Mac Donalds & Quick : the battle leader – challenger

20 Dec

Mac Donald’s & Quick must have a great imagination to develop marketing strategies to attract and retain customers: new menus, investments for children target, launch of light and green products…

Let’s analyze what are their main strategies in terms of positioning, targeting and communication :

Mac Donalds : how to build a new brand identity ?

20 Dec

Since 2000 and the different crisis ( mad cow disease, symbol of junk food, campaign against obesity and emergence of green consciousness), Mc Donalds was a controversial fast food and suffered from a brand identity problem.

Faced to these different crises, Mc Donalds decided to launch new communication campaigns.

Rebuilding of a desirable brand

Mc Donalds was threatened by loss of desirability and employability. It became a symbol of global capitalism where people don’t want to work anymore due to a merciless social policy.

To fight against this bad brand image, a new TV campaign was launch. This advertisement was focused on training, wellness of employees and equal opportunities.

 

The change of signature : “Venez comme vous êtes”

After “I’m lovin it” in 2003, Mc Donalds decided to launch a new signature in 2009 “come as you are” : the proximity is the main concern.  Mc Donalds try to communicate on emotional elements instead of practical ones to support its brand image and become a lovemark.

Proximity, diversity, human contact are the catchwords which defines this new message. Anyone can come at Mc Donalds whatever is your gender, race, age or purchasing power.

What’s on the menu today? Product differentiation analysis

19 Dec

Let’s talk about product differentiation for McDonald’s, Quick and KFC to show how theses brands make themselves more attractive to existing and new customers.

Competing and defending market share within the fast food market has always been a challenging task and operating within the current environment is even more demanding.

It is difficult to come up with new products, new tastes, and new kind of burgers, which are truly distinctive in the eye of the customer and deliver worthwhile benefits. Moreover, in the fast food industry, the competition is aggressive and McDonald’s, KFC and Quick very often “copy” each other.

We can notice a high level of product differentiation for the three brands.

The Fast Food industry is a monopolistic competition, composed of a relatively large number of sellers and an easy entry and exit in the industry. In fact, the consumer perceives that there are non-price differences among competitor’s products. That is why ideas and innovation are one of the main priorities of these companies.

Brands innovate everywhere they can possibly do: menus sizes, tastes, Bio, Menus for children and so on … Brands also adaptate their product strategy to the cultural and consumption habits of the country.

A new marketing strategy: From fast food to organic food !

18 Dec

Nowadays, advertisement is everywhere and has a really strong influence on consumer’s choice. Organic food is become trendy and a lot of brands try to use it to attract consumers and modify their brand image.

Mac Donald’s for example, which has suffered from criticism about the ingredients not healthy used in its food, has decided to adopt a new strategy : logo change (more details in the post regarding the logo’s evolution) and new advertisement more focused on health and sustainable development.

For example, in 2010, Mc Donald created a new ad to promote its new organic packaging and products come from organic farming.

 

Quick has also used this marketing strategy to give a better brand image to its consumers (damaged by the debate regarding the quality of its ingredients and the death of a person after eating in a Quick restaurant). Consequently, Quick has developed organic hamburgers and promote it through a lot of new advertisement.

Evolution of the brand through the logo

18 Dec

KFC, tellement bon !

In the near past, KFC adopted the “logo makeover” as their marketing policy. This company makes a good case study to show the importance of logo evolution over the history of a company. A generation grew up by looking at the immaculately dressed Colonel Harland Sanders in white suit and black bow tie. Although, the grammar of logo designing doesn’t encourage the use of face in the company logos, the face of a smiling colonel in KFC logo became one of the most recognizable icons all over the world over the fifty years of its history. KFC has been one of the few companies that consistently clung to its brand identity with only four small changes in its logo over the past fifty years.

KFC was created by the Colonel Sanders, who is became the emblem of the logo in a stylized version since the creation of the 1st logo. Year after year, the emblem is redesigned to be more and more nice and friendly!

