McDonald’s likely has strong strategic growth opportunities globally and in select areas of the U.S. However, from my perspective, domestic growth often feels too reactive rather than proactive.
It sometimes appears that Real Estate relies heavily on outside brokers bringing opportunities to them, reviews sites remotely through maps, traffic counts, and demographic data, then runs the numbers based on nearby restaurants. While data is important, it does not replace local market knowledge.
Franchisees live in their micro-markets every day. We understand traffic patterns, neighborhood shifts, redevelopment plans, customer behavior, and upcoming opportunities long before they show up in a broker’s pitch deck.
Instead of waiting for calls, Real Estate and Development teams should be actively engaging with franchisees, regularly reviewing trading areas together, and asking where we see growth potential. Those conversations would surface opportunities that no spreadsheet or map can capture.
If McDonald’s wants to maximize U.S. growth, partnering more closely with operators on site selection and market development is essential.
You're describing a company with a collaborative culture. McDonald's has dabbled with collaboration in the past, but based on recent franchising standards changes, those days are over. Bringing the Operators into the site selection process makes sense in theory, but it comes with some speed bumps. A few of which are: * When an Operator is involved in site selection, they can't help but feel that they have some "ownership" of the sites discussed. Conflicts may arise if they aren't awarded the new store(s). * Given the saturation of the U.S. markets, shoehorning in new stores involves an awful lot of cannibalization. This isn't a topic the corporate guys like to discuss with Owner/Operators. * Since the Operator knows the market best, they often feel like they should have veto power over a new site. * Corporate staff have to justify their jobs and huge paychecks. Someone new to the company (isn't everyone?) wants to showcase their skills and experience. They can't do that, hanging out with a bunch of opinionated Owner/Operators. * Nor can the brokers McDonald's employees. They wouldn't put up with Owner/Operators interfering in their business, So it's complicated, especially in an already saturated marketplace like McDonald's USA. .
2 comments:
McDonald’s likely has strong strategic growth opportunities globally and in select areas of the U.S. However, from my perspective, domestic growth often feels too reactive rather than proactive.
It sometimes appears that Real Estate relies heavily on outside brokers bringing opportunities to them, reviews sites remotely through maps, traffic counts, and demographic data, then runs the numbers based on nearby restaurants. While data is important, it does not replace local market knowledge.
Franchisees live in their micro-markets every day. We understand traffic patterns, neighborhood shifts, redevelopment plans, customer behavior, and upcoming opportunities long before they show up in a broker’s pitch deck.
Instead of waiting for calls, Real Estate and Development teams should be actively engaging with franchisees, regularly reviewing trading areas together, and asking where we see growth potential. Those conversations would surface opportunities that no spreadsheet or map can capture.
If McDonald’s wants to maximize U.S. growth, partnering more closely with operators on site selection and market development is essential.
You're describing a company with a collaborative culture. McDonald's has dabbled with collaboration in the past, but based on recent franchising standards changes, those days are over. Bringing the Operators into the site selection process makes sense in theory, but it comes with some speed bumps. A few of which are:
* When an Operator is involved in site selection, they can't help but feel that they have some "ownership" of the sites discussed. Conflicts may arise if they aren't awarded the new store(s).
* Given the saturation of the U.S. markets, shoehorning in new stores involves an awful lot of cannibalization. This isn't a topic the corporate guys like to discuss with Owner/Operators.
* Since the Operator knows the market best, they often feel like they should have veto power over a new site.
* Corporate staff have to justify their jobs and huge paychecks. Someone new to the company (isn't everyone?) wants to showcase their skills and experience. They can't do that, hanging out with a bunch of opinionated Owner/Operators.
* Nor can the brokers McDonald's employees. They wouldn't put up with Owner/Operators interfering in their business,
So it's complicated, especially in an already saturated marketplace like McDonald's USA.
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