The loneliness of a fast-food franchise - Maclean's Magazine, November 26th, 2012, P. 44-47 "Despite big investments to spruce up stores and expand menus, once-thriving restaurant chains are suddenly struggling to get ahead" (1) Introduction After flipping through several online PDF's and newspaper clippings, as well as endless physical magazine pages, I finally came to my senses and went with my gut instinct. I was really looking to find a happy medium between fun and interesting, but at the same time, keep it educational with credible facts. This article lead to a whirlwind of external information, and I found my hardest task to be the structure and presentation. In the end, I went with something that I truly believe will leave the audience, in one way or another, with life-long information that will not soon be forgotten. Article Summary The article I have chosen to review was very oriented around business, and taken out of a November 2012 issue of Maclean's magazine. It talks about the restaurant industry, in particular the franchise models presented by McDonald's and Tim Hortons, two very successful fast-food chains with locations all over the world. Though the article does focus more on the Canadian perspective, it talks about North America as a whole, and the on-going troubles related to food and business. This past October, McDonald's reported a decline in sales, the franchises first drop in over 10 years, and they were not alone. Other famous fast-food chains such as A&W; and Burger King, also reported drops in revenue throughout 2012. In previous economic downfalls, "fine dining" has seen the hit, and fast-food had never seen the troubles of selling a meal combo and shake. With the hurting American economy, in particular looking at the past 3-5 years, there has been a boom in "new" franchise opportunities here in Canada. Many long-time successful restaurants are searching for growth here in Ontario, making the marketed customer base smaller and intensifying the local competition. However some restaurant chains are just now starting to "revamp" and jump on board with a more modernized feel. We knew it wouldn't be long before Wendy's started to re image itself, especially with the Tim Hortons partnership continuing to grow. They recently just overhauled the company logo for the first time in over 30 years, and are also renovating to accommodate comfort, natural lighting and flat-screen TVs. A&W; a very successful Canadian food-chain, has just recently introduced the "Buddy Burgers" menu, everything listed for under three dollars. It had no choice but to compete with the ever growing value pick menu's that are popping up everywhere. We the consumer, want affordable, fast- food, but at the same time we want it served as healthy as possible. Canada is definitely out performing the US market, and south of the border, head-offices are scrambling and crunching numbers to figure out where prices can be trimmed without effecting the quality or experience. "Recently McDonald's removed a single slice of cheese rather than raise the cost of a Double Cheeseburger." (2) For decades now, franchises have cut and cut, in every way possible, and they are now just realizing the effects of reaching the bottom-line too soon. It has become near impossible to achieve previous sale-targets, with little to no room for new introductions on the menu. Though there has been an increase in demand related to healthy fresh alternatives, the companies are finding it hard to find a middle ground for consumer distribution. Free Coffee, Free Donut, Free Breakfast, Free, Free, Free! Companies are left with very few options to stand out over the competition, but the retail outlet of merchandising product, has now become more attractive and feasible. It won't be long before we see our favorite smoothies and burgers, packaged frozen and shipped to be microwave prepared. (1)(2) - (MACLEAN's, (November 26, 2012) "The loneliness of a fast-food franchise") Sorry about the intro "slide" it messed up every time I tried to record, must be a glitch with the screen capture program. As soon as I moved the mouse to select the next button, I hope it doesn't give anyone a headache....and NO, it is not a subliminal food message being flashed on screen! lol

• published: 26 Feb 2013
• views: 138