I never understood the popularity. I think the McD andwiches are greatly lacking when compared to BK or Wendy's. (and I do miss those great Wendy's salad bars.) __________ McDonald's Expects to Post Its First-Ever Loss By Dina ElBoghdady Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 17, 2002; 2:34 PM The super-size problems at McDonald's Corp. - sagging sales, aggressive rivals, antsy investors - are taking a toll on the bottom line of the world's largest fast food chain, which said today it expects to post its first-ever quarterly loss. In a statement, McDonald's forecast a fourth quarter loss of 5 cents or 6 cents a share because the chain's sales are weak and its expenses are mounting. Sales at restaurants open more than a year (known as same-store sales) dropped 1.6 percent in the first two months of the quarter. December sales are expected to drop even lower, the company said. Nonetheless, the chain could have posted a profit of 25 cents to 26 cents a share, the company said, if it had not been for the expenses related to its previously-announced plan to shut down 175 poor-performing restaurants and cut 700 employees. "This has been a difficult year and our financial performance has been below expectations," Matthew Paull, the chain's chief financial officer, said in a statement. The difficulties had a lot to do with rivals. Fast food chains such as Wendy's and "fast casual" alternatives such as Panera Bread have been gobbling up Americans' eating-out dollars at the expense of McDonald's, analysts said. Meantime, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company continued to open stores despite a slip in sales. It has since cut back on openings, although it remains on an aggressive growth path. With so many strategic missteps, investors are growing impatient with the company, which has pledged a turnaround for more than a year without much in the way of positive results, analysts said. McDonald's pleaded for patience. Earlier this year, it detailed plans to lower prices, speed up service and launch a $20 million ad campaign on television, radio and in print. The ad blitz, which kicked off in October, featured the Big 'N Tasty and the McChicken sandwiches at $1 a pop. More promotions followed in November, with a dollar menu featuring soft drinks, fries, side salads and other popular items. McDonald's said it will invest $300 million to $400 million in refreshing some restaurants next year and expanding its menu to include popular flat breads and more desserts. But the price cuts hurt sales and profits. The spending blitz spooked some investors. Today, McDonald's said selling, general and administrative costs will rise 12 percent in the quarter compared to a year ago due to higher spending on advertising and technology. Chief Executive Jack Greenberg resigned this month. James Cantalupo, a company veteran, will replace him in January. Cantalupo is reviewing all aspects of the chain's operations.
I never really like MickeyD's.....even when I was a little, little kid. And once I got my first taste of taco bell....sometime around kindergarden, it's been all over...
Would "Treasure Planet" being one of Disney's biggest bombs have anything to do with McDonald's slow sales? I'm imagining a big warehouse with millions of unsold treasure planet crap...
I stopped eating McDonald's about 3 years ago after getting sick two times from their burgers. I don't like fast food very much at all, but if I need a quick fix, I'll usually go to Wendy's. I do have to laugh at the idea of Panera Bread being "fast" anything. The one near my work is slower than evolution.
McDonalds just sucks. If they wanted to sell food, they should stop hiring psychotic people to work for them. I'm serious, nealry all McDonald's employees are off their collective rockers.
I tend to pick Wendy's for my fast food fixes, but there are occassions when I'll go to McD's, though usually only for breakfast when I'm travelling (or for lunch sometimes when I'm travelling. There aren't a whole lot of options between here and Amarillo, especially since those Hardee's in Wichita Falls became Carl's Jr's. I refuse to eat in a restaurant with such a silly name. Carl's Jr. What?) My kids never liked McDonald's, though they were a tad odd in their eating habits. They've never been fans of fast food much at all. As for surly or psychotic employees, the Burger Kings here in Plano are worse than McDonald's.
