4 ms·

The global consistency of some of these franchises really comes in handy. Same with usually knowing that a Starbucks or McDonalds in Country C will have free re

The global consistency of some of these franchises really comes in handy. Same with usually knowing that a Starbucks or McDonalds in Country C will have free relatively-barrierless bathrooms in places where that’s often not a thing.

myself248 3y ago
Ditto with the menus. If someone has dietary needs and they don't know names of all the ingredients in the local language, they're likely to end up at a global chain.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  The EU _nearly_ solved this (or at least solved for 99% of cases) by mandating 14 allergens (or, well, problem ingredients; gluten and dairy are more likely to be intolerance issues than actual allergies) which must be declared. They then fumbled this by not specifying a canonical ordering; number 7 is _usually_ dairy, say, but the ordering is not actually mandated. So you still need to know the local language. (My personal favourite quirky use of the fact that there is no mandated order is by a Kosher deli in Dublin; they don't have numbers for dairy, crustaceans or mollusks because, well, it's Kosher so I suppose it can be assumed. They use the free'd-up address space to call out wheat, rye, barley and oats, which is going beyond the obligation; these can all be grouped together).
  - thayne 3y ago
    Still way better than the US, where if you ask about an allergen you usually have to wait while they look up ingredients, and hope they aren't careless about it, and sometimes just get "we don't know".
    - myself248 3y ago
      That's been my experience at local shops in the US, but if I go into a big chain I know that what I'm getting is the stuff whose ingredients I looked up on the corporate website earlier.
  - tristor 3y ago
    Unfortunately my allergen isn't on the list and is a common food ingredient. I know how to say it, read it, and write it in 22 languages, because I have traveled extensively and it's critically important to know. The EU system is nice, but insufficient.
reaperducer 3y ago
The global consistency of some of these franchises really comes in handy. That was always the secret to McDonald's success. There were plenty of hamburger joints along America's roadways when McDonald's started. But what McDonald's did is to provide a consistent experience. The food may or may not not have been as good, but you knew exactly what to expect, which was a massive improvement over the way it was before when the price, quality, service and other things varied widely. I heard a program about it on the radio several decades ago, and there's an entire economic theory about it, and it's the basis of modern franchising.
- Dwedit 3y ago
  You know who else has great global consistency? Costco. Anywhere in the world, you'll know when you're inside a Costco.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - Fatnino 3y ago
    Costco is so consistent that when you walk the route through the stores you will meet the same categories of products in the same order. For example: TVs are by the entrance, the over the counter pharmacy stuff is near the registers. The soy milk is about halfway around the loop, the breakfast cereal is about 3/4 way around. I have personaly been to more stores where the loop runs clockwise than counterclockwise but I'm not sure that's actually a bias or just random.

myself248 3y ago

Ditto with the menus. If someone has dietary needs and they don't know names of all the ingredients in the local language, they're likely to end up at a global chain.

rsynnott 3y ago
The EU _nearly_ solved this (or at least solved for 99% of cases) by mandating 14 allergens (or, well, problem ingredients; gluten and dairy are more likely to be intolerance issues than actual allergies) which must be declared. They then fumbled this by not specifying a canonical ordering; number 7 is _usually_ dairy, say, but the ordering is not actually mandated. So you still need to know the local language. (My personal favourite quirky use of the fact that there is no mandated order is by a Kosher deli in Dublin; they don't have numbers for dairy, crustaceans or mollusks because, well, it's Kosher so I suppose it can be assumed. They use the free'd-up address space to call out wheat, rye, barley and oats, which is going beyond the obligation; these can all be grouped together).
- thayne 3y ago
  Still way better than the US, where if you ask about an allergen you usually have to wait while they look up ingredients, and hope they aren't careless about it, and sometimes just get "we don't know".
  - myself248 3y ago
    That's been my experience at local shops in the US, but if I go into a big chain I know that what I'm getting is the stuff whose ingredients I looked up on the corporate website earlier.
- tristor 3y ago
  Unfortunately my allergen isn't on the list and is a common food ingredient. I know how to say it, read it, and write it in 22 languages, because I have traveled extensively and it's critically important to know. The EU system is nice, but insufficient.

reaperducer 3y ago

The global consistency of some of these franchises really comes in handy. That was always the secret to McDonald's success. There were plenty of hamburger joints along America's roadways when McDonald's started. But what McDonald's did is to provide a consistent experience. The food may or may not not have been as good, but you knew exactly what to expect, which was a massive improvement over the way it was before when the price, quality, service and other things varied widely. I heard a program about it on the radio several decades ago, and there's an entire economic theory about it, and it's the basis of modern franchising.

Dwedit 3y ago
You know who else has great global consistency? Costco. Anywhere in the world, you'll know when you're inside a Costco.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Fatnino 3y ago
  Costco is so consistent that when you walk the route through the stores you will meet the same categories of products in the same order. For example: TVs are by the entrance, the over the counter pharmacy stuff is near the registers. The soy milk is about halfway around the loop, the breakfast cereal is about 3/4 way around. I have personaly been to more stores where the loop runs clockwise than counterclockwise but I'm not sure that's actually a bias or just random.