McDonald's looks to sell quality: the makeover

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from Money of CNN

McDonald's on Monday will kick off a two-day media event to tout the quality of its food and combat critics who say its burgers and fries are unhealthy.

New print ads tout McDonald's "top quality USDA eggs" and "high-quality chicken", and the company already has a Balanced Lifestyles initiative to promote physical activity.  The company recognizes it is often criticized.

"Maybe if people think they have this terrific quality, then they'll forget about the calories and the fat," said Jack Trout, president of marketing strategy firm Trout & Partners. "Will it fix it with the naysayers? No. But what it will do is present more of a rationale for the people who take their kids to this place."

Do you believe that this new approach, which emphasizes quality, will cause some naysayers to trust the McDonald's brand?

Would an emphasis on quality products and ingredients make you more inclined to try McDonald's over other outlets?

Will this still the "nattering nabobs of negativism?"

Your opinions?

[Milagai]

Do you believe that this new approach, which emphasizes quality, will cause some naysayers to trust the McDonald's brand?

HEH!  I think the McD brand is now so fimrly synonymous with Yuk

that it would be a hard one to change.....

Would an emphasis on quality products and ingredients make you more inclined to try McDonald's over other outlets?

I think variety would be better.  I actually like McD in many

international locations (e.g. UK, India) because they have a

variety!  US McD is so far below the mark in this regard...

Will this still the "nattering nabobs of negativism?"

Are you kidding?  Someone will always complain about something,

and take it to a professional level....

Your opinions?

I hate the concept, but am guilty of getting convenience food

as needed..... so what can I say...

Edited October 24, 2005 by Milagai (log)

[Brad Ballinger]

*YAWN* McDonald's can do what it wants to promote quality "raw ingredients" and safety, but fat is fat is fat. Quality, as disucssed in the article, has little to do with healthiness.

"Yes, but the fat is of a superior quality."

[jamiemaw]

Gifted Gourmet,Oct 24 2005, 10:13 AM]

"Maybe if people think they have this terrific quality, then they'll forget about the calories and the fat," said Jack Trout, president of marketing strategy firm Trout & Partners. "Will it fix it with the naysayers? No. But what it will do is present more of a rationale for the people who take their kids to this place."

Let them eat Trout.

Edited October 24, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[moosnsqrl]

I can't believe they even care what anyone thinks...they have the masses addicted to animal tallow already -- why mess with a good thing?

But, GG, to give your question a reasonable answer, Chipotle Grill underwrites NPR and their PSAs (or whatever you call them, as long as it's not "Ads" ;-) are careful to mention that they use naturally raised meats (they used to say Niman Ranch, I'm pretty sure, but I think it's less-specific now). I still haven't found myself going there, as I'm just not a chain person, but if I were surveyed about it would probably pick them as the one place I would go if I were starving.

I don't really think "top-quality USDA eggs" and "high-quality chicken" have quite the same cache' or warm, fuzzy feeling as that, though. I would have thought that everyone used USDA eggs and what exactly does "high-quality" imply?

[PassionateChefsDie]

I don't believe that MCD will ever get back to days of glory it had when the clown attracted childrens parents to it's establishments. I believe the emphasis on obesisty on this side Atlantic and your side by both goverments is slipping into the main stream now and has been for several years, which has affected there consumer base.

I believe they need to down turn there financial model as they will never return to there days of glory. Whether they could ever replicate the MCD phenomena of my Childhood I dont believe they can.

They where the exception to the rule not the rule can we name another brand any where near the scale of theres, maybe a few Pizza Chains, yet even these dont get close to the sucess of MCD in the 80's/90's. Will Subway get to this point? I honestly wouldn't like to say. But I remember the day when you walked into a fast food joint and the counter was so deep you wondered what was fast about it.

I would say its a general down turn in the consumer base rather not that they've lost consumers to competitors. I believe that to a certain extent this is happening right across the catering industry as for why, maybe it's the associated food scares, maybe it's lack of Tourism due to the unrest in the world, who can honestly say. Perhaps it's simply people have a more transparent view of the costing of food stuffs when you go in and spend £5 for something that cost little over £1(I know about Overheads but does the consumer care?) to buy from the supermarket. For the price of MCD for 2 from a supermarket you could probably feed 10. Does quality really come into there consumer base it was place to host a party for 30 children and come back with change from £150.

Edited to Add

Recently its been pointed out to me that with the combined overheads the nearly 1/5 of every £1 taken given to the goverment, it's intervention from the Goverment we need for this trade. Food costs maybe getting less as it becomes a world market yet labour and overheads keep rising. I'm afraid its only so far the consumer will dip into there pocket.

