Note that McDonald’s is Twice the Size of Pepsi’s Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, Combined

 

2011 Top 10 Largest Chains (by latest-year sales)

1. McDonald’s - $34.17B 2. Subway - $11.43B 3. Starbucks Coffee - $8.49B 4. Burger King - $8.13B 5. Wendy‘s - $8.11B

6. Taco Bell - $7.00B 7. Dunkin’ Donuts - $5.93B 8. Pizza Hut - $5.50B 9. KFC - $4.60B 10. Applebee’s - $4.43B

Read more: http://nrn.com/article/top-100-top-10-chains-and-companies?goback=%2Egde_140791_member_138617717#ixzz22KKfBtHX

 

Ronald McDonald Ought to Get a Medal!

If eating 3 times a day is a sinister idea, then the critics of Ronald McDonald have a point. But what does Ronald do? He helps parents make breakfast, lunch or dinner, or a snack, a happy experience for their kids. Most parents would say that is helpful to them. McDonald’s offers many appealing menu choices for kids and parents, along with known nutrition, portion control and quality control. Add a little parental guidance and what do you have — a Happy Meal! McDonald’s is on the upward curve in nutritional responsibility.

P.S. And don’t forget Ronald McDonald House — no one made McDonald’s build all those wonderful places, but they did just because they could. Guess that’s social responsibility in action, too.

McDonald’s Reaches Out To Address Atrocity Via Social Media

McD uses social media to respond to violent video

Chain reaches out to customers on Twitter to condemn attack that an employee filmed and posted online
April 25, 2011 | By Ron Ruggless

McDonald’s Corp. and a Maryland franchise owner used social media channels over the weekend to communicate with customers after an employee-filmed video of a brutal beating in one of the chain’s restaurants went viral online.

The video, which went up on YouTube.com briefly Friday and was picked up by other websites, drew thousands of views during the day. The three-minute clip showed attackers repeatedly grabbing, punching, kicking and pulling the hair of 22-year-old Chrissy Lee Polis at a franchised McDonald’s in Rosedale, Md., while an older female customer and an employee tried to intervene.

After the video went online, McDonald’s posted a message midday Friday to its more than 121,000 Twitter followers saying, “We aware of the incident in Baltimore and are working with local police in their criminal investigation.”

McDonald’s tweeted several more times about the incident over the weekend. By Saturday afternoon, the chain had condemned the assault on Twitter and reported that the employee responsible for the video had been fired.

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article/mcd-uses-social-media-respond-violent-video?ad=quick-service&utm_source=MagnetMail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=ceebeling@hotmail.com&utm_content=NRN-News-AssociationAM-04-26-11&utm_campaign=Composting%20no%20longer%20fringe%20activity%20for%20restaurants#ixzz1KeBdI59R

McDonald’s Makes Fortune’s Most-Admired Top 10

They say reputation is everything. The March 23 edition of Fortune Magazine names McDonald’s among the top 10 overall of the World’s Most-Admired Companies, among 1,400 major U.S. and International companies rated by 4,100 industry experts. McDonald’s rated #1 in 3 of 9 categories: Effectiveness in conducting its business globally; Quality of Management; and, Wise use of corporate assets. McDonald’s also rated #1 in the Food Services category.

Back in the 1990′s, when I was corporate communications officer of McDonald’s, I worked with Fortune for over a year to develop a category within which McDonald’s could be considered for ranking in their “Most-Admired” search. From a simple hamburger stand created by Dick and Mac McDonald, to a corporation and a brand nurtured by Ray Kroc and generations of leaders, McDonald’s is now known and admired around the world. McDonald’s has come a long way.

For more information, go to this Fortune website: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2011/index.html

“Hahvahd” — Protected, But Still Pretentious

A professor from a midwestern college suggested to me that Harvard University trademarked the word “Hahvahd” (see my previous blog, and see http://www.harvard.edu) because they wanted to protect themselves from its inappropriate use. If so, how pretentious is that?

P.S. My wife is watching “Social Network” as we speak.

P.P.S. Some years ago, I prepared a presentation on McDonald’s marketing strategies at the request of the Harvard Graduate School of Business, and accompanied our CMO to campus to make the presentation and handle student Q&A. True, McDonald’s isn’t rocket science, but there was more than a little interest in how a hamburger was grown into a Dow Jones 30 global organization.

P.P.P.S. Not everything is invented at Harvard.

P.P.P.P.S. Now I’ll probably get some comments on McDonald’s trademarks.