After 26 years, the first logo was redesigned: the ribbon bow tie appears shorter and the fonts on the words «Kentucky Fried Chicken» were changed. The third version of the logo was designed in 1991: the words were changed to “KFC” instead of “Kentucky Fried Chicken”. The word changes were mainly due to the different marketing direction that KFC is trying to approach. The “Fried” sounds too fatty and taken out from the logo and replaced by the word “KFC”. KFC emblem went through a design changes again in 1997: Colonel Sanders appears friendly in this version, we can see his teeth! From 2006, the latest version of KFC emblem was born: The Legendary KFC Colonel got stripped off his white suit! Relax! He got an all new red apron. This new version could reinforce the sentiment of good quality, home cooked food, and of course the fact that the Colonel devised the secret recipe himself. This new logo is expected to be more captivating for the sensibilities of the new generations of the customers.

 

Mc Donalds, I’m lovin it !

When you design a logo design, it should accurately reflect your brand. Therefore, when McDonald’s has expanded its operations around the world, it used a logo that promises the value of products worldwide.

In the beginning, the 1st version of the logo was a mascot named “Speedee” . it was a sort of chef character, symbol which mix gastronomy and fastness. “Speedee” has disappeared progressively until he was officially replaced as a logo in 1962 and as mascot by Ronald McDonald in 1967.

The famous golden arches in McDonalds logo represent style, significance and a strong corporate identity. It was created by Jim Schindler in 1962 and the idea was first introduced by Dick and Mac McDonald as arch shaped signs on the sides of their then ‘walk-up hamburger stand’. From an angle, those arches looked like the letter “M” and thus, were incorporated in the McDonalds logo as a merger of the two golden arches together. The “McDonald’s” name was later added to the McDonalds logo in 1968. While the physical arches were dropped out from all the restaurants’ building design, The Golden Arches have remained in the McDonalds logo, and have branded the company.

The Mc Donald’s logo is easyly recognizable : golden arches to create the famous “M” now identified around the world, Thus, the  two tones gold (arches) and red (background)  and the fonts which are elegantly simple and easy for the customer to remember.The simplified modern double arch design was trademarked in 1968 and is still in use today.

But today, the main change is the colors: the red color has been replaced by the green one ! Since 2 years, Mc Donald’s has decided to replace progressively his famous red logo by a green background. But what are the mains motivations of Mc Donald’s? This new green logo was accompanied by a policy of sustainable development. To fight against global warming, the firm has less polluting trucks, use of renewable electricity, has changed its packaging … as you can see, McDonald’s has positioned itself as a company that cares about the environment, in order to improve its image.

 

Quick, nous c’est le gout !

The Quick logo is built around the stylized ‘Q’ letter with the entire name Quick underneath.

From 1971 to 1982, the Quick logo was symbolized by the orange color and the GB name which represents the founder of Quick brand. In 1987, the red color appears and the ‘GB’ name has been replaced by only the ‘Q’. In 1993, Quick decided to redesign its logo and also add in 2009, the slogan ‘Nous, c’est le gout’.

 

New examples of doing Fast Food in a French way

15 Dec

After Mc Donald, Quick is also launching a new hamburger which is being made in the French way.

France is becoming a real trend for the fast food industry, it might certainly been made in order to increase the image of the fastfood in French people minds.

With famous French spokes model, the basket ball player Tony Parker, Quick is launching the French Burger.

3 recipes are available; the sauces are changing (moutarde à l’ancienne, Roquefort or piment d’espelette) as well as the origin of the meat (100% French).

Quick is also launching for the Christmas Holiday a reedition of its famous burger with Foie Gras.

In the same times and especially for Christmas holidays, Mc Donald is launching in all its Mc Café the Galette des Rois. Always at the research of novelties Mc Donald continues it development toward an always more French Mc Donald.

Brand Awareness in Fast Food industry: two different methods to increase it.

15 Dec

In the marketing world the new trend is involving the customer in the communication of the brand.

The customer could be the main actor of a communication campaign or get the right of choosing the newest product that will be developed by the company.

These types of strategies are developed by firms in order to developed brand awareness, which is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers, and is correctly associated with a particular product.

