The McDonald’s Story

•The story of McDonald’s started in 1954,

when its founder Raymond Kroc saw a
hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California
and envisioned a nationwide fast food chain.

•Today McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast

food chain serving 47 million customers daily.

• McDonald’s is now one of the most valuable

brands globally, worth more than $25 billion.

•Though the company has roots in the US,

McDonald’s today has become an accepted
 McDonald’s in India
• McDonald’s entered India in 1996.
• McDonald’s India has a joint venture with
Connaught Plaza Restaurants and Hard
Castle Restaurants.
• Connaught Plaza Restaurants manages
operations in North India whereas Hard
Castle Restaurants operates restaurants in
Western India.
• Apart from opening outlets in the major
metros, the company is now expanding to
Tier 2 cities like Pune and Jaipur
 Challenges in Entering
Indian Markets
• Re-engineering the menu - McDonald’s has
continually adapted to the customer’s tastes,
value systems, lifestyle, language and
perception. Globally McDonald’s was known
for its hamburgers, beef and pork burgers.
Most Indians are barred by religion not to
consume beef or pork. To survive, the
company had to be responsive to the Indian
sensitivities. So McDonald’s came up with
chicken, lamb and fish burgers to suite the
Indian palate.
• The vegetarian customer – India
has a huge population of
vegetarians. To cater to this
customer segment, the company
came up with a completely new line
of vegetarian items like McVeggie
burger and McAlooTikki. The
separation of vegetarian and non-
vegetarian sections is maintained
throughout the various stages.
 McDonalds Marketing Mix
(5 P’s)
• Product: McDonalds has intentionally kept its
product depth and product width limited.
• McDonalds studied the behaviour of the Indian
customer and provided a totally different menu
as compared to its International offering.
• It dropped ham, beef and mutton burgers from
the menu. India is the only country where
McDonalds serve vegetarian menu.
• Even the sauces and cheese used in India are
100% vegetarian. McDonalds continuously
innovates its products according to the
changing preferences and tastes of its
customers. The recent example is the
introduction of the Chicken Maharaja Mac.
• Place:There is a certain degree of fun and
happiness that a customer feels each time he
dines at McDonalds.
• There are certain value propositions that
McDonalds offer to its customers based on their
needs. McDonalds offers hygienic environment,
good ambience and great service.
• Now McDonalds have also started giving
internet facility at their centres and they have
been playing music through radio instead of the
normal music. There are certain dedicated areas
for children where they can play while their
parents can have some quality time together.
• Price:McDonald’s came up with a very catchy
punch line “Aap ke zamane mein ,baap ke
zamane ke daam”. This was to attract the
middle and lower class consumers and the
effect can clearly be seen in the consumer
base McDonalds has now.
• McDonalds has certain value pricing and
bundling strategies such as happy meal,
combo meal, family meal etc to increase
overall sales volumes.
• Promotion:There are three main objectives of
advertising for McDonald’s are to make people
aware of an item, feel positive about it and
remember it.
• The right message has to be communicated to the
right audience through the right media.
McDonald’s does its promotion through television,
hoardings and bus shelters. They use print ads and
the television programmes are also an important
marketing medium for promotion.

Some of the most famous marketing campaigns of

McDonald’s are:
• “You Deserve a break today, so get up and get away-
To McDonald’s”
• “Aap ke zamane mein ,baap ke zamane ke daam”.
• “Food, Folks, and Fun”
• “I’m loving it”.
• People:McDonald’s understands the value of both
its employees and its customers. It understands the
fact that a happy employee can serve well and result
in a happy customer.
• McDonald continuously does Internal Marketing.
This is important as it must precede external
marketing. This includes hiring, training and
motivating able employees. This way they serve
customers well and the final result is a happy
customer.
• The level of importance has changed to be in the
following order (the more important people are at
the top):
• Customers
• Front line employees
• Middle level managers
• Front line managers
• The punch line “I’m loving it” is an attempt to show
that the employees are loving their work at
McDonalds and will love to serve the customers.
 SWOT ANALYSIS
• Strengths:
1) Globalization: 31,000 restaurants serving 120
countries. Of the 31,000 restaurants at
least14,000 restaurants in the US
2) Active Children's Charity: The Ronald
McDonald House
3) Adjusted Ingredients and product offerings to
comply with upgraded health standards deemed
necessary by the USDA
4) Earns revenue not merely by fast food sales,
but also as a property investor, a franchiser of
restaurants.
5) Branded (name recognized) menu items such
as Big Mac, Quarter Pounder and Chicken
McNuggets
• Weaknesses:
1) Advertisement techniques that target children

2) Consumers use disposable income to purchase

fast food meals so when the budget it threatened,
consumers redirect these funds

3) Public perception: McDonald's has been

impacted by negative press like the documentary
"Supersize Me" by Morgan Spurlock in which he
contributed our societies obesity to McDonald's and
other fast food chains.
• Opportunity:
1) IInnovation: Continued adaptation to societies
needs such as USDA and Supersize Me upgrade.

2) Conservation: Researching green energies and

green packaging solutions and incorporating these
findings as a part of their marketing strategy and
advertisements.

3) Exploration: Create new product offerings.

Continue to use technology to influence revenue
strategy: possibly use text messages to deliver
specials offers to individuals who sign up for such
services.
• Threats:
1) Current world economic standing: the company's
revenue streams are diversified, but depending on the the
length of this "recession", they will inevitably be
negatively impacted by the trickle down effect.

2) More Casual Dining Restaurants increasing their

"burger" offering and decreasing the price:
Restaurants like Ruby Tuesdays have $6 burger meals
that they strongly advertise…If you're not in a hurry,
which one would you choose?

3) Public Health Crisis: with a growing number of

obesity cases among Americans, fastfood chains like
McDonalds will continued to be overshadowed by their
previous product offerings (Supersized Meal, no fruits or
yogurt, slim salad selection).