BusinessWeek McDonald's Cover Story

Check out the very interesting video on the BusinessWeek.com website.The magazine article is refreshingly positive (heck - you WOULD expect the people at BusinessWeek to recognize a good business, right?), and provides some pretty interesting insights. For example:Over the course of an average day, 1,500 people—the equivalent of 1 out of every 16 people in the middle-class suburb of 24,095—drive in to the Garner (North Carolina) McDonald's. The...

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Beijing's 1st McDonald's Drive-Thru

Big excitement in China last week!McDonald's opened Beijing's first drive-thru restaurant on Friday, 19 January 2007 to great fanfare.McDonald's has experimented with drive-thrus in China in the recent past. The McChronicles has been fortunate to experience some of the activities - more than once. Given the burgeoning middle class (replete with new cars and places to go) and the drive-thru is a guaranteed success in China.But hang on. While this...

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Mega Mac

According to an article in Japan Today, McDonald's is launching the Mega Mac. The article is dated 12 February and it says the promotion (availability) will run to 04 February. It reportedly sells for 350 yen.In a 17 January follow-on article Japan Today tells us, "... that sales of the new Mega Mac for the first four days since its debut have far exceeded the expected amount of 1.68 million burgers with 3.32 million sold." "Mega Mac, a hamburger...

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Woodbury Common (not so common) McDonald's

There is a very high-end outlet mall just north of New York City called Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. The McChronicles enjoyed perusing the Wikipedia entry for this facility. The aerial photography gives a good sense of the size of the place.McDonald's fans will be pleased to hear what is common about Woodbury Common: it has a pretty typical McDonald's in the food court. This restaurant boasts multiple plaques for Outstanding Manager - Mr. Manuel...

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QSCV WATCH

McDonald's subscribes to the QSCV motto: Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value. In fact, that's what we, as consumers, have been sold for years. So why do we rarely ever receive the entire package?Right before New Years The McChronicles dropped into a local McDonald's that was offering Egg Nog shakes on their sign.Problem #1: The reason we were doing this is that a friend was complaining that, in spite of the promotions for the Egg Nog shake,...

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Presentation Counts

If it happened only once it would be easy to overlook.When it happens repeatedly it is perceived to be OK with McDonald's. In fact, after enough repetition, it IS the product.In this case The McChronicles has received another sandwich (Filet-O-Fish this time) packaged in a greasy, smeared cardboard clamshell. The fingerprints are particularly appetizing.Assuming that presentation matters, we'd like to see this completely eliminated. It's so wrong,...

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