There are obviously a number of reasons why McDonald's is *hopefully* going downhill, permanently. Here's an article I read a few months that could possibly explain the unwant of McDonald's: *SUBWAY Restaurants' Passes McDonald’s in U.S. Jessica Bujol; Associated Press Writer Milford, Conn. – There are now more places in this country to buy a B.M.T than a Big Mac. Subway Restaurants, the privately held chain of sandwich shops, has eclipsed McDonald’s as the largest restaurant chain in the country. The Milford-based chain operates 13,247 stores in the United States, 148 more than McDonald’s as of Dec. 31. Subway, started by Fred DeLuca in 1965, opened 904 units last year, while McDonald’s opened 295. "We knew that we were getting close to McDonald’s, but we had to wait until McDonald’s released its information," said Les Winograd, a Subway spokesman. The numbers include satellite locations – shops at gas stations, schools, sports arenas and other smaller outlets. Winograd said Subway usually doesn’t include the satellites in the count, but wanted to make sure its numbers were comparable to fourth-quarter figures reported by McDonald’s, which included satellites. McDonald’s spokeswoman Anna Rozenich declined to comment on the number of stores, but did point out that in 2001, systemwide sales rose to $40.63 billion from $40.18 billion.
Speaking of Subway, I had a Subway sandwich for the first time in over ten years the other day. I had an irrational fear of Subway due to the fact that, before the other day, the last time I had had a Subway sandwich, I ended up in the hospital later that night with acute appendicitis. I know one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other, but every time I would think of Subway, I'd think of having surgery and suddenly, I wasn't so hungry for Subway anymore. Not that anyone else cares, but I mentioned it anyway.
The McDonalds revival begins and ends with the return of the greatest sandwhich in world history: Bring it back, people!
If it weren't for Egg McMuffins I'd have no use for McDonalds at all. The food is terrible except those McRibs are pretty good but they hardly ever seem to have them.
I pretty much stopped eating there when they found that chicken head, beak and all, made into a McNugget.
well mcd's does have a good breakfast. i would say their pancakes are probably my favorite breakfast food going. of course i don't eat them that often b/c i would like my arteries to continue to function. the other breakfast stuff is pretty good (especially in relation to the lunch/dinner stuff) and it's cheap. which is the other reason people eat there, it's cheap as hell. wendy's is far more expensive and burger king is slightly more. of course those have higher quality burgers but cheapness goes a long way. as for them losing money, i can't friggin believe it. how can they lose money (yeah i read the article, i know how, i'm just shocked). we did a benchmark study on fast food for our tech writing class and burger king was the number 2 fast food company in america and had revenue's of 9.3 billion or so. mcd's was first and was at 40 billion. 40 billion to 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's how far ahead they are of everybody else, and they're losing money, damn. i don't eat at mcd's that often but for some reason i root for their continued dominance. kinda like how i root for microsoft for no reason. can't really explain it. and i don't know if y'all were kidding about it, but the mcrib is a pretty good sandwich if you ask me. they should just keep it on the menu full time. i'd go their more often if it was an option.
I am a fast-food junkie, but in the intrest of health, I have not had any fast food in six months. But even when I did eat fast food a lot, I NEVER ate McD except for breakfast and those 39 cent cheeseburgers on Wednesday. The Spanish omlette bagel meal rules!! IMO, it's the best breakfast sandwich out there. Other than that, they suck. The hamburgers are not very good, the fries suck (I like Wendy's and Sonic fries better), and they are overpriced. The Big Mac is okay, but not great. I really liked the Arch Deluxe, but I think I was the only one . . . There's just something about McD that makes me not trust its food. The stories (like the pic posted with the nugget) are pretty nasty. Plus, I just don't feel like they are too clean and "fresh". Kindof like eating trash or something, just not appealing. Dirty, dingy place with suspect food . . . I'll pass.
We talked about this in one of my college business classes. It's more profitable for McDonald's to revive the McRib once a year or so than for them to put it on the menu full-time. I don't really know why, but I think it has to do with the "craze" over the McRib. I know whenever they had the McRib, I'd go and get it more often than not.
