McDonald's defies downturn McDonald's is planning to this year create 12,000 jobs and open 240 new restaurants across Europe, it emerged on Friday, as the fast-food chain shows signs of being one of the few global companies to benefit from the financial crisis. In stark contrast to the multinational groups announcing record job cuts and losses, McDonald's plans for expansion in Europe are its biggest in five years. "We're certainly not slowing down," said Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald's Europe as he outlined to the Financial Times his plans to hire 50 people at each of the 240 new restaurants, mostly in Spain, France, Italy, Russia, and Poland. Not since 2003, when McDonald's revamped its global business strategy to focus on making money from sales at existing restaurants, rather than simply by adding new ones, has it added so many jobs or opened so many restaurants in Europe. The chain's low-priced menus are attracting a customer base that was already expanding as a result of improved store designs and new menu choices. Company executives argue that food price inflation has made its fast food "a better deal than necessarily eating at home".
McDonald's is planning to this year create 12,000 jobs and open 240 new restaurants across Europe, it emerged on Friday, as the fast-food chain shows signs of being one of the few global companies to benefit from the financial crisis.
In stark contrast to the multinational groups announcing record job cuts and losses, McDonald's plans for expansion in Europe are its biggest in five years.
"We're certainly not slowing down," said Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald's Europe as he outlined to the Financial Times his plans to hire 50 people at each of the 240 new restaurants, mostly in Spain, France, Italy, Russia, and Poland.
Not since 2003, when McDonald's revamped its global business strategy to focus on making money from sales at existing restaurants, rather than simply by adding new ones, has it added so many jobs or opened so many restaurants in Europe.
The chain's low-priced menus are attracting a customer base that was already expanding as a result of improved store designs and new menu choices. Company executives argue that food price inflation has made its fast food "a better deal than necessarily eating at home".
Company executives argue that food price inflation has made its fast food "a better deal than necessarily eating at home".
they have got to be kidding. Insipid white bread "bun" cake, a couple of bits of genetically modified grass and brown cardboard with worcester sauce type flavour additives does not make a meal...happy or sad.
I like their shakes, but that's about it. keep to the Fen Causeway
Oh god, I'm beginning to feel the booze obsession kicking in, that'll be fatal for my absention. keep to the Fen Causeway
Case in point, for a family of four it'd probably cost in the region of 10 -12 euros at McD. Now I know for an absolute fact I can put good nutritious tasty food for four on a table for about 8 - 10. It won't be the finest meal you've ever had but it won't need half of monsantos chemistry set and half a ton of salt to make it seem palatable keep to the Fen Causeway
Sales of supermarkets' 'value' products have soared in the recession. But, as Jay Rayner has discovered, the quality is dire. Here he asks why highly profitable supermarkets force the poor to buy and eat such low-grade food ... In short, they can afford to take the hit - because it really wouldn't cost much at all. I asked a food technologist, David Harrison, who has huge experience of the mass-market food business, to re-engineer some standard value-range products. I didn't want him to make a gourmet beef pie. That would be easy. Just throw money and some quality sirloin at the problem. I wanted to make a better pie, keeping within reasonable financial parameters. He started by analysing all the cheapest pies on the market and found that, on average, they had just 18% beef plus a few more percentage points of that connective tissue. (It can go much lower. I came across a minced beef and onion pie that declared a beef content on the label of just 7%.) ... Unsurprisingly, the supermarket business doesn't quite see it this way. As far as it is concerned, it has never stopped striving to improve the quality and value of its products. "Supermarkets are constantly looking at their ranges, both in terms of the quality and the price that they can offer it at to customers," Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium told me. "It's what they do and it's what they do well. So all of the supermarkets will be undergoing reviews of their ranges on a regular basis to examine what's the best-quality products they can get on the shelves at the right price. This is nothing new to the supermarkets."
In short, they can afford to take the hit - because it really wouldn't cost much at all. I asked a food technologist, David Harrison, who has huge experience of the mass-market food business, to re-engineer some standard value-range products. I didn't want him to make a gourmet beef pie. That would be easy. Just throw money and some quality sirloin at the problem. I wanted to make a better pie, keeping within reasonable financial parameters. He started by analysing all the cheapest pies on the market and found that, on average, they had just 18% beef plus a few more percentage points of that connective tissue. (It can go much lower. I came across a minced beef and onion pie that declared a beef content on the label of just 7%.) ...
Unsurprisingly, the supermarket business doesn't quite see it this way. As far as it is concerned, it has never stopped striving to improve the quality and value of its products. "Supermarkets are constantly looking at their ranges, both in terms of the quality and the price that they can offer it at to customers," Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium told me. "It's what they do and it's what they do well. So all of the supermarkets will be undergoing reviews of their ranges on a regular basis to examine what's the best-quality products they can get on the shelves at the right price. This is nothing new to the supermarkets."
Raspelli referred to McDonald's hamburgers as "rubber," and French fries as "malodorous," tasting like "cardboard."Ê He went on to equate McDonald's food to "gasoline," describing it as "repellent."
Here is the problem: You and your minivan loaded up with a pack of rug-rats are driving along on Interstate 80 in Nebraska, and you start to get hungry. Option 1 is the greasy spoon at the truck stop where they sell chicken fried steak with biscuits and gravy at $15 a pop. Option 2 is McDonald's. Which do you choose?
In terms of in-country vacations, I don't know. But for McDonalds, it fits.
you are the media you consume.
also, in the US McDonald's is inarguably cheap. actual poor people skip the soda and fries and have say two hamburgers for $2. A man can live on that if he has to.
