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I don't know about McD's, but I work at another very large franchised quick-service restaurant (QSR) (not McD's, but in a different category). For companies li
by pionar 8y ago
I don't know about McD's, but I work at another very large franchised quick-service restaurant (QSR) (not McD's, but in a different category).
For companies like these, that operate in 10's of thousands of franchisee-owned locations, the number of products and the combination of configurations is not merely a function of the things you see on the menu. It's all of those products, with their different combination of parts (beef patties, lettuce, etc.), and then franchisee and regional variations (In some countries, you can't tell a franchisee what they can or can't sell, etc.)
Add on top of that customer modifications to the product in their order (extra pickles, no onions, etc.)
Why does this matter? It drives lots of stuff - food costs, inventory, inventory & sales forecasting (how many pickles do I need this week?) new item research, profit margins, etc.
So you take this, multiply it by 10,000, 15,000, or, in McD's case, 36,000 stores across 100+ countries (half both those numbers in my company's case) and you're talking about vast amounts of information across millions of transactions every day, and that is in fact Big Data.
Whether this is a smart move, I'm not sure. I'm of the opinion that if a piece of technology is core to the _operation_ of your business (for a QSR, things like POS systems, backend administrative systems, etc.), it should be in your house. Other things (HR systems, big data systems) should not be. But maybe McD's sees it differently.
- teddyuk 8y ago>> "and that is in fact Big Data." don't you mean "and that is in fact Big Mac Data."
- hammock 8y agoDomino's has even less menu choice than McDonalds... But you do make a good point. I went into the flagship mcd's in Chicago the other day and those touchscreens, while not tinesaving at all, do allow you to get deep into a big menu and make all kinds of modifications. My friend accidentally ordered a bunless burger. As for me, when it said mcgriddles were sold out/greyed out, I simply ordered a sausage biscuit but subbed mcgriddle for the biscuit (the counter guy later told me they were still sold out and offered me a free mcdouble instead).
- greedo 8y agoMcDonalds uses this type of data in so many ways. When I worked for them, they uncovered a franchisee defrauding them and the IRS. This was when x86 POS systems were first replacing Scantron menu systems. This franchisee hired someone to customize the POS system to underreport sales. This affected both the tax collections, as well as franchise fees due. How was he found? Well, all food/paper sales were through one vendor that reports sales to the mothership. They could see that he was ordering enough supplies for X, while reporting Y sales. He skimmed about 10% extra over two years before they busted him. So for roughly $200K he lost all four franchises, and faced a huge tax issue. This type of data processing across all the McOpCo stores and franchises will be invaluable.