How McDonald's Markets Its Products in England
McDonald's is an international restaurant business, with franchises and owner-operated stores throughout the world. There are over 15,000 locations in 79 countries and a new McDonald's restaurant opens every 13 hours. 85% of the restaurants are independently owned and operated, with company-run stores making up the other 15%. Stock increased by 16% in 1994, and 25% of all McDonald's stock is owned by employees, licensees, and suppliers (McDonald's, 1997).
Determining relative data on the marketing of McDonald's products throughout England became a somewhat challenging and daunting task, inasmuch as there is a large amount of material available both in printed form and on the Worldwide Web. Not only is the amount of data enormous, much of it is split into several camps: pronouncements from McDonald's corporate headquarters in London; pronouncements from the press (both tabloid and legitimate); broadleafs and pamphlets from anti-McDonald's consumer groups (like Greenpeace) and anti-anti-McDonald's consumer groups. Then there are the die-hard British fans who have taken to expressing their love of the Big Macs to the Internet who postulate both data and opinion and fact and fancy.
After immersion in MacData and Macfacts, the next step was to hit the streets in search of the answers from the end-line users and providers. A series of informal interviews were to be held with customers coming out of and going into McDonald's locations at the first location in Woolich (opened in 1974) and the latest one at Woodall Motorway service area (McDonald's, 1997). This plan fell apart when the neighborhood of the first was investigated and the second proved impossible to generate interview interest. (Perhaps the assumption was that the interview team was actually Greenpeace in disguise.) At that point, it was decided to concentrate on ringing companies up and asking them sets of quest...