Edited October 24, 2005 by PassionateChefsDie (log)

[jsolomon]

Will this still the "nattering nabobs of negativism?"

←

Absolutely not, read the remarks above mine.

I do have to say that on the epidemiological side of the coin, McDonalds is very high quality food. I don't recall having ever heard of a case of food poisoning at a McDonalds, and with their daily volume, you have to begrudgingly be impressed.

McDonalds takes a lot of care in the movement, preservation, and cooking of their food that takes a lot of careful planning and top-down involvement of everyone in the corporation. They, from what I can tell, do nearly as well as many pharmaceutical companies (and better than some, too).

I look at McDonald's definition of quality the same way I look at a chemical supply house's definition of quality: they present their food as being 100% of what they intend to sell. I know that if I buy high-quality arsenic from a company, there will be approaching 100% arsenic, and certainly 99.9%.

By the same token very high quality arsenic can be detrimental to your health. What I don't understand is why McDonald's is such a target and places like ConAgra or Pizza Hut aren't. Certainly an individual Pizza Hut pizza with its options of super-greasy toppings have more heart-stopping power than an equivalent number of servings (4 or 6) of Big Macs. ConAgra, with its super-processed industro-food options also does bad things--like provide us with cheap trans-fats to cook our food in and add to them.

But, it's McDonald's that's singled out. Is this a me-too phenomena with complaining, or just a tendency to hear hoofbeats and think zebras?

[Megan Blocker]

I don't know about anybody else, but I eat at Mickey D's (primarily only in airports) for two reasons:

1 - The fries, duh.

2 - The Chicken McNuggets. I like them because they're completely processed and unnnatural, not in spite of it. If I want high-quality chicken, I'll go somewhere...high-quality.

That said, people who eat more frequently at places like McDonald's may be more concerned about the quality, freshness, healthfulness (these three are not synonymous, and the second doesn't really seem to have ever been lacking) etc. of the food, in which case a campaign like this one makes sense from a dollars and cents point of view.

I'll just keep eating my McNuggets and longing for the days when they were made with dark meat.

Edited October 24, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[joey madison]

Moos, it's interesting you should mention Chipotle Grill, and their efforts to sound "high-quality" and target a different demographic. Chipotle Grill, I was recently informed, if a McDonalds venture.

Perhaps they recognize the futility of trying to change their food-quality image. And, consequently, are trying to diversify their brand portfolio in an effort to reach other demographics.

[moosnsqrl]

that IS interesting...looks like they bought ~90%. I suspect you're right about the diversification effort as well. I wonder how many of their afficianados (and there are many) know that. I certainly did not but, as I mentioned, I'm not a chain person. I also noticed that Wendy's owns Baja Fresh (or some portion thereof) and BK has Q'dobo. Reinforces my decision to "rattle the chains" and stick with my locals. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Jasmine]

Do you believe that this new approach, which emphasizes quality, will cause some naysayers to trust the McDonald's brand?

Would an emphasis on quality products and ingredients make you more inclined to try McDonald's over other outlets?

Will this still the "nattering nabobs of negativism?"

Your opinions?

←

[mizducky]

Sigh. I don't know what aspect of this ad campaign I find the most annoying:

1) The total disregard of the fact that the issues people have with fast food in general is not the purity of the ingredients per se, but the greasy crap they wind up creating with them. And to add insult to injury, McD's can't even make their greasy crap taste good. (Mind you, I eat my share of fast-food burgers, without any delusions as to their grease content etc.--but McD's is my port of very last resort because I find their food so bleah.)

2) This type of spin-doctoring ad campaign, in which a company sings the product's praises without actually changing the product one whit to better it in any way. Somewhere, I feel that the ghost of George Orwell is laughing sardonically, as large corporations continue to demonstrate they have an even better grasp of double-speak than do governments.

3) The implication that such advertising must actually work on enough people to justify its cost to the corporations that engage in it. Sure, there are weisenheimers like us that will just give this kind of corporate propaganda the Bronx cheer it so richly deserves. But I doubt McD's would be spending money on this essentially meaningless advertizing unless it produced results, so that means they're so sure a whole bunch of people are going to buy more McD's because of such ad-blather that they're betting cash money on it. I dunno, I just find the thought of a whole segment of the population so--well, let me be diplomatic and just call them gullible--a wee tad bit scary. (Not that I haven't had this thought before. Numerous times. Doesn't make the thought any less scary.)

4) That this whole thing begs the question of why McD's doesn't take the money they spend on trying to persuade us of the virtues of their product, and instead spend it on, oh I dunno, actually improving the product. (Unless, again, they have proof that sufficient people like their product just as it is. Which again kind of scares me.)

