What is Wrong with McD's USA?

Trouble with McD's is that they try to be unique when they should give people what they want,

Your ideas about when to expand maybe from your experience but Ive found that most franchises overexpand without really testing the waters so its like natural selection.

McDonald's hotly anticipated turnaround plan went over like a limp fry on Monday. (Tweet this.)
"Based on this presentation, I'd defy anyone to figure out what they want the brand to be when it grows up," said Larry Light, former McDonald's chief marketing officer and current CEO of marketing consultancy firm Arcature, in a phone interview.

Year to date, McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales are down 2.5 percent, and its systemwide sales are down 1.6 percent. The 2.5 percent is on top of a 1.3 percent decrease at this time last year, meaning McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales are down 3.5 percent on a two-year basis.

McDonald's is making a number of changes to its menus. According to the Wall Street Journal, as part of its massive turn around plan to save itself from financial ruin, the chain will reduce the number of items available on its drive-thru menus. In a webcast meeting with franchisees on Monday, executives of the fast food restaurant said that McDonald's "intends to display only the top-selling drive-through items on outside menu boards in an effort to speed up orders and improve service."

Steve Easterbrook, the McDonald’s CEO, delivered a video statement to the business community and McDonald’s franchisees around the world recently. The result is a classic example of how not to do it. His performance is spectacularly awful on a number of levels. CEOs and communications people everywhere should watch the video as an object lesson in bad communications.

According to Mashable, the stock dipped approximately 1% once the video came out – so this statement literally cost McDonald’s millions. But the real reason not to make videos like this is just the sheer mind-numbing awfulness of the result. If I were a McD’s franchisee, I’d be terrified for the future of the company.

OK, enough fulminating. What, specifically, was wrong with the video, and what could Easterbrook have done to make it better?
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breakfast all day .

Breakfast sales now account for 30% of sales and nearly 50% of profits at a typical McDonald’s location. (For comparison, the sales breakdown per daypart are Lunch 24%, Afternoon 15%, Dinner 16%, and Overnights 16%.)

Prices for eggs and turkey meat are rising as an outbreak of bird flu in the Midwest claims an increasing number of chickens and turkeys. Market experts say grocery stores and wholesalers are trying to stock up on eggs, but there's no need to worry about having enough turkeys for Thanksgiving.

The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Midwest has jumped nearly 17 percent to $1.39 a dozen from $1.19 since mid-April when the virus began appearing in Iowa's chicken flocks and farmers culled their flocks to contain any spread. Neighboring Nebraska reported its first case of bird flu Tuesday, affecting 1.7 million chickens at an egg farm in Dixon County.

A much bigger increase has emerged in the eggs used as ingredients in processed products such as cake mix and mayonnaise, which account for the majority of what Iowa produces. Those eggs have jumped 63 percent to $1.03 a dozen from 63 cents in the last three weeks, said Rick Brown, senior vice president of Urner Barry, a commodity market analysis firm.

there are limits to how much people will pay for an egg.

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday cut its rating on McDonald’s Corp. by one notch, echoing actions taken by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings in recent weeks.

Moody’s lowered McDonald’s senior unsecured ratings to A3 from A2. Last week, Fitch lowered its issuer default and senior unsecured debt ratings to triple-B-plus from A. That followed S&P’s downgrade of McDonald’s corporate credit rating to A-minus from A earlier this month.

The Moody’s and S&P’s ratings are both six steps below the premier triple-A rating, while Fitch’s rating is one step lower than that.

Moody’s attributed the downgrade to McDonald’s plans to accelerate shareholder returns to between $8 billion and $9 billion in 2015 through dividends and buybacks, saying it will result in significantly higher debt levels and weaker credit metrics at a time when the company is struggling to fix its business.

Fitch, for its part, expressed concerns about McDonald’s persistent sales declines, market-share losses and declining cash flow

As you can see, McDonald’s is actually debunking the Internet myth that its burgers are made with “pink slime” on a placemat. Really, think about this: Someone is reading this placemat because they’ve presumably already bought a burger. And while they’re eating that burger, they’re going to look down and be reminded that some people have said it’s made from pink slime.

This is the equivalent of going on a date with someone and introducing yourself by saying, “Nice to meet you! I’m not a sex offender!” Even if that statement is 100% true, your date will be really freaked out that you decided to mention it at all. After all, if you have to tell me you’re not a sex offender, then there must be something about you that would make me think you are a sex offender.

I have no idea what McDonald’s is thinking with campaigns like this but they’re only going to hasten the downfall of an iconic American fast food chain.

McDonald's franchisees say the company's all-day breakfast launch has been a nightmare.

The new menu is slowing down service, reducing average ticket costs, and causing chaos in the kitchens, franchisees told Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski in a new survey.

“In small stores, the problems are vast with people falling over each other and equipment jammed in everywhere,” one franchisee wrote in response to the survey.

Another wrote, “All-day breakfast is a nonstarter. We are trading customers down from regular menu to lower-priced breakfast items. Not generating new traffic.”

A third called it “erratic, distorted, disorganized direction from McDonald's,” while nearly a dozen more franchisees complained that it slowed down service and added complexity to the kitchens.

“Customers are abandoning us in droves because we are either too slow, or subpar quality,” one franchisee wrote.

Others noted that the all-day breakfast menu is confusing to some customers because it varies regionally. In some states, McDonald's is offering McMuffins on the all-day menu, while in others, only biscuit sandwiches are available.

A few complained that the launch requires extra labor, which is an added cost to franchisees who are already pressed for cash by declining sales and expensive kitchen upgrades.

“Unfortunately, with the current labor pool in our area, we are struggling to have enough people to run the shift, much less add an extra person,” one franchisee wrote.

Kalinowski interviewed 29 U.S. franchisees covering about 226 restaurants for the survey. McDonald's has more than 14,000 restaurants in the U.S.

We reached out to McDonald's for comment and will update when we hear back.

The all-day breakfast menu launched nationally on Oct. 6, following regional tests. It's still too early to tell whether it will be a success, but customers have been begging the chain for years to extend its breakfast hours.

The launch is part of McDonald's efforts to revive business following seven straight quarters of same-store sales declines.