The Big Mac Bust

by Jack

mcdonaldssignAbout a year ago Bloomberg news wrote, “MCDONALD’S restaurants stand among American capitalism’s greatest success stories. Starting out with just one burger stall in 1948, the fast-food chain’s emphasis on quick service and a standardized menu has helped it to grow to more than 35,000 outlets across the world. It has been profitable: after a wobbly period in the early 2000s, the firm’s share price went from $12 in 2003 to more than $100 at the end of 2011. But now McDonald’s has lost its sizzle. Global sales have been declining since at least last July. When the company announces its annual results on January 23rd, analysts think it will reveal its first full-year fall in like-for-like revenues since 2002. What’s gone wrong?”

HERE’S WHATS WRONG:  Aside from the geo-political turmoil thats hit McDonalds hard in China, Russia and Japan, they’re suffering from one of the most basic reasons ever to take a company into bankruptcy.  It’s all about value and McDonalds is losing to the competition because of a poor price to product.  McDonald’s no longer delivers the ultra-low cost burger, but it still delivers same entry level quality and that has customers going elsewhere.

When it comes to quality and quantity, McDonald’s has simply priced itself out of the competition.  Example: Burger King has McDonald’s beat all to heck when it comes to their entry level meal deal.  They offer a quality hamburger, cooked fresh, small fries, 4 chicken nuggets and a 16 oz soda for $3.99.  McDonalds has nothing close.  A comparable purchase at Mickey D’s would be about $2.00 more.

Run down the list from Taco Bell to Wendy’s and you will find the competition either equals or beats the price at McD’s and they win on quality and quantity too.

Apparently McDonald’s executives must not eat at fast food restaurants or they would know the problem isn’t toys or marketing. Over the last 12 years the cost of a Big Mac has grown at an average of 5.62% per year, far out pacing inflation during the same time period.

From personal observation, McDonalds has also slipped in maintaining competent employees. The turnover is so fast at our local McDonalds I rarely see the same face twice.  The employees I’ve talked with say they left because they’re kept at part-time employment.  So, they don’t benefits or even minimum wage as part-timers.  Most make around $7 an hour.

Meanwhile the staff at “In and Out” make a decent wage with benefits, they stay longer and have a fast, efficient assembly line that puts McDonald’s to shame. The “In and Out” double, double burger is priced slightly under a Big Mac yet it’s far superior on every level from quality to quantity.  I bet Ray Cronk is rolling over in his grave.

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18 Responses to The Big Mac Bust

  1. Joe says:

    I thought your favorite restaurant was Jack In The Box.

  2. Libby says:

    Poor Jack. For a capitalist, you really don’t seem to “get” high-end capitalism at all. McDonalds ceased to be about making burgers and paying wages many, many, many years ago.

  3. Dewster says:

    McDonald’s was privately owned in the good days. The new wall street model is about profits not the customer nor the employee.

    Look at who owns them. look at what is really in their food.

    #Fakefood with flavoring.

    Time for all these brand names to fall. revitalize America with privately owned companies again where the quality, customer and employees are treated as Americans again.

  4. Libby says:

    Oh, Lordy, Jack … you can keep trying, but there just is no changing the subject.

    I have just read about who is going to pay for “The Wall”! You are going to pay for the wall, Jack … one pair of tighty-whities at a time !

    I just about bust a gut. I doubt that it will be funny forever, but just now, I am having a high ol’ time!

    • Dewster says:

      The wall is a profit scam. We can not fix our infrastructure? Protect our Water? Help those in laces like Flint who still have no water?

      The tunnels are elaborate. We cement here then they just redig them around cement.

      The wall is a useless scam.What about the land? There is a Republican fighting to keep his land. Gov to take it for a Useless wall?

      Do the math. How many millions could ya give each citizen with that money? 20 million? 40 Million?

      45 is delusional and anybody who blindly supports any president is too.

  5. Pie Guevara says:

    Back in the 70’s I once took one bite out of a McDonalds hamburger, spit it out, and then nailed to the wall above the toilet. It mummified. Visitors were astonished.

    I never went back.

  6. Pie Guevara says:

    To be honest I must admit I feel sorry for Lippy and Dopey. Their sad lives must be miserable to have nothing better to do than pick on the good folks of Post Scripts, no matter what the topic.

    • Libby says:

      Be afraid. Be very afraid.

      Giggle.

      Actually, I am old enough to deplore vulgar women. I saw a specimen on the street a couple days ago, reeking to high heaven of some noxious concoction of Calvin Klein’s, carrying three times the ass she should have been, smoking and, mercy on us, spitting in the street.

      But Pie, we are not acting. We are reacting. Ask yourself to what?

      • Tina says:

        Try reacting to the fact that abortion is not rare even in the age of birth control. This level of irresponsible behavior is unacceptable and makes women, and their male counterparts look ridiculous. We have instruction in the schools that goes beyond reproduction, free condoms, and parents willing and able to put their developing daughters on birth control and still the abortion rate is high.

        Try reacting to the fact that women in America never had it so good and still they rant and rave in the streets imagining themselves to be oppressed. They should spend a few months in the ME sometime.

        These women are just ridiculous.

      • Mark says:

        What about our Australian women all sporting sailor tattoos
        Have three daughters all cleanskins
        I’m proud
        Empower women?
        Men too busy looking at each other
        And looking in shop windows at their results

    • Tina says:

      The comparison is stark to say the least!

      Ashley’s acting was so put on it reeked of insincerity. I began to wonder if she was doing tryouts for porn films. Madonna was doing her usual sleaze performance. It’s impossible to take these women seriously.

  7. J. Soden says:

    Went to the original McDonalds on Central Avenue in Phoenix as a child. Don’t remember the burgers, but the fries were outstanding.
    Jack in the Box or Wendy’s are my favorites for fast food, but McDonalds still has better fries. Never could understand why the Big Mac had to have another slice of bun in the middle . . . ..
    Lots of choices these days so the consumer can vote with their wallet – which is the ultimate vote for value.

  8. Dewster says:

    I just make sure the burger company uses real meat. It’s almost $5 for a Big Mac. Down the street I can get a fresh Burger for $5.50 and their employees are paid decently. Real beef is better than fake food.

    • Harold says:

      Fed by open competition, choice is always best. It is you liberals that seem to want to control and dictate how people should live their lives per your mindset.

      Be careful now where you buy your burger, you just might be contributing to capitalism, so please…. chew thoughly so you don’t choke on your words or burger.

  9. Tina says:

    Jack fast food is in decline and only those franchisees who work tediously to serve up a good meal in a clean, pleasant environment are going to do well. There are several reasons for the decline not the least of which is Obamacare and min wage hikes, twin blows to restaurants trying to survive in a stagnant economy. But the younger generation is also turning away from fast foods They’re into “whole foods” and they don’t mind paying double for it. Where they find the money, both at restaurants and the market, is another story for another day.

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