4 ms·

Did you read the article, out of interest? If you haven't been in a McDonald's lately, you might assume that the company simply has been the beneficiary of the

by estel 15y ago

Did you read the article, out of interest? If you haven't been in a McDonald's lately, you might assume that the company simply has been the beneficiary of the struggling economy in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, and that cost-conscious consumers are flocking to fast-food eateries instead of sit-down restaurants. But to post the kind of impressive numbers McDonald's has -- and to weather the current turmoil -- Skinner has had to find ways to attract new diners while retaining the hard-core Big Mac-and-fries crowd. And so today, along with burgers and shakes, you can stroll into a McDonald's and pick up a snack wrap or a fruit smoothie or a decent latte (much to Starbucks' chagrin), all of which translates into higher sales per location.

eru 15y ago
Not only higher sales, but probably also higher margins.
- jackpirate 15y ago
  I'll bet the margins on the health-ish food are lower than on the big macs. The supply chain probably isn't as robust yet.
  - eru 15y ago
    The market is more immature, there's less cutthroat competition than for burgers. That's why the profit margins will should be higher.
bbq 15y ago
Well, that says at most Skinner has tried those things in order to become independent (inelastic) of the 'economy' (whatever that means). There's no analysis to back that up. The last line of the paragraph you quoted is Last year average per-store sales jumped to $2.4 million, from $1.6 million in 2004. That just says McDonald's is doing relatively well - nothing about why. This could simply reflect McDonald's recent strategy of improving existing locations rather than expanding. The average could also be raised by closing less profitable stores though I haven't been able to find any data on the number, location, and profitability of McDonald's restaurants over time.
typicalrunt 15y ago
I read the article. But I'm looking past the words and not believing the BS from the reporter or the PR department. The nutritional information on snack wraps and lattes shows that McDonalds is still trying their old tactics, but dressing up food to look healthy. Let's look at some numbers: - A snack wrap is about 350 calories for 118g of food. It contains 19g of fat. That's a snack where 16% of its mass is fat. - Their salads contain up to 21g of fat. In a salad. - Their lattes (unless you get the non-fat variety) are high in fat and loaded with sugar (up to 53g!).

by estel 15y ago

eru 15y ago

Not only higher sales, but probably also higher margins.

jackpirate 15y ago
I'll bet the margins on the health-ish food are lower than on the big macs. The supply chain probably isn't as robust yet.
- eru 15y ago
  The market is more immature, there's less cutthroat competition than for burgers. That's why the profit margins will should be higher.

bbq 15y ago

Well, that says at most Skinner has tried those things in order to become independent (inelastic) of the 'economy' (whatever that means). There's no analysis to back that up. The last line of the paragraph you quoted is Last year average per-store sales jumped to $2.4 million, from $1.6 million in 2004. That just says McDonald's is doing relatively well - nothing about why. This could simply reflect McDonald's recent strategy of improving existing locations rather than expanding. The average could also be raised by closing less profitable stores though I haven't been able to find any data on the number, location, and profitability of McDonald's restaurants over time.

typicalrunt 15y ago

I read the article. But I'm looking past the words and not believing the BS from the reporter or the PR department. The nutritional information on snack wraps and lattes shows that McDonalds is still trying their old tactics, but dressing up food to look healthy. Let's look at some numbers: - A snack wrap is about 350 calories for 118g of food. It contains 19g of fat. That's a snack where 16% of its mass is fat. - Their salads contain up to 21g of fat. In a salad. - Their lattes (unless you get the non-fat variety) are high in fat and loaded with sugar (up to 53g!).