affecting the stock price is the only thing that frightens management. That starts with having the Wall St analysts knowing that operators have a plan and will wreak havoc until management is changed.

Join and Support YOUR NOA

.55 cents a day is cheap insurance against McD overreach, tyranny, harassments and manipulation !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Speak out!

jmaze@winsightmedia.com