McDonald’s

The company I have chosen to write about marketing problems for this course Is the McDonald’s Restaurant Corporation. I have chosen this company because I currently work as the Production Manager, or Kitchen Manager, for the McDonald’s I work at here in Maine.

The Production Manager is the person at each McDonald’s that integrates and institutes new procedures, products, and training methods. The Production Manager receives the information he or she needs to implement from one of two ways. The first way Is on the computer and Internet using something they call Ndeb portals and e-learnlng.

This system Is new and was Just Installed at my McDonald’s. The more traditional way was having what McDonald’s calls “NABIT” meetings. NABIT is an acronym for Nuts and Bolts Integration Team, and is designed to do exactly what it sounds like it does – to integrate the “nuts and bolts,” or core menu products, procedures, and whatever else the McDonald’s Corporation is trying to market, of the operation. One of the biggest hurdles for McDonald’s to Jump is the “millennial age group” and trying to market their products to that particular age group.

According to McDonald’s, the millennial age group they consider the millennial age group” consists of individuals who are age 32 and younger. I myself was one of those “millennial” individuals at some of the NABIT meetings I attended and it gave valuable insight as to what the corporate leaders were trying to do. McDonald’s marketing woes seem to only affect the millennial age group McDonald’s Is rated the # 1 fast food chain In the united States of America, however, among Individuals aged 32 and below, they fall off the chart and do not even make the top ten (Morrison, 2013).

While attending a NABIT meeting, the leadership stated hat they thought was one of the major contributing factors. This factor was the availability to “create” your own sandwiches and have a greater selection of ingredients to top you burgers, salads, and wraps with. That being said, one possible solution for the McDonald’s Corporation to excel and break out of the millennial age group marketing problem is to broaden their selection of menu Items and Ingredients.

Broadening the selection of Ingredients that McDonald’s can offer will attract more customers, especially those particular customers who go to certain restaurants because of the ingredients they have and use. Working in conjunction with the millennial age group marketing that McDonald’s is doing, they are instituting a healthier menu with healthier solutions. This was in direct response to blind surveys McDonald’s has held over the course of a couple years where the individuals participating In the survey talked about the fact that McDonald’s Is not healthy and has no healthy options.

Some of the current marketing environments of McDonald’s include the economic, natural, legal and political, and technological environments. The economic environment has to do with the current state of the economy. The economic environment is pushing consumers towards cheaper, healthier meals. The natural environment of McDonald’s has to do with the natural world, as in recycling among other things. McDonald’s has recycled all of their cardboard boxes and bottle that are available to be recycled and has reduced the packaging on most of their items.

The legal and political environment of McDonald’s consists of following laws and guidelines laid out by the environmental area, such as no pork in Malaysia and laying out rules for employees of certain age groups. The technological environment s most likely one of the bigger environments McDonald’s has to deal with. McDonald’s is always looking for ways to increase productivity, performance, and consistency. With the introduction of the e-learning program, McDonald’s ensures that all of its employees are trained the exact same way, and all of their product is cooked and tastes the exact same way.

SWOT Strengths- Some of the strengths for McDonald’s are the speed at which an individual can receive food or drinks. McDonald’s sets a target time of 90 seconds for orders through drive-thru and a total experience time of 3 minutes inside. Among other strengths include the introduction of Organics Coffee and a healthier choice of food or drink. Weaknesses- Some of the weaknesses for McDonald’s are the unhealthy choices that are still currently on the menu. Consumers see more unhealthy options, and link that to the restaurant not having anything healthy for them to eat. This, however, is not the case.

McDonald’s offers a variety of food, some healthy and some not. Opportunities- McDonald’s has a vast field of opportunities ahead of them. The opportunity to create a healthier menu will draw in more customers, particularly the illennial age group. The other day I was reading about McDonald’s and other fast food chains and saw an article about one of McDonald’s competitors delivering. The company that has started offering delivery service is Burger King. The Burger King where I live does not currently offer. That being said, I think this could be an opportunity for McDonald’s to take as well.

McDonald’s should wait until the trial run has been completed by Burger King and see if the results outweigh the costs. Threats- Threats come in a variety of ways. The biggest threat to McDonald’s is the health aspect. It is known that consumers want healthy choices. If McDonald’s does not continue to update their menu and introduce healthier items, the company may be in for a tough few years. That being said, McDonald’s knows this threat is real and has already started introducing healthier options such as salads, the new premium McWraps, and using canola oil that has O grams of trans fat per serving.

Reference

http://adage.com/article/news/mcdonald-s-1-rank-millennials/240497/