We will see that fast food industry is always more innovative in order to develop brand awareness and targeted market. We will study two examples that could be considered as models in this type of situation.

Quick is doing for example “Battle de Burger” several times per year, they submitted a choice of two new burgers that customers can try for a short-time period. Then they are invited to vote for the one they prefer. Like this the winning burger will be on Quick’s menus.

This method enables Quick to increase their number of customers, especially because being on the center of such a process is always interesting. Moreover it allows them to link new customers with their website and this collect data.

We have also to underlined that Mc Donald will take back this idea for the launch of special Hamburgers in January. Indeed for the need of a new communication they will take the same principle to promote the novelties.

Mc Donald on contrary has rather liked to develop a cross-media operation in order to increase brand awareness. Effectively they relaunch in November the Monopoly operation, but with specificity this year. Indeed Mc Donald made a partnership with youtube in order to be more visible on the Internet; they also enable customers to post their wins and losses on facebook and twitter. With such a strategy they increased the number of clicks on the devoted platform and then brand awareness.

Monopoly Mc Donald

Interbrand Last classment of Best global brands 2011

6 Dec

Brand Value Interbrand’s definition is « the marginal revenue which results from « the brand attachment » of the consumer, which would accept to pay little bit more for this brand regarding to a comparative offer. It is also a financial value that we can attribute to a brand, which explain its role into the intangibles assets of a company».

The Brand Value is calculated by Interbrand according to the actualization rate of the brand of several financial exercises. This calculation helps Interbrand to measure marketing strategies efficiency, communication expenditures, investments and other important decisions.

Top ten brands :

McDonalds is ranked at the 6th position in the global classment with more than $m35,5

Evolution of the top brands in the restauration chain industry since 2001:

Within the restauration chain brands, the first one is McDonalds which have known a great growth than 2001 (+10k $m), then there is KFC (quite the same amount than 2001). In the last position, there is Burger King which never exceed 5k $m.

Source : http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/Best-Global-Brands-2011.aspx

The fast food brands’ little war

6 Dec

The little “war” between fast-food brands worldwide and especially in Europe is now familiar for most countries, between the biggest ones: McDonald’s and Burger King.

In Germany, Mcdonald’s created recently with the help of one of the biggest advertising agency, DDB°, a new TV spot showing a little boy who finally found the solution to eat their McDonald’s fries peacefully:

In USA, Burger King launched in 2008 an advertising campaign against the leader McDonald’s on billboards:

The ad clearly said “Silly Whopper, that’s a Big Mac box,” in order to tell us with the humor way that Burger King’s standard burger (the Whopper) is bigger than McDonald’s biggest burger (the Big Mac).

A real little war is now started… To be continued 😉

Burger King’s coming back in France ?

6 Dec

In October 2010, Burger King created the buzz with an advertising campaign showing the Whopper – the most famous BK’s burger – and saying « A deux pas d’ici » (« 2 minutes from here »). People were thinking about the coming back of BK in France.

Actually it was just a buzz created in relationship with Eurostar, in order to promote train tickets from Paris to London in 2h15.

Few days after, a TV spot related to this print ad, presented the burger as a real TV ad and ending with the journey « Gare du Nord – Saint Pancras, London- Burger King » and the logo of Eurostar company.

Eurostar has succeed to spread the rumor about BK’s coming back in France, and finally create the buzz about themselves and their train tickets offer.

Recently, an information that Buger Kings is willing to be back in France in 2012 appeared on the net. Apparently, we would find again the famous Whopper, onions rings and Pizza burgers only on the motorway rest areas for the moment…

Burger King – Have it your way

6 Dec

Name : Burger King (BK)

    Founder : James McLamore & David Edgerton, 2 students of the School of Hotel Administration,

openned the first restaurant called « Insta Burger King » in Miami, 1954.

