McDonald’s The Plan to Win

McDonald’s is one of the largest fast-food chain restaurants in the world serving about 70 million customers a day, through about 35,000 restaurants in 120 countries. McDonald’s markets themselves as a lifestyle brand, not just a place to grab a quick burger. They have tried expanding their brand to be more creative and to stop being a traditional fast-food competitor, they want to stand out compared to the rest. To some customers, McDonald’s is seen as a lifestyle since they show support for the business and love their products, meanwhile to other customers it’s just a fast-food restaurant where you go to grab a quick meal when you are busy or don’t want to cook. Their business began in 1948, that’s when McDonald’s emerged into the restaurant business for their main products such as their famous burgers and fries to now expanding their international operations on a wider scale by having more than 121 items on their menus worldwide.

During the years McDonald’s had gone through some negative and positive press, which has held some weight on their strategy implementations and in general their business model. For example, from 2002 to 2003, McDonald’s was going through a downward fall in performance, and quality in its products as a result of expanding too quickly. McDonald’s had to do something to come back from this type of decline. Their changes included change in leadership within the company. such as taking James R. Cantalupo out of retirement. He came up with their competitive strategy for the next decade or, so which is called the “Plan to Win” which was to stop the super-size options. That was an option for consumers to be able to get a bigger size of French fries and a bigger size of soft drink by paying .50 cents extra. They took out that option to try and help with healthier options.

There was also the importance of adding salads on to the menu as an option, they wanted customers to see that McDonald’s can diversify away from high caloric foods and give healthier options. Another key element is focusing on using healthy ingredients such as higher qualities of chicken, as well as introducing parameters like nutritional information onto menus such as the number of calories. They also started introducing the McCafe section in efforts to expand their menu. They added lattes, cappuccinos, ice-blended frapped and fruit-based smoothies to its customers. They are also aiming into involving themselves in beverages as well as the meals.

Another angle they had for the “Plan to Win” strategy was to refurbish the McDonald’s locations, the inside and outsides of locations would change to a newer more modern look. They wanted it to be the second consumers stepped into a McDonald’s franchise, they would see the newer and sleeker look they would be more attracted to the food. They added touch-activates screens, lush sofas, and large screens for the menus as a part of the interior remodeling. McDonald’s also wanted to be more available to their customers they already had some of their franchises being 24 hours, but they expanded it to be a majority of locations based in the United States. These strategies were put into effect, as they paid more attention to their value chain and cut costs of production and distribution as a form of their long-term strategy. This type of outlook helped McDonald’s stand out to the rest of their competitors because they chose to focus on having an overall cost leadership strategy, which made their returns higher.

The reasoning for some of the changes are due to the changing lifestyle and consumer needs, many are becoming more health-conscious. They needed of wanting to appeal to a wider consumer segment is what made them introduce all these changes But some things could be done better in McDonald’s to increase their customer satisfaction, They need to upgrade their counter service it’s a little bit on the lower scale. They have started putting kiosks with touch screens to order food from but there is someone still there to help you but they don’t want to usually help you. Also, McDonald’s should add some higher quality ingredients, I know a lot of people who would rather pay a couple of dollars extra for better ingredients, I know in the article they stated bettering their ingredients but realistically that was about 10 years ago since then they haven’t. That’s why currently shake shack and Chikfila are such high competitors their price points are higher but the food is better. But McDonald’s has responded well with change. They are still one of the world’s largest restaurant chains and worldwide leader in the fast-food industry.