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McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

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Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#251

Post by komali2 »

msie wrote: post #187
komali2 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Respectful sure, but I could argue I'm disrespectful to the world's poor every time I light a joint, kick back on my couch, pig out on taco Bell, and watch Vikings in my air conditioned condo.

Not the same. You are not throwing out your Taco Bell after the first bite.

I disagree that it's not the same.

1. Whether or not I eat the food is irrelevant to the poor.

2. The amount of food I order is completely up to me. I usually order, and eat, more than I need to survive (because I'm stoned). I revel in the decadence and my ability to buy and eat so much food I'm disgustingly full. I could argue that I do this to "flaunt" my wealth and privilege.

(really, I do it because I grew up dirt poor and hungry, so I gain inordinate pleasure from excess. Probably unhealthy, but it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to)

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#252

Post by PhasmaFelis »

msie wrote: post #184
linkregister wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might not want to visit a farm, processing plant, warehouse, grocery store, or restaurant. They all throw away enormous amounts of food. Throwing away a Big Mac because it got too cold is a rounding error in perspective. That said, we produce more food than we ever have. Is there a difference to starving people whether a grain of wheat went ungrown or was wasted? What was the author meant to do, walk the hamburge…

Well, I guess I should give up on recycling and get a gas-guzzling car because doing my share isn't going to make a difference. Maybe I should rob a bank because banks are being robbed everyday. The author could have saved it for later or heated it in a microwave because he spent good money for it.

That still wouldn't make it useful. Most westerners consume far more calories than we need to survive. Eating beyond that is just for pleasure; from a purely practical standpoint, it's just as "wasted" as if you threw it away.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#253

Post by PhasmaFelis »

logfromblammo wrote: post #78
gjm11 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asshole ? Why? What harm or pain did Ed cause to anyone by throwing the food away?

The temperature of food can be easily changed with the ubiquitous household appliances called "refrigerator" and "microwave oven". And it isn't as though a drop in temperature of 5 degrees changes the flavor. It's like throwing your pants away because you spilled ketchup on them, or throwing your car away because it ran out of gas--trivial issue, easily remedied. Besides that, McDonald's corporate considers the servi…

> The temperature of food can be easily changed with the ubiquitous household appliances called "refrigerator" and "microwave oven". And it isn't as though a drop in temperature of 5 degrees changes the flavor.

You ever eaten a microwaved hamburger? :)

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#254

Post by aquadrop »

msie wrote: post #60
gjm11 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asshole ? Why? What harm or pain did Ed cause to anyone by throwing the food away?

Seems disrespectful to poor, starving people.

Is opening a window in a too hot room disrespectful to those who are freezing on the north pole?

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#255

Post by greedo »

baby wrote: post #249
greedo wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, franchise stores were generally better run than McOpCo stores. Many of the McOpCo stores were stepping stones for their mgmt staff so they didn't care about profits as much. They ran their stores by the book, but that didn't always correlate with a well run store. I used to be able to spot a McOpCo store within a few minutes of walking in.

define better run? You mean from a business stand point? Sure. We would throw a lot of things, wash our hands all the time. From a hygienic/client point of view? I wouldn't agree.

I meant from a QSC standpoint. I'm sure this varies from region to region, but of the 200-400 stores I visited in my career, it wasn't even a close contest. Better quality food, better service, and better cleanliness. Even things like physical premises were generally kept better. I wouldn't hold this against any crew/mgmt team, since facilities maintenance was usually out of their control to a large extent.

Our stores were generally earning 4s in inspections, because Joan Kroc lived about 4 miles away from our best/highest volume store and frequently stopped in. Our worst store was probably closer to McOpCo stores, despite our efforts to improve it over time.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#256

Post by vsl »

fraserharris wrote: post #112
mbrookes wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other chains (ie: Burger King) have had more significant problems with enforcing franchise standards. Why have Burger King in particular had this problem?

ie -> in example. Burger King is the only example I explicitly recall.

So THAT is why many people get it so wrong. I never understood (as a non-native speaker from a 24h country, I still struggle with pm/am and have to look it up every time, so I get why other non-natives may mix it up, but I'm seeing I.e./e.g. confusion mostly among native English speakers... for whom the Latin origin must be a similar situation I now realize).

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#257

Post by edanm »

malza wrote: post #82
ghaff wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at movie theaters. They make all their money to a first approximation from popcorn and soda. The movie is just the loss leader that gets people in the door. It's also where the now much-mocked "super sizing" comes from. They can up the revenue per meal while upping the cost by almost nothing.

> Look at movie theaters. I don't think it was like that in the beginning. Running a cinema (movie theater) was a normal business until Hollywood milked it to the extreme. They created their own chains of multiplexes in many countries to push their idea of how the business should work. These days modern cinemas are built like tourist traps with customers having to either walk through/past chain restaurants or having…

Over here (Israel), cinemas are usually inside shopping malls. Sometimes the theaters are separate but have a "shopping center"around them.

Personally, I find it very convenient - you can eat before/after the movie, and sometimes do a bit of light shopping. I like having more options. I certainly wouldn't consider it a bad thing, and I feel perfectly free to not shop if I don't need to.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#258

Post by pbhjpbhj »

SuperGent wrote: post #244
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought UK McDo were a single company and not franchisees?

Most of the UK stores are owned by the parent company. There are a few franchisee stores though.

Is there a way to tell them apart?

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#259

Post by blibble »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #258
SuperGent wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the UK stores are owned by the parent company. There are a few franchisee stores though.

Is there a way to tell them apart?

your receipt will show you who you paid VAT to

my local is a franchise and it shows the name of the local franchise owner

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#260

Post by erikb »

pitt1980 wrote: post #26
elevensies wrote: post #4

What impresses me most about McDonald's is the highly effective and efficient incentive structure. You have the franchise owner who is very committed financially and can make a high income, plus lots of low cost labor following a very precise process. And they seem to be able to replicate it at almost any scale. What impresses me least about McDonald's is their ruthless child-targeted advertising. EDIT: in sort of a…

you might enjoy: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2484147-lessons-... from Ed Weissman (who's #6 in overall karma on HN)

Why do you think this was an enjoyable read?

It's probably bad to guess Ed's personality from just one article, but most of what he says is said by the bullies in software dev who push their own tasks to "Done" on the cost of the whole team, to then say how much more efficient they are since they have closed more tasks than anybody else.

Also the goal is not to beat Mozart, but to provide regular, recurring quality background music for tv show episodes every day, if you want to earn your bread and butter with it, and not just win a price. That's done best by a cooperating team, not by a rockstar. So if he was part of the "top 5 of 60" employees it may have been an improvement to overall results if there were just the other 55 employees. The general success of today's McD is that they are open nearly 24/7 and that they are nearly everywhere you go. I bet McD makes more money now than back in his "glorious" days.

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