What does this say about the future of McDonald's service? The store needs "more room for customers to wait for their orders" and they are installing "standing rest pads for customers
to lean against while waiting".
Yikes! If this is the future of McDonald's then it's a road back to $2 million average unit volumes.
McDonald's remodels restaurant at new headquarters — just months after opening
.
December 29, 2018
December 27, 2018
December 26, 2018
NLC Survey Says...
Quadrant Strategies' survey of 1,154 McDonald's Operators paints a picture of a company
that hired a management team off the street and that management team broomed the deep bench of people who actually knew the business. Then they tried to "reinvent" McDonald's.
These events will be discussed in business schools for years to come.
It's particularly interesting that "Operators with more restaurants tend to be more
dissatisfied with their cash flow performance than those who own only one restaurant".
It wasn't supposed to be that way. Going to a Burger King style of franchising was supposed
to give the larger Operators unlimited ability to reinvest in the business and enhance the McDonald's real estate portfolio.
Of all the blunders the new McDonald's USA management team has made, long-term,
changing the franchise model might be the biggest.
.
that hired a management team off the street and that management team broomed the deep bench of people who actually knew the business. Then they tried to "reinvent" McDonald's.
These events will be discussed in business schools for years to come.
It's particularly interesting that "Operators with more restaurants tend to be more
dissatisfied with their cash flow performance than those who own only one restaurant".
It wasn't supposed to be that way. Going to a Burger King style of franchising was supposed
to give the larger Operators unlimited ability to reinvest in the business and enhance the McDonald's real estate portfolio.
Of all the blunders the new McDonald's USA management team has made, long-term,
changing the franchise model might be the biggest.
.
December 20, 2018
NOA Top News for 2018
Restaurant Business Magazine has named the formation of NOA as a top event in
the restaurant business.
The top restaurant news developments of 2018
.
the restaurant business.
The top restaurant news developments of 2018
.
December 19, 2018
What Happened to McDonald's Legacy?
We've often discussed the erasing of McDonald's history. From the closing of the Des
Plaines museum store to the move out of Oak Brook, there's no doubt that McDonald's
legacy is a threat to McDonald's management. I've been putting it down to ego and arrogance.
Plaines museum store to the move out of Oak Brook, there's no doubt that McDonald's
legacy is a threat to McDonald's management. I've been putting it down to ego and arrogance.
But viewing Blake Casper's Tampa speech we find the answer. Blake stated,
"Legacy is a derogatory term in most business schools. Something companies need to be cleansed of, not celebrated".
That explains everything. They learned it in school! Bring in a team of people who are
educated beyond their level of intelligence and they set about trying to change all that
came before their arrival.
educated beyond their level of intelligence and they set about trying to change all that
came before their arrival.
Modern and progressive.
.
December 18, 2018
Paul Schrage on McDonald's Service
McDonald's first marketing officer offers some great history and comments on restaurant operations.
"Fast service is why we exist. Fast service is our operational niche in the marketplace."
Paul Schrage addresses the NOA
.
December 17, 2018
December 16, 2018
From Twitter
The $MCD franchise (NOA) group is organized and respected that it will likely cost senior management jobs in 2019. Hard to see how the President of MCD USA survives. How can a senior exec with zero experience tell a second or third generation franchises how to run a store?
December 15, 2018
December 14, 2018
December 13, 2018
From Twitter
1,300 people attending the second meeting of the McDonalds franchise association in Dallas this week. Major turnout. That’s three quarters of the franchisee base.
Major moment in the company’s history.
December 12, 2018
Comments From Dallas NOA Meeting
Hey McDonalds, I am sitting in a room with my Fellow Owners 1,300 strong.
I am looking around and see Men & Women that have lead this business to
great success in previous years.
I thought you said this is just a small fringe group of Disgruntled Operators.
We ave found our voice, the train is coming.
Make McDonald’s Great Again (MMGA)
.
I am looking around and see Men & Women that have lead this business to
great success in previous years.
I thought you said this is just a small fringe group of Disgruntled Operators.
We ave found our voice, the train is coming.
Make McDonald’s Great Again (MMGA)
.
December 10, 2018
December 9, 2018
How is McDelivery Like McCafe?
So OPNAD is to vote on advertising McDelivery - this is McCafe all over again.
In the spring of 2009 OPNAD began national advertising of McCafe when only about two-thirds of the stores had the product. A lot of customers were disappointed.
On the October call with analysts, management claimed that by the end of the year 9,000
U.S. stores would have McDelivery. Again, that's about two-thirds of the 14,000 stores.
Deja vu all over again.
