Case study on MacDonald's Food and health

Introduction

Starting with a drive-thru restaurant in San Bernardino, America, MacDonald's is now unarguably one of the world's highest revenue-earning food ventures, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 120 countries. With around 40,000 food outlets around the globe, MacDonald's serves burgers, fries, and chicken-related food products. Being the 4th largest employer globally is also the largest toy distributor.

History:

MacDonald's was started in 1948 by Brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald. For them, this was their second business venture after owning a hot dog stand. Later the business turned into a franchise, patented On May 4, 1961, under the name "MacDonald's".The Golden Arches logo was introduced in 1953 in Phoenix, Arizona. 

The modern business model credit, however, goes to Ray Kroc. Kroc was the one who brought the vision to the company. Astonished by the success of the Business and growing popularity in the market, Kroc saw an opportunity, and in 1955, Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent. Under his guidance and far-sighted vision, the company successfully opened 18 new outlets in the very first year. Later, MacDonald's registered for the trademark of their new logo- The double-Arched M symbol on September 13, 1961. Before that, Image 2 was the official MacDonald's logo.

The MacDonald brothers were unfair and initially provided Kruc with a profit of a mere 2%. Witnessing this, Kruc Later purchased the entire franchise for 2.7 million. McDonald's had its previous headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018. 

Company's Vision:

Kurc had the vision of expanding the business worldwide, and still, on the same grounds, MacDonald's has successfully established its business in more than 120 nations around the globe.

Being an extremely customer-centric company, macrolides has the mission of "Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value ", and McDonald's has stood by each of these characteristics. Mc always attempts to make its outlets "favourite spots" for its clients and strives to achieve them daily.

McDonald's purpose is to feed and foster communities around the world

The growth strategy:

The growth strategy adopted by MacDonald's for this year has three pillars. This year, the key focus areas for the organization have been maximizing the marketing, doubling down on Digital media presence and sales, improved and fast delivery, all with a commitment to the core.

Company's Values:

Along with being customer-centric, MacDonald's values its people and believes the company's future depends on them.

Mac D: Ahead of the time:

Mac D has revolutionized the fast-food industry. It has always been ahead of the time and its competitors. Initially, it focused on selling food items at lesser rates than its rivals. It did so by introducing Self-Service for its customers, which eliminated the need for waiters and waitresses. McDonald's also emerged with a delivery model where it made its food on a supply belt (meaning preparing food ahead of time and not on receiving order) and delivered it within 2 minutes. That is how the concept of fast food delivery also came into the picture. 

While expanding the business, the idea was to provide the same taste every time despite the variation in the locations and availability of ingredients. The biggest challenge was French Fries since they were seasonal and starch to sugar ratio had to be consistent for exact results. A man named J.R. Simplot helped run in achieving identical results every time. Simplot and Kroc are two of the biggest names in the industrialized food movement.

In 1956, Kroc and Harry Sonneborn developed a business model in which all the outlet land would be owned by MacDonald's itself. This model is still in practice and is considered one of the best Business decisions. 

MacDonald Restaurants and services:

McDrive: McDrive is one of the first services offered by the company. In McDrive, no seating or local administration is provided. Rather customers drive through an outlet to buy food items. In some densely populated areas, MacDonald's offers Walk through outlets rather than drive-through services.

McCafé: Looking at the trends of espresso coffee in Australia, the concept of McCafé came into the picture. They were opened to attract customers to the restaurants. McCafé's are usually situated at the entry and help provide foot traffic to the restaurants. 

According to reports, these cafes generated around 15% more revenue around the early 2000s and became the most influential coffee brands in New Zealand and Australia. There are around 1300 McCafé's around the world.

McRefugee:  McRefugee is the place for lodging open in Hong Kong, Japan and China for refugees. According to Startup talk, One out of five of Hong Kong's populace lives underneath this destitution line.

Apart from these services, MacDonald's also started PlayPlaces and McDonald's Next.

Food and Health:

Fast food companies have always been in the spotlight for promoting unhealthy lifestyles and poor eating habits. However, this has questioned the significant health risks fast food develops.

• In one of the market campaigns in India in 2019, MacDonald's published an advertisement suggesting people disparage freshly cooked meals and instead adopt MacDonald's food.
• According to nutritionist Toby Amidor, the underlying reason for the delicious taste of fast food is the overload of sodium in the food. Intake of the high amount of sodium might lead to hypertension, heart strokes, Kidney failures and many more.
• Arguably the high point of the lousy press came with the 2004 documentary "Super-Size Me," in which the filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's meals and always accepted a cashier's offer to "super-size" his meal. With around a month-long exposure to eating only MacDonald's food, he gained an average of one pound a day! Following this, MacDonald's discontinued the practice of offering "Super-Size" on ordering a meal.
• McDonald's most famous menu items are higher in salt, calories and sugar than they were 30 years ago; it's been claimed Daniel Jones at The Sun reported that a Big Mac and Filet-O-Fish now has three times the sugar that burgers contained 30 years ago. In contrast, regular French Fries have 42 per cent more calories.
• According to research, processed fat in McDonald's food promotes endothelial dysfunction, which is linked to erectile dysfunction.
• Soft drinks such as coke are served readily at MacDonald's; a 2015 study showed 184,000 global deaths each year to sugary drink consumption.
• According to multiple types of research, one or two cokes a day could shoot the chances of getting Type 2 diabetes by more than 20%.

Conclusion:

MacDonald's, also known for its unique marketing strategies and business tactics, can resolve these issues by making conscious changes. For example, the brand's marketing should not disparage healthy foods. Instead,d it should incorporate these in the marketing. 

Healthy snack options like Salads should also be considered. Soft drinks such as Coke can be replaced by Fruit juices and other beverages like Sparkling flavoured water and iced tea, which are healthier for soft drinks.

It is not only about providing healthy or unhealthy food options to the customers; it is also about the organisation's social responsibility. 

An organization shall also be environment friendly, socially active and trustable.