Word: mcdonaldization
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...next couple of years, more than 1,000 other aging McDonald's outlets may get the bulldozer treatment, and 6,000 others could be given a face-lift. But rebuilding the company's formerly sizzling burger business in the U.S., which accounts for half its $40 billion in global sales, will be much more difficult. In July and August, revenues at its U.S. stores open for at least 12 months shrank 2.7% from the year before. The company has suffered declining profits for six of the past seven quarters and just lowered its earnings expectations for 2002. Wall Street...
...challenges facing McDonald's come supersized. Its home market is all but saturated, its sterling reputation for fast, friendly service and cleanliness is tarnished, and customers are putting a growing premium on freshness and taste, neither of which McDonald's is renowned for. It hasn't come up with a new blockbuster product since Chicken McNuggets in 1983, and its aging slogan, We Love to See You Smile, hasn't made many people happy on either side of the counter in quite a while...
Remodeling more than half its 13,099 U.S. restaurants, which could cost the company as much as $800 million over the next two years, is only part of CEO Jack Greenberg's latest plan to get bloated old Ronald McDonald back in shape. Greenberg is trying to lead a renewed commitment to fast and friendly service, to roll out a national "dollar value menu" and a fresh $20 million national ad campaign. To lay the foundation for future growth, Greenberg is experimenting with all kinds of new restaurant formats: an expanded McDonald's with a sit-down diner serving meat...
...week, "We have a brand everybody would trade for." That brand, however, is not as powerful as it was, and Greenberg, who some critics say needs to go, may not have much time left to return it to its former glory. After expanding for much of the past decade, McDonald's market-leading share of the $46 billion fast-food burger industry in the U.S. has lately flattened out at around 43%. Wendy's, boasting a popular line of premium salads and a strong reputation for freshness, grew its share to 13.2% in 2001, up a point and a half...
...McDonald's is doing its best to cash in on changing tastes. Its Grilled Chicken Flatbread sandwich, introduced this summer on a limited basis, was more popular than the company anticipated, so it briefly had to stop promoting the sandwich because outlets were running out of, what else, flatbread. In response to an outcry, McDonald's has changed its cooking oil to cut down on cholesterol-raising trans-fatty acids. Always known more for convenience and kid-friendliness than for taste--except, many would argue, when it comes to its superior fries--McDonald's still has a food problem. Despite...