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HISTORY
Siblings Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first
McDonald's at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San
Bernardino, California on May 15, 1940. The brothers
introduced the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, putting
into expanded use the principles of the modern fast-food
restaurant that their predecessor White Castle had put into
practice more than two decades earlier.
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HISTORY
• McDonald's restaurants are found in 120 countries and
territories around the world and serve 68 million customers
each day.
• McDonald's operates 37,855 restaurants worldwide,
employing more than 210,000 people as of the end of 2018.
• There are a total of 2,770 company-owned locations and
35,085 franchised locations, which includes 21,685
locations franchised to conventional franchisees, 7,225
locations licensed to developmental licensees, and 6,175
locations licensed to foreign affiliates
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Business model
• The company owns all the land on which its restaurants are situated, which
is valued at an estimated $16 to $18 billion.
• The company earns a significant portion of its revenue from rental
payments from franchisees. These rent payments rose 26 percent between
2010 and 2015, accounting for one-fifth of the company's total revenue at
the end of the period.
• In recent times, there have been calls to spin off the company's U.S.
holdings into a potential real estate investment trust, but the company
announced at its investor conference on November 10, 2015, that this
would not happen. CEO Steve Easterbrook discussed that pursuing the REIT
option would pose too large a risk to the company's business model.
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Products
McDonald's predominantly sells :
• hamburgers,
• various types of chicken,
• chicken sandwiches,
• French fries,
• soft drinks,
• breakfast items,
• and desserts.
In most markets, McDonald's offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and
other localized fare. On a seasonal basis, McDonald's offers the McRib sandwich.
Some speculate the seasonality of the McRib adds to its appeal.
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Types of restaurants
• McDrive: In some countries, McDrive locations near highways offer
no counter service or seating. In contrast, locations in high-density
city neighborhoods often omit drive-through service.
• McCafé: McCafé is a café-style accompaniment to McDonald's
restaurants. The concept was created by McDonald's Australia,
where it is marketed as Macca's, starting with Melbourne in 1993.
• "Create Your Taste" restaurants: From 2015 to 2016, McDonald's
tried a new gourmet burger service and restaurant concept based
on other gourmet restaurants such as Shake Shack and Grill'd.
• Other: Some locations are connected to gas
stations and convenience stores, while others called McExpress
have limited seating or menu or may be located in a shopping mall.
Other McDonald's are located in Walmart stores. McStop is a
location targeted at truckers and travelers which may have
services found at truck stops.
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COVID-19 pandemic
• As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, McDonald's closed most seating
and all play areas in its United States restaurants.It transitioned to drive-
thru and curbside orders at locations and online food ordering delivery
services.
• Restaurants in a number of countries including France, Italy, Spain,
the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland were temporarily closed.
Some of these closed restaurants have now re-opened for drive-
thru/delivery service only with menu limitations and spend caps. In other
countries including Australia, Germany and Canada restaurants did not
close but were limited to providing drive-thru, takeaway or delivery only.
• McDonald's Australia was forced to close 11 Melbourne restaurants
temporarily after staff came into contact with a delivery driver who
tested positive for COVID-19.
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Charity
McHappy Day: McHappy Day is an annual event at McDonald's, during
which a percentage of the day's sales go to charity. It is the signature
fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
In 2007, it was celebrated in 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria,
Brazil, Canada, England, Finland, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland,
New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and
Uruguay.
McDonald's Monopoly donation: In 1995, St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital received an anonymous letter postmarked in Dallas, Texas,
containing a $1 million winning McDonald's Monopoly game piece.
McDonald's officials came to the hospital, accompanied by a
representative from the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, who examined
the card under a jeweler's eyepiece, handled it with plastic gloves, and
verified it as a winner.
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Criticism
In the past few decades, McDonald's has come under attack
for a variety of perceived offenses. One of the high-profile
cases surrounds the temperature of its hot coffee. In the
1992 McDonald's Coffee Case, a customer sued McDonald's
after she spilled coffee on her lap and suffered third-degree
burns that hospitalized her for eight days. After hearing that
McDonald's had received hundreds of other complaints and
was previously aware of the problem -- and that its coffee is
significantly hotter than homemade -- the jury made
McDonald's pay compensatory and punitive damages.
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Response to Criticism
In 2004, McDonald’s was criticized for contributing to childhood
obesity, but responded by placing nutritional information on their
products. In September 2002, the company insisted that it would
lower the amount of trans fats in their cooking oil, but never
followed through on the change. After a series of law suits,
McDonald’s donated $7 million to the American Heart Association,
and eventually in 2008, the company switched to a trans fat-free
oil. Another response to criticism concerning nutrition occurred in
2007 when McDonald’s agreed to limit the amount of commercials
directed towards children less than 12 years of age. McDonald’s
claims they are “looking for ways to satisfy the diverse tastes of our
customers”, and continues to respond to nutritional criticism to a
certain extent.
