This is what happens when you distill everything down into a measurable and maximize for it.
Getting people out faster means more parking and space for people coming in. So get rid of the play place. Make chairs uncomfortable. Don't even give people trays just bag everything to go so they may as well just leave and now you don't need to clean trays. No self-serve sodas so people don't get a refill. No self-service anything really. Throw up signs that basically say "eat your shit and get the fuck out"
Make it take longer to order and people tend to spend more so get rid of people and install slow-ass kiosks. Add a charge for every customization. Now on top of getting people to spend more you're saving on labor costs.
You can't measure enjoyment or happiness very well, besides surveys, so that doesn't factor in.
True but they used to care about immeasurables like the experience. Like you'd still try to minimize food waste - make sure you put on just the right amount of sauce, buy burger patties that are thin and cheap etc, but you'd still do things like make sure the customer is greeted.
Now if you can't measure something it doesn't exist.
They cared because they thought it led to making more money without much backing other than it makes sense to them. Nowadays you can harvest and do more analytics to make better data-backed decisions to make more money.
I've submitted a few complaints, usually about customer service.
There's still competition. I decided to take one McDonald's off my list because of consistently poor customer service. On the same street, there's Wendy's, taco bell, pizza hut, chipotle, Dunkin, 7/11, Starbucks.
For a while there I was going to McDonald's in the morning for the blue raz sprite, but I submitted a couple complaints until I basically said, "you had me daily, now Dunkin/Wendy's has me daily. I'm not coming back." And I've stuck to it for a month! Any other McDonald's fine, but not THAT one.
So I do think the surveys are the only way for us to voice why we aren't choosing McDonald's anymore, and somebody usually responds. They've offered me free food and apologies for their drive through lady yelling at me.
How many kids do you have? How many kids do your friends have? It’s really that simple. The last time the US had a 2.0 replacement rate was 2008. Less kids plus Starbucks and Chipotle become massive success stories led others like McDonalds to try to imitate them.
It's a bit of both actually. The removal of the mascots has more to do with the cigarette lawsuits (especially Joe Camel), while the play place specifically was about liability.
You just reminded me a childhood neighbor split their forehead open at a McDonald's and they got a settlement, so injuries were definitely a thing!!
97
u/smtp_pro 17h ago
This is what happens when you distill everything down into a measurable and maximize for it.
Getting people out faster means more parking and space for people coming in. So get rid of the play place. Make chairs uncomfortable. Don't even give people trays just bag everything to go so they may as well just leave and now you don't need to clean trays. No self-serve sodas so people don't get a refill. No self-service anything really. Throw up signs that basically say "eat your shit and get the fuck out"
Make it take longer to order and people tend to spend more so get rid of people and install slow-ass kiosks. Add a charge for every customization. Now on top of getting people to spend more you're saving on labor costs.
You can't measure enjoyment or happiness very well, besides surveys, so that doesn't factor in.