McDonald’s Evaluation
Introduction
This essay is about an evaluation of one of the most famous restaurant in the world. McDonald’s has been operating and was established on April 15, 1955 (aboutmcdonald’s.com). The restaurant was not as famous during those years, not until the management decided to boost up their market by creating a clown character in early 60’s. Ronald McDonald was created, which also became one of the trademarks of the restaurant. In this study, restaurant’s characteristics will be discussed along with its strengths that made it very successful and well recognized globally. This learning will also identify the weaknesses that McDonald’s has, which can they improve to remain competent in the market. Overall case will show how the restaurant is doing in terms of general quality, effectiveness as a restaurant when it comes to place, product, or services.
McDonald’s and its Characteristics
McDonald’s has been serving hundreds of thousands covering 120 countries globally. There are a lot of factors why it’s still being patronized by almost 1% of the world’s population, some of which are the quality of service, cleanliness and being affordable (hubpages.com). These three criteria are the most common that includes in most of the restaurants. The quality of service will make the dining worth coming back, the cleanliness, of course, adds satisfaction to diners as they will feel safe with the food they eat, and affordability is another key to keep your customers from coming back.
Quality service is very essential not only in food business. Customers who keep on patronizing your product may have experienced a good one. McDonald’s is known to have a quality customer service. The crew members are one of the company’s strengths as they are trained to serve foods faster due of its fast food type service. Customers who are in a hurry would prefer fast and good service as they value time like they value their appetite, so, both food serving and time service should be quick without compromising quality. On the other hand, quality of service is not enough; it is though that McDonalds is a saturated food business (beta.fool.com). Not all people who want fast and good service also want the same kind of food most of the time. One of their weaknesses is the lack of more nutritious meals for health conscious diners. Since having a more nutritious food may need more time to prepare, this might not fit with McDonald’s service structure. Even though the food is not that healthy, people can be sure that McDonald’s meals are clean and safe to eat.
Cleanliness is very important for food business. This is also what McDonald’s is known for. The strength of promoting their product as clean makes it a plus for them. The restaurant’s clean food entices diners’ craving with their meals. In addition, clean restaurant brings better ambiance that adds more comfort while dining. Clean food, clean surroundings, happy stomach. On the other hand, one of their weaknesses, which can be considered, is lack of enhancement in the variety of their meals. Since it has conquered the fast food industry, there has been a little change with the variation of meals that you can choose from. People may want to have more options not limited to fries, burgers, and other common meals. However, adding more options may face an increase in price, which McDonald’s may not consider in doing.
McDonald’s is known for having affordable meals. This characteristic became one of their strengths, which made them stable in terms of their profit. McDonald’s overhead costing may be huge, but when it comes to their meals, it’s perfectly reasonable price. An ordinary man can buy a piece of burger along with fries and drink. Mainly, you may get more what you paid for. On the other hand, while McDonald’s continue to provide affordable meals, they may be susceptible to rising input costs because of soaring food prices due to drought. The restaurant may face a state in which they will need to raise prices or face a losing situation.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that McDonald’s is one of the leading restaurants in the world. No matter where the branch is, the company initially runs an in-depth analysis on whether the location would be profitable. Followed after the initial analysis, McDonald’s is indeed exercising the quality that needs to cope with challenges it may face, good quality in terms of food and services. Product wise, the company will not be successful if their products are not good, so overall, McDonald’s still in a good shape. The company should still continue to analyze their customers to make sure that future challenges can easily be surpassed. Consumer’s needs and wants may change in the future as their lifestyle changes, but if McDonald’s would consider to develop if not changing the way they do business, surely they will remain as one of the dominant restaurants.
References
Guenette, R. (2012, November 8). McDonald’s: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - BKW, MCD, WEN - Foolish Blogging Network. Retrieved from http://beta.fool.com/makinmoney2424/2012/11/08/mcdonalds-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threa/16000/
McDonald's First Store Museum Des Plaines Illinois AboutMcDonalds.com. (2010). Retrieved July 21, 2013, from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_history_timeline/museums/mcdonalds_number_one_store_museum.html
McDonald's SWOT analysis and recommendations. (2012, November 29). Retrieved July 21, 2013, from http://candyleo13.hubpages.com/hub/McDonalds-SWOT-analysis-and-recommendations