    Headquarters : Miami-Dade, Florida

    Best-sellers : Whopper (hamburger)

Key figures :

–       At the end of 2010 : BK has more than 12,200 outlets in 73 countries (66%in USA). N°3 fast-food chain behind McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

–       Net income (Financial year 2010) : US$ 186.8 million

–       About 40 000 employees

 Comments:

Burger king openned its first restaurant in France in 1980 in Paris, Champs-Elysées. BK growth slugged whereas Quick and McDonald’s launched at quite the same time in France grown up and openned new restaurants. BK openned only few restaurants, and no one out of Paris. That is the main reason why they failed on the French market, and closed their 16 restaurants in 1997.

Mc Donald or the way of doing a French fast-food

29 Nov

In September 2011, Mc Donald made a small revolution in their Breakfast menu; indeed they introduce the typical French baguette in order to attract new customers. This offer is available in the 130 Mc Café of the brand. The bread will be furnished by the group Holder ( which is the owner of the Ladurée and Paul bakeries) and its prepared on the morning as in bakeries.

This initiative comes from the willing of the group to adapt itself to the French market. Indeed according to the office Gira Conseil “French people are consuming 9 times more sandwiches than hamburgers, and more than 60% of the classic sandwiches sold in France are made with baguette”

This arrival is really symbolic and represents a step forward in the strategy of the group of answering to the specific French food habits. Effectively, in 2009 Mc Donald already innovated with the Big Mac and its complete bread, in January 2011 they launch the Mc Cantal and in February the Charolais with a French origin steack. In order to continue into this direction, in 2012 Mc Donald will offer a new sandwich made with the traditional baguette.

Quick, nous c’est le gout !

22 Nov

Here is the 3rd and last actor of our analysis : Quick, nous c’est le gout !

Name : Quick

Founder : GB INNO BM (GIB Group), 1st Belgian distribution group

Founding date : 1971 in Belgium, 1980 the first Quick opened in France

Key figures about Quick restaurants :

  • 1st European fast food chain.
  • The 3rd fast food hamburger restaurant in Europe
  • 210 million consumers in 2010 and 160 million burgers sold
  • 18,500 employees of 58 nationalities
  • 483 restaurants in 9 countries (of which 362 are in France)
  • 1,028 million euros in volume of sales to the brand 2010

Turnover of Quick in 2010 in France : € 810 millions (+11% vs 2009)

Comments :

– 40 years of a story of taste that adapted the American fast food restaurant model for European tastes. Quick is still the first fast food hamburger restaurant in Belgium and Luxembourg, and the only challenger in France.

– In February 2010, Quick decided to launch Halal menus.

– The best seller is still the Giant !

Fast food: a new healthy way of eating?

21 Nov

Hey FF followers,
After talking about the common and key facts about fastfood, let’s take a look to a new trend of this market: the healthy way of eating fast food and the actions of main actors in order to become “green”.
For several years the importance of having healthy food is becoming a big concern in our country, indeed in 2009, 33% of the French population was over-weight. In order to fight against this phenomenon, the French State decided to take some measures to prevent it.
– The suppression of advertising for certain type of aliment
– Several mentions to incite people to eat well with the program “manger, bouger”
– Taxation of sugar products such as Sodas
As fast foods are seen as main actors in this problem, how did they react to that?

KFC Case:

At KFC healthy measures are described on the website:
– The chicken can now be cooked in oven in order to be healthier.
– They insist on the diversification as on the side dish level as on beverage level
Moreover, there is a description of the calories on several menus (chosen by the company):

If KFC uses its website as a way to broadcast their healthy campaign there is nothing else that is done on other levels such as merchandising, in practice the bucket of fried chicken still remain the king.

Quick case:
In the case of Quick, the willing to prove that healthy food can be providing by them is not that present.
Effectively there is no option on the website where we can calculate the calories of the menus or that provides advices to eat properly.
However, there are also healthy offers:
– First, Quick is the only fast food which proposes organic menu, with a sandwich, beverage and dessert.

– Secondly, they also suggest a large range of salad that they change depends on the season.

In term of packaging, Quick insists on the fact that they are recyclables, they change them in September 2011 (first time since 2006).