This a particularly dicey problem since some stores will never have McDelivery.
And when OPNAD wastes money like this national sales suffer. The year 2009 was going
along pretty well with positive same-store sales until McCafe and then sales flattened out. That's bound to happen when advertising a product millions of customers can't access.
Operators will be able to tell a lot about their OPNAD reps when this vote is taken.
.
In the spring of 2009 OPNAD began national advertising of McCafe when only about two-thirds of the stores had the product. A lot of customers were disappointed.
On the October call with analysts, management claimed that by the end of the year 9,000
U.S. stores would have McDelivery. Again, that's about two-thirds of the 14,000 stores.
Deja vu all over again.
This a particularly dicey problem since some stores will never have McDelivery.
And when OPNAD wastes money like this national sales suffer. The year 2009 was going
along pretty well with positive same-store sales until McCafe and then sales flattened out. That's bound to happen when advertising a product millions of customers can't access.
Operators will be able to tell a lot about their OPNAD reps when this vote is taken.
.
December 6, 2018
Fraidy-Cat Operators
It's disappointing to hear that there are still McDonald's Operators who are afraid to attend Operator-Only meetings.
I submit that those Operators who are still afraid are kind of stuck in the past. They've been busy running their stores and haven't stopped to realize that they are afraid of a company
that no longer exists.
Let's take a look at McDonald's USA's current ability to retaliate:
* The McDonald's USA management team is incompetent, the gang that can't shoot straight. They don't understand the business, franchising, or franchisees.
* McDonald's USA appears to be understaffed and no longer has the army of corporate goons with which to bully Operators. They've downsized themselves into impotency.
* McDonald's USA has a serious shortage of McDonald's Operators. This goes back to the incompetence of the management team. Their plan to reduce the number of USA Operators
is strangling their own efforts in many other areas. If they were to try to force an Operator
out, who buys the stores? If they deny a rewrite, who takes the store? This is especially important now that there are so few McOpCos.
* The USA management team will spend 2019 distracted by the problems with BBV2020.
* I can see how, if a McDonald's Operator attends a worldwide convention along with thousands of other people, they might come away feeling like a tiny cog in a huge machine. Well, they're not a tiny cog. If there are really only 1,700 McDonald's Operators left in McDonald's USA the individual Operator is part of a very select group.
* And there's safety in numbers. These Operator-Only meetings aren't a dozen nervous people secretly meeting in the back booth of a Denny's. The first meeting involved 25% of USA Operators. The next meeting looks like it will involve more than half of USA Operators.
How does McDonald's corporate put that many Operators on their enemies list?
If an Operator is afraid to attend such meetings they might be reacting to years of conditioning that no longer applies.
Keep this in mind - The corporate side of McDonald's USA has been pushing hard on BBV2020 yet it's unlikely that the people doing the pushing will still be with the company when the 2020 Worldwide rolls around.
.
I submit that those Operators who are still afraid are kind of stuck in the past. They've been busy running their stores and haven't stopped to realize that they are afraid of a company
that no longer exists.
Let's take a look at McDonald's USA's current ability to retaliate:
* The McDonald's USA management team is incompetent, the gang that can't shoot straight. They don't understand the business, franchising, or franchisees.
* McDonald's USA appears to be understaffed and no longer has the army of corporate goons with which to bully Operators. They've downsized themselves into impotency.
* McDonald's USA has a serious shortage of McDonald's Operators. This goes back to the incompetence of the management team. Their plan to reduce the number of USA Operators
is strangling their own efforts in many other areas. If they were to try to force an Operator
out, who buys the stores? If they deny a rewrite, who takes the store? This is especially important now that there are so few McOpCos.
* The USA management team will spend 2019 distracted by the problems with BBV2020.
* I can see how, if a McDonald's Operator attends a worldwide convention along with thousands of other people, they might come away feeling like a tiny cog in a huge machine. Well, they're not a tiny cog. If there are really only 1,700 McDonald's Operators left in McDonald's USA the individual Operator is part of a very select group.
* And there's safety in numbers. These Operator-Only meetings aren't a dozen nervous people secretly meeting in the back booth of a Denny's. The first meeting involved 25% of USA Operators. The next meeting looks like it will involve more than half of USA Operators.
How does McDonald's corporate put that many Operators on their enemies list?
If an Operator is afraid to attend such meetings they might be reacting to years of conditioning that no longer applies.
Keep this in mind - The corporate side of McDonald's USA has been pushing hard on BBV2020 yet it's unlikely that the people doing the pushing will still be with the company when the 2020 Worldwide rolls around.
.
