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Undersize Me? McDonald's Franchise Owners Admit Fast Food Giant "Facing Its Final Days"
Having seen the writing on the $15 minimum wage wall...
h/t @TopherCarlton
And given the new 'lack of transparency' following McDonalds' managements' decision to stop reporting sales numbers monthly...
It appears McDonalds' franchie owners are voicing their concerns... rather ominously... as TheAntiMedia.org's Nick Bernabe reports,
Embattled fast food giant McDonald’s is making headlines yet again. The company has just launched its much advertised all-day breakfast program, but as that campaign rolls out, franchise owners are voicing their concerns over what may be the company’s dying days.
As we covered at Anti-Media in June, the McDonald’s franchise has been shrinking for the first time in the company’s over 40 year history:
“McDonald’s announced in April that it would be closing 700 ‘underperforming’ locations, but because of the company’s sheer size — it has 14,300 locations in the United States alone — this was not necessarily a reduction in the size of the company, especially because it continues to open locations around the world. It still has more than double the locations of Burger King, its closest competitor.”
However, for the franchisees, the picture looks much worse than simply 700 stores closing down.
“We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing,” a franchise owner wrote in response to a financial survey by Nomura Group. “Probably 30% of operators are insolvent.” One owner went as far as to speculate that McDonald’s is literally “facing its final days.”
Franchisees have also been complaining about the erratic nature of McDonald’s corporate decision-making process. As Business Insider reports,
“The lack of consistent leadership from Oak Brook is frightening, we continue to jump from one failed initiative to another.”
They are likely referring to the company’s many marketing schemes that have been implemented recently to slow the bleeding of younger customers as they choose healthier, more local options en masse. As Anti-Media also reported in June,
“Though the chain has dominated the fast food market for decades, recent competition and health consciousness has challenged the popularity of its product. The growth of chains like Chipotle, which recently stopped using genetically modified ingredients, has reportedly diverted customers away from McDonald’s. Additionally, the company is losing a share of its young patrons while the rise of boutique burger chains such as Five Guys has put a dent in profits.
[…] The increased closures denote a growing shift in dietary preferences among Americans. This is consistent with recent moves by fast food chains to remove toxic chemicals from their ingredients, as well as with the exponential growth of organic, healthy alternatives.”
Are we seeing McDonald’s final days? If the trend towards healthier alternatives to McDonald’s continues, it’s a very real possibility.
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Do Umericans know how to cook ?
If one just watched Hollywood, you would come to the conclusion that all Umericans do is eat take away for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. They can't even make a cup of Coffe, again it's all Take Away.
So with no Take Away, Umericans are going to starve.
Have you seen all those YouTube videos showing niggers going off because they didn't get bacon or something on their sandwich. Instead of McD's current ad for them about 365 Black, they should change it to TNB 24/7!
McDonald is not the only brand that is dying. There are many dinosaur brands that will following the same fate: HP, Yahoo, AOL, ...
And what's amazing is that in a free enterprise, capitalist system, all companies are always challenged to continue to survive, with profit as a measure and one of the main motivations to continue to do better, compete, re-invent themselves, etc. NOW IMAGINE the absolute SLUG that the US government has become, because by any measure, you have a non-productive cancer in Washington that consumes 2.2 trillion dollars a year from productive sources, borrows even more, that is NOT held to any standard to be productive, to re-invent itself, and to compete against anything to do better or improve in any way. The waste and misallocation is unimaginable by the average citizen. And the rules you have to follow to run your productive company and survive are developed by the very people who run this incredibly inefficient nightmare.
I've been once in McDonalds. As result I've been at hospital soon after that, with food poisoning.
Peak McDonalds.
Could it be because even though you vowed never to use "pink slime" again, we all know you quietly slithered back to using it after it faded from the headlines?
Of course, so did your competitors. So many of us just avoid burger joints altogether now. Good work, bean counters, you killed your golden egg laying goose.
