I recall Macdonalds stating a few weeks ago that they were going to "re-engineer" their beef. What does that mean ? Mince a higher percentage of failed day traders into that thing thay call a hamburger pattie.
is it bright's policy to be anti-american ? that's not a very bright statement given your "supposed" leadership role.
LOL, Hehehehehehehehe, LMAO Gordy, I explained a long time ago that you were a REAL BOY and that the Pinocchio story was not about YOU. You are NOT made out of wood (except for your head, but what would you iron on your head? The nylon hair? Hope it didn't melt). Love, Mom
I read about that in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Allegedly Ray Croc told a group of students that his real business would not be burgers, but real-estate.
On the box of paddies and on their packaging the hamburgers say "100% Beef." What they don't want you to know is that the name of the company that supplies their hamburgers is "100% Beef." There is no guarantee that the burgers themselves are 100% beef.
I agree with you. Almost everyone ignores the warning labels because most of them are so stupid or useless. I think that was point of that article, that all those dumb warnings exist because some idiot did something stupid, found some sheister to sue the company, got a jury equally stupid to award them a win or the company settled out of court because it was cheaper than fighting it in court, and so now warning labels are written for the most stupid people in society to try to avoid being sued.
Here's some more McDonald's comments from that same newsletter from last night: McDonald's posted a larger than (their) forecast quarterly loss on higher than (Greenberg) expected "restructuring" charges. I love that term "restructuring charge". It nicely glosses over the underlying reality, kind of like "intelligence community" (I did work for those guys years ago - "community" is way too gracious for that lot and for a bunch of folks handling "intelligence", there's a lot of them that aren't very). As typically used (this case included), "restructuring charge" is a euphemism for "the cost of trying to dig out of the mess that incompetent management spent years getting you into". There's some small glimmer of hope - Chairman Cantalupo is at least giving lip service to reversing the Greenberg introduced food preparation changes. It's pretty darn sad when a double cheeseburger in Berlin or Sydney tastes better than one in Chicago. The reason? The US stores changed kitchen practices a number of years ago (like partially cooking the burgers and then nuking them to reheat) in what was supposed to speed up production. In fact, the new procedures (presumably dreamed up by accountants instead of restaurant operators or cooks) actually SLOWED things down. Worse, the new cooking procedures transformed most of the food products into little more than tasteless organic material. In an effort to make the (not so) Big 'n (not so) Tasty a little tastier (or at least tastier than paper) - they apparently dump seasoning salt on it (which is kind of like sprinkling Lawry's on a piece of paper). Guess it's no worse than Burger King's artificially infused smokiness. But I've got to say that with the Big 'n Tasty coming in with a hefty 37 grams of fat (the most of any McD sandwich), 95 milligrams of cholesterol, 40 grams of carbohydrates, and a whopping 1210 milligrams of sodium versus a mere 27 grams of protein, it should taste a WHOLE lot better. Especially when you consider that it's got more fat and about the same cholesterol and carbs as a whole cup of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia premium ice cream and almost three times the fat and cholesterol of the better tasting and more filling Subway Steak and Cheese sandwich (with the same amount of protein). I used to like McDonald's during the Ray Kroc regime (especially the fries), but frankly if I want a "fast food" burger these days, even though there's a McDonald's and a Burger King less than a mile from my house, I'll drive 5+ miles to hit a Wendy's or A&W. And if I get forced into a McDonald's by those I'm with, I just can't bring myself to waste my tastebuds on their burgers. I'll have one of their yogurt concoctions or maybe a fish sandwich (although the last few times they've come out limp and cold and inedible). And if they've got one of those "gotta have" Happy Meal promotions linked up with Disney or such, my wife just buys the toy from the store manager for our daughter without actually buying the Happy Meal. So why do the McD burgers overseas taste better? They didn't adopt the new food preparation procedures that were shoved on the US stores. So perhaps switching back to the Kroc era methods will help improve food quality - hey, it can't get much more tasteless!! But they've still got a LONG road after that. It costs 3+ times as much to get a former, dissatisfied customer back than it does to get a new customer. The reason's obvious - you screwed them once, why would they want to give you another shot? And improving food taste is only part of their problems. When Ray Kroc ran things, there wasn't a single McDs that wasn't anything except sparkling clean. Now, if you're on the road and you're lucky, the stores along the highway might be OK to use as a rest stop without contracting something. But there are way too many stores that are just plain filthy. And how about service? Kroc beat the idea of service into people's heads. He had a small army of inspectors checking out operations. Now, not only does it take longer than ever to get your tray of tasteless hydrolyzed protein matter - but you're lucky if you have to repeat your order only two or three times to the counter person (who in many cases apparently just started their "English as a Second Language" classes). And even if you find someone who can actually both speak and understand English reasonably well, they still have to hunt and peck on that horribly engineered order panel more than my grandmother would trying to type an email. On top of all their operational problems, they've also got a technology group run amok and burning money like firewood in a blizzard. Cantalupo just killed an enormous, ill-conceived tech project (taking a $170 million charge on top of everything that's already been expensed for this project), but there are literally hundreds of millions of dollars in unprofitable technology "investments" still underway. McD's HQ is overrun by overpriced technology consultants and internal technoweenies more interested in spending the shareholder's money on any technical adventure that sounds like fun rather than on things that fundamentally improve profitability and shareholder value. Unfortunately, it seems that their CIO has little regard for simple metrics like Return On Investment when deciding what will or won't go into the company's technology portfolio - and enterprise strategic technology planning seems to be an unknown art. And if that isn't enough, that doesn't even include all the problems in the subsidiary operations that McDs branched out into in the last number of years. Let's see, Boston Market - usually the only reason you buy a failing business is if you think you can turn it around and run it better. But McD's management was running the primary business toward the ground, what made them think they could achieve a magical turnaround here? Chipotle's is sterile, unfriendly, and with a limited menu. There's a lot of competition in the Mexican food space and Chipotle's is doing nothing to differentiate themselves. There's also Donato's Pizza and minority interests in Pret A Manger and a joint venture with Fazoli's Italian restraurants. These "Partner Brand" operations generated a billion dollars in revenues in 2002 (6.7% of McD's total) but rather than contributing to the bottom line, they delivered a $56 million operating loss for shareholders. No published plan from McD management when/if the Partner Brand operations will become profitable, but they're nevertheless plowing ahead with opening another 150+ such outlets in 2003. Is this a case of "we'll lose money on each one, but we'll make it up in volume" or just a matter of mindless expansion and praying that things get better?