The world's leading global food-service retailer is changing its iconic image.
'We strive continually to improve. We are a learning organization that aims to
anticipate and respond to changing customer, employee and system needs through
constant evolution and innovation.'
This is one of the McDonald’s Corporation’s values statements. It addresses the
constant change customer’s have seen in McDonald’s over the years, but are the recent,
drastic changes necessary?
“Yeah, you try to upgrade, but they’ve built a reputation and now they’re trying to
change it.” said freshman college student Sarah Verble. The reputation she referred to
is one of family and fun. Verble remembers going to McDonald’s as a child and playing
in the PlayPlace with her friends. In middle school, her basketball team would stop to
eat after away games. It was always the team’s choice because it was a fun experience.
“It’s always been McDonald’s, it’s always been a fun place to eat,” said Verble.
“Now they are trying to be like a fast-food Starbucks and it’s just not appealing. If I
want to go to Starbucks, I’ll go to Starbucks.” Verble said that people are going to go to
McDonald’s for what McDonald’s gives, which for her is a cheap meal.
“I go off the dollar menu ‘cause I’m a broke college student,” said Verble about what
she gets when eating there. The prices of the newer, healthier options hinder her from
choosing them.
“They wonder why America is obese,” said Verble. “They put the bad stuff on the
dollar menu and make the good stuff expensive.”
Verble believes that adding a few new menu items and changing the architecture are
only going to make the restaurant into something that clearly isn’t McDonald’s.
The target audience of McDonald’s seems to no longer be families. Instead, the
restaurant now targets business people and young adults. In our society it is easy to fall
behind, but society is losing one of the only restaurants that catered to kids. What was
once a childhood utopia is now an adult domain.
Children used to want a birthday party at McDonald’s PlayPlace, now people could hold
business meetings there instead. Wi-Fi and flat-screens playing news networks have
replaced the slides and Ronald McDonald.
In the Nashville area, only 10 out of 25 locations still have a PlayPlace, and those
10 PlayPlaces remain only because the stores haven’t been renovated yet. Out of the
same 25 restaurants only one, which is located inside a Wal-Mart, is without Wi-Fi. The
company introduced free Wi-Fi in 2010.
Over the years, changes to the menu have included the addition of recognizable
items such as the French Fry in 1949, the Filet-O-Fish in 1963, the Big Mac in 1968,
and of course the Happy Meal in 1979. The seemingly healthier options began with
salads being added to the menu in 1987, and then premium salads were introduced in
2003. These were the subtle changes that led to adding other choices such as apple
slices, fruit and yogurt parfaits and oatmeal.
In 2009 the biggest momentum change for McDonald’s came with the launching of
the McCafe. Gourmet coffee drinks at a reduced price allowed McDonald’s to compete
with Starbucks and other local coffee shops. McCafe has since become its own brand.
The McDonald’s in Antigua, Guatemala even has a separate area for the McCafe
complete with couches and a barista.
The shift in McDonald’s image causes mixed emotions in sophomore college student
Brent White.
“I think it’s a good idea, but it’s probably not gonna last,” said White of the image
change. “They’ll end up going back to what they’re used to doing.” He said that when he
first saw a renovated McDonald’s he thought they were just trying to copy-cat everyone
else.
“They’re just trying to keep up,” said White.
Megan Eads, Integrated Marketing Communication major at East Tennessee State
University has a more business minded response to the changes.
“From a marketing/branding standpoint it is long overdue,” said Eads. “Maybe if they
decided that vegetarian options might be good on the new menu, I might consider
going. Otherwise, no, thanks.”
The company is never going to please everyone. They need to pick an audience
and stick with it, cater to its needs.
Regardless of the aesthetic changes, many people still find the food to be
disappointing, even if there are healthier choices.
“Even if they have beautiful building and a new image, they still have crappy food,”
said stay-at-home mom Rachel Clark.
“I'm still not gonna eat there,” said college student Kristen Creager. “The image and
menu doesn't trade for the bad service and bad food.”
Despite all the controversy over food quality and image, there are still no McDonald’s
restaurants going out of business. No matter what the restaurant looks like, people
are still eating there. In the past 72 years, McDonald's has become the world's leading
global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 locations serving nearly 68 million
customers in 119 countries each day. For better or worse, happier or healthier,
McDonald’s is here to stay.
To read more about the McDonald's Corporation...
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