[Anko]

The Chicago Tribune published an article yesterday about the new high-quality campaign: Kitchen opens at McDonald's.

It's a notable change for a company known for being reluctant to discuss who its suppliers are. But the Oak Brook-based hamburger giant hopes the tours will begin debunking years of criticism leveled at it by self-styled experts who have accused it of serving junk food, ignoring nutritional standards and causing obesity.

Stupid "self-styled experts" with all their fancy numbers and words.

Anyway, check out McDonald's Farm To Table Program to learn about how Coca-Cola is harvested.

[Chris Amirault]

Call me a cynic, but this sounds like law-suit avoidance first, PR spin for shareholders second, and a change in corporate policy dead (insert joke) last. Didn't someone post something about the markets McD's targets having names like "super-repeat mega-eaters," people who eat there 7-10 times per week? There's the future of the company, and they ain't worried about whether that tomato slice is heirloom, folks....

[moosnsqrl]

Awesome, I've always wondered about the cola harvest. I wonder if they'll post something about the "limon" and where 7-up comes from later?

[MHarney]

Awesome, I've always wondered about the cola harvest.

←

Let's not forget about the Dasani harvest, when the taps and salt shakers run all night long.

[Busboy]

Marketing, at the McDonald's level, is all about playing in the margins. They don't have to convince vast numbers of people that McD's is a health food store. They just have to convince a few more people than are going now, that going to McDonald's isn't going to cause instant cardiac arrest. A 5% climb in in-store sales would probably make them very happy -- just one more person at McDonalds every day for 20 that already show up.

I'm sure they have reams of market research data that tells them that, right now, perception of McDonalds as unhealthy is on of their biggest negatives, that "quality" is a hot buzzword in an era of Whole Foods and diet consciousness. I'll wager that a lot of this is targeted at parents -- ie moms -- who just want to get something quick and cheap into their kids after a hard day's work, but have a nagging fear that fast food is child abuse. And, don't forget, touting quality is one way of gaining a competitive advantage without having to cut prices -- much easier on the franchisees than a 2-for-1 burger special.

[M.X.Hassett]

Anyway, check out McDonald's Farm To Table Program to learn about how Coca-Cola is harvested.

←

Ahhh....the elusive Coke harvest and let us not forget that ConAgra makes the best potatos(there words not mine).

[Gifted Gourmet]

the website has new links on food items

Appears that this is part of the "makeover" ...

If you look at the meat link, you will find it looks quite "healthy" ... reality or illusion of health?

and then there is their Food News section

[Megan Blocker]

Awesome, I've always wondered about the cola harvest.

←

Let's not forget about the Dasani harvest, when the taps and salt shakers run all night long.

←

[joiei]

Is having all of the crew wear chefs coats supposed to make us think we are dining at a **** restaurant, is that the uniform that Armani designed for them. Dont you wish you had the contract to supply those coats?

[loiosh]

This 'quality' campaign has been going for a while in Australia. The latest wrinkle is that more deli-style sandwiches have been added. My source, who recently took a two-day drive, tells me they're not bad. You can even get yogurt with fruit or a piece of fruit on the side rather than the fries.

[Chris Amirault]

That quality stuff is a hoot. Check out the condiments page, where most ingredients get quasi-artisanal treatment (honey from real bees!). Not the sauces, though:

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and Chicken Selects are served with great tasting dipping sauces. Chicken McNuggets are served with classic Barbeque Sauce, which has a deep, rich flavor, Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce, which adds a tangy zest, or Hot Mustard Sauce. McDonald’s Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips are served with your choice of Tangy Honey Mustard, Chipotle Barbeque, Spicy Buffalo or Creamy Ranch sauces.

Apparently, sentences like "Our carboxymethylcellulose gum comes from only the finest Malaysian rubber trees" don't work so well.

[MarketStEl]

Awesome, I've always wondered about the cola harvest.  I wonder if they'll post something about the "limon"  and where 7-up comes from later?

←

No, no, no, no, NO.

Lymons are used to make Sprite.

(Though ISTR that the guy who explained what a Lymon was in the Sprite ads sounded an awful lot like the guy who told you about "Uncola nuts" in much older 7up ads. Both had pronounced Caribbean accents.)

Edited to add: As Sprite is a Coca-Cola Company product, Mickey D's should have had a section on their web site about the high standards Coke follows for selecting Lymons for Sprite.

Then again, the McDonald's web site was singularly unhelpful in explaining the cola harvest. Trade secret since 1886, dont'cha know.

Edited October 28, 2005 by MarketStEl (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Mike Luckovich on McD's labelling from Atlanta Journal-Constitution (free registration req'd)...