When was the last time you walked out of a McDonalds, patted your stomach and said "Boy, now that was a good meal?" Been a while for me. The food just doesn't taste that good anymore.
For many people, the last time was the last time.
It's unnatural for something to come into existence and continue to grow and live forever. Think of anything in nature. Everything has an expected life span. Things come and they go. Think of all the companies that have come and gone. The automotive industry is a good example. Is it the product or just what's in people's minds that cause it to pass into history? What made the now defunt Oldsmobile or Pontiac really different than Chevrolet? Was it the name? People's perception? I would maintain it is difficult and a challenge to keep something alive and to continue it forever. It's just how nature works. What would work with McDonald's? Maybe completely dropping the very name that brought it to this point might be necessary to launch a total rebirth? One thing is for sure: it's the ultimate challenge for their management to bring it back from near death. We'll see.
What made the now defunct Oldsmobile or Pontiac really different than Chevrolet?
In the beginning, and including Buick, they were very different cars with different markets. This is mainly because (with the exception of Chevrolet ... created by GM to compete with Ford) they were acquisitions in the industry consolidation.
After that the industrial engineers take initiative to standardize and homogenize for manufacturing and inventory efficiencies. All the time they have to sustain separate dealership entrepreneurs ... to make what is the same still look different.
In the end, the reasons for the different "model" goes completely away. People forget why they ever came to be.
Bureaucracies in these companies get whacked in periodic 10% employment reductions. They don't happen frequently enough. And it never reduces the rot. It seems only the good people leave.
Time and time again, companies with a clue try to reinvent themselves. They take a handful of their best people and set up a secret skunk works. They don't have the bureaucracy and decision chain inertia to contend with. They start with a clean slate. That has happened many times in the PC industry.
And nightclubs are no different. Every 12 months or so, their fickle clientele move to something more hip. The really good operators become their own competition. They create new venues that attract people away from their existing venues. They then close those down and prepare them for the next migration.
Every morning more and more Micky D's people showing up at Chick Fil A. where I get my coffee. The stampede away from the golden arches is in full swing. They did it to themselves, same as Walllyworld. Damn they deserve what they get.
Here's a Novel Idea - How about rolling out an honest-to-God home made BURGER!!!???!!!
You make them at home and bring them to work? Hmm...
Then you would need to make it at home. You cannot buy 'home made' from a shop, that is factory or work made. Not quite the same, but I know what you getting at, 'hand made' in the sense of not machine and scientifically made poison posing as food, like these places serve. Make it yourself, it really is not that hard, and you have full control.
The only sandwich I like is the sausage, egg, cheese mcmuffin!
Its a real great cure for a grade 10 hangover, but I wouldn't call it food.
Ding! Fries are done.
Healthy alternatives my ass. They started losing business when they stopped using beef tallow to cook their fries.
Its not about health. Its about being lost. They are so confused to consider this "healthy alternatives" reasoning. Mc Donalds was once good enough quality fast food for what you paid. No more and no less. What are they now? Or better, what kind of delusion do they have about their business model? People still love chocolate, even if itts not the healthiest food in big doses. But chocolate is not confused about his identity.
Chick-Fil-A is the only fast food my kids will eat besides the once in a very extreme while (Sunday after a game) Whataburger.
On another note, McD's was the first place I worked as kid, it was the only place that would hire me as a 14 year old with my parents written permission. The demographic of worker back then was 15-22 year old high school and college kids working for spending money. Wouldn't dream of letting my kids work there now.
So proud of my kids... they're 11, 9 and 7.... and can't stand McDonald's. We haven't been there in years and I read where nearly everything they sell is filled with sugar... it's like they're trying to create addicts to their food vs. simply providing a good product in a good environment and at a fast food pace.
I know from indirectly working on some McDonalds food packaging containers... they squeeze their restaurant owners dry with these promotions and price reductions, etc. It's a wonder any of them can make any money.