P.P.P.P.P.S. I don’t care, I’m retired.

McDonald’s Looms Even Larger, in U.S., and Globally

McDonald’s, my alumni group, just announced that U.S. 2010 4th quarter sales were up 4.4% in the U.S. Almost simultaneously, Nation’s Restaurant News announced that the number of independent U.S. restaurants declined 2% — losing some 5500 restaurants, in 2010 vs. 2009. The number of chain restaurants remained level. What’s going on? Rising commodity prices for groceries are tougher for independents to swallow than the more cost-efficient chains. As for McDonald’s, they continue to re-invest in “re-imaging” their restaurants, and coffees and other special beverages, together with strong promotions, are boosting brand appeal for the Golden Arches, though even McDonald’s sees some small price increases coming. As consumers, we need to watch for the bargains, as prices for almost everything, from groceries to gas, begin to climb. When I retired from McDonald’s at the Millennium, some 50 million customers a day were dropping by globally; Today it’s 62 million a day, and that still occasionally includes myself, as in this visit to a Shanghai McDonald’s last fall.

The Days of McDonald’s “Culinary Imperialism” in France Are but a Faded Memory

There was a time when the French had a big cultural problem with the company that built it’s success on what else than the French Fry. Activists made the term “culinary imperialism” into their anti-McDonald’s mantra. But those days are long gone. McDonald’s first innovated a policy called “Open Doors” in France, inviting the suspicious news media and the critics among the public to comes behind the scenes in its restaurants and suppliers to see that French people were serving them quality food from predominantly French suppliers. Now they can say the same thing about the beef. See this article from http://www.burgerbusiness.com for the details. http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=6402&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+burgerbusiness+%28βurgerβusiness%29

Rose Bowl Parade Memories

As the Rose Bowl Parade is underway at the moment, memories flood back of the time from 1975 through 1980, and then again in the mid to late 80s, when I participated in the parade as an organizer and PR person for the McDonald’s All-American High School Band, which participated annually in the Rose Bowl Parade. The band members were selected through an application process from each of the States and Washington, D.C., and assembled to march and play annually in this and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The talented Band also did live concerts and parades on the East coast and in Chicago, and in California and Arizona, entertaining thousands of young people and families, including a break-out jazz band which did additional performances, including the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. We endured rain storms, earthquakes and every sort of technical and logistical challenges imaginable, yet always managed to have a fun and memorable time, by band members, staff and supporters. I once even had the chance to play the kazoo accompanying Lionel Hampton onstage at Carnegie Hall, in rehearsal there for the band’s concert with Hamp. And I married the never-tiring travel agent for the All-American Band, almost 33 years ago.

McDonald’s again #6 — “Best Global Brands”

Interbrand’s new study of the best global brads for 2010 is out, and McDonald’s remains the world’s foremost restaurant brand, at #6 in the overall ratings, between GE and Intel. The estimated value of McDonald’s brand, according to Interbrand’s study, is more than $33 Billion. Here are their comments on McDonald’s:

“The market leader in its category, McDonald’s remains globally versatile, approachable, value-driven and reliable in a year when Burger King fell off the table. Already a strong brand with deep roots, the recession reminded people once again of its great value. McDonald’s seized the opportunity to capture a new audience and drive sales even further by upgrading its coffee to make it more premium and introducing healthier menu options – a move that should help it in the long-term. This, along with constant rollouts of new café concepts and contemporized environments, put McDonald’s in more consideration sets for more occasions. The brand wins A’s all around for its corporate citizenship efforts, as well as its social media endeavors (particularly “Voice of McDonald’s”).”

McDonald’s deserves a break…

Seems the Wall Street Journal is reporting that some group called the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, headed by a former PETA board member, is taking a page out of the PETA songbook, and running a TV commercial in Washington D.C. that asserts a vegetarian diet by associating a McDonald’s hamburger with a body in the morgue, and the issue of heart disease.

While McDonald’s is a convenient target, it’s because of their recognizability, not because they deserve it. This organization’s attack on McDonald’s in fact does disservice to the real issue of heart disease by pointing a finger at a progressive company that takes its responsibilities to the dining public very seriously.

Here is my comment posted with the Journal article:

McDonald’s offers an array of food choices, has pioneered full nutritional disclosure, offers more balance, choice and portion control than most white-table cloth restaurants, and is a socially responsive and socially responsible business that is a model of employment diversity, entrepreneurial and managerial opportunity, and sound business ethics. If the public really wants peanut butter sandwiches at McDonald’s, they’ll probably get it.