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The people in this article that are still in charge of McDonald's are clueless, which gives me no faith in a turnaround from McDonalds. Everyone complains about

The people in this article that are still in charge of McDonald's are clueless, which gives me no faith in a turnaround from McDonalds. Everyone complains about the wait time (3 min is too long), but no ones brings up the fact that people routinely wait 15+ minutes for Chipotle. The problem is not time or price, it's quality. Give food people are willing to wait for. Anyone who has ordered any of McDonald's so-called premium burgers will tell that it's the same flavorless hamburger patty found in their other burgers just served in a different bun. Not worth the wait, or the price. IMO, the drive-through was the double edged sword that ultimately brought down McDonald's. People in cars don't want to wait. Speeding up production lead to lower quality. You already saw it happen with Starbucks. These articles always reference Chipotle, and I hope Chipotle never has drive-through. As for a solution, I never understood why McDonald's the company is required to operate McDonald's the restaurant. Instead of turning McDonalds into Chipotle and Starbucks, just create a new restaurant that more directly competes. Change McDonald's restaurants to focus on core products, and offer wraps and burritos in some other venue. Buy that company if you have to.

maxerickson 12y ago
McDonald's was a relatively early (1998) and significant investor in Chipotle. They sold their stake after the Chipotle IPO, fully exiting the position in 2008, netting about $1.2 billion. (I remembered the investment but cribbed the details from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill )
swalsh 12y ago
"The problem is not time or price, it's quality." When you make that assessment, you have to remember that you probably live in a bubble. You're probably in tech, and you probably make over 100k a year, or are pretty close. To you, a few extra dollars doesn't matter, so you want better quality. Since you're probably salaried, a few extra minutes doesn't matter either. Every time I go to a Chipotle on lunch, its easily 80-90 office workers. I think the problem is the economy is splitting really aggressively. The middle ground doesn't exist any more. Either you're relatively well off, or you're sharing shitty hours with a group of other minimum wage workers, and the idea of spending a few more dollars for lunch isn't an easy option. So to me the problem is, the only way to grow is to target the more wealthy individuals. Except they never have, so they don't have the mindset to do it, and their established brand is also working against them.

maxerickson 12y ago

McDonald's was a relatively early (1998) and significant investor in Chipotle. They sold their stake after the Chipotle IPO, fully exiting the position in 2008, netting about $1.2 billion. (I remembered the investment but cribbed the details from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill )

swalsh 12y ago

"The problem is not time or price, it's quality." When you make that assessment, you have to remember that you probably live in a bubble. You're probably in tech, and you probably make over 100k a year, or are pretty close. To you, a few extra dollars doesn't matter, so you want better quality. Since you're probably salaried, a few extra minutes doesn't matter either. Every time I go to a Chipotle on lunch, its easily 80-90 office workers. I think the problem is the economy is splitting really aggressively. The middle ground doesn't exist any more. Either you're relatively well off, or you're sharing shitty hours with a group of other minimum wage workers, and the idea of spending a few more dollars for lunch isn't an easy option. So to me the problem is, the only way to grow is to target the more wealthy individuals. Except they never have, so they don't have the mindset to do it, and their established brand is also working against them.