Mc Donald Case:
In term of giving a positive image of the fast food, Mc Donald is the pioneer and the actor with the more numerous incentives.
First they change in term of general merchandising, for 2005 Mc Donald change their main logo, to red and yellow they go with green and yellow to demonstrate their commitment into the sustainable development. Indeed with the renovation of their restaurants, they are using low consumption bulbs, recyclable packs and they manage to have wall of carrots and images of salad as decoration. If this step, make the restaurants more comfortable and nice, it also made the consumer guilty of having a regular Mc Donald menu.
In term of menu, Mc Donald is playing the card of the diversification, especially with the opening of Mc Café corners and more recently with salad bars.

These salad bars should be opened in the more crowed space, in space of 100m2 which will separate from the regular Mc Donald corners. The price of this new service should be around 7€ for a regular salad.
Moreover, in order to explain to people what they are eating, Mc Donald is writing on every pack the calories of each hamburger, frites… In addition of that Mc Donald is proposing an additional recipe for their famous burger the bic mac. Indeed, they are proposing a recipe with some complete bread.


On the website, the nutrition dimension is also very important, there is a tab about it on the website giving advice in order to eat well.

They also insist on the children menu, they add the possibility to have yogurts, fruits, vegetables instead of the regular coke and French fries, it was the first menu they modify in order to meet the expectations of the program manger, bouger.

As a conclusion, the three main actors are surfing on the trend of the health and are trying to pay more attention on the health of their consumers.
However, when Mc Donald is relatively rethinks its strategy around this concept, Quick and KFC are just making some efforts in order to propose various types of plates and please the larger target.

Creating Customer Loyalty

20 Nov

Fast Food – Est-ce vraiment mauvais pour la santé?

20 Nov

Interesting Fact!

20 Nov

The danger to the French haute cuisine is clear: about 3,000 restaurants close each year in France, while McDonald’s opens between 70 and 80 outlets…

Brand Awareness & Loyalty

20 Nov

Fast food restaurants are now available in shopping malls, airports, schools and universities, petrol stations as well as in hospital cafeterias. The ones that offer quality, varied menus, modern and comfortable ambience, and highly efficient catering services will successfully create consumers awareness.

Take McDonald’s: capitalizing on brand recognition, it is known for selling consistent, simple, low-priced American food, and serves 52 million people every day. Consequently, McDonald’s is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The introduction of the clown Ronald McDonald in 1963 marked the beginning of McDonald’s instilling brand loyalty in customers.

Below is a conceptual framework of customer loyalty; three main variables contribute to a significant positive influence on customers’ loyalty: product quality, customer satisfaction and brand trust (necessary for any long-term relationship):

Brand equity occurs when the consumer has a high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand association memory. We can therefore present the following conceptual framework:

Brand association is the most important variable that affects brand loyalty; brand awareness affect brand loyalty via brand associations.

Interesting Fact!

18 Nov

At least 50% of the current consumers of American fast food in France are less than 30 years old.

Foreigners’ Behavior

18 Nov

Foreign families traveling together, or even single adults will be tempted to take a meal on the run. The larger chains benefit greatly from it due to brand loyalty and equity. If a brand is well known, traveling consumers will be more likely to use the establishment as a safety net, especially when traveling with children. Their expectations are also significant: the same quality of service that is found in their home country is expected everywhere else.

What are consumers’ expectations while visiting fast food establishments?

18 Nov

First of all, proximity is expected: there are fast food signs reminding customers they are forever present.

The other expectation from customers is fast service: French do not enjoy spending too long waiting for a meal anymore. It is estimated that today the French take approximately 17 minutes for breakfast, 33 minutes for lunch, and 38 minutes for dinner. In total, the average French person is expected to spend around 88 minutes a day eating. The interesting fact is that an American will spend on average 90 minutes per day eating. This allows us to conclude that neither Americans, nor the French have the time to spare during the day to simply eat.

The most important expectation of the French consumer is the link that exists between price and quality. However, by fast food standards, the French are willing to pay a premium. If we take a look at the Big Mac Index (a metric that compares the price of a Big Mac across various nations in the world in an attempt to present purchasing power parity), we can see that the French pay more than what consumers pay in the US. Consumers in France are willing to spend up to $9 in food at McDonald’s, compared to between $4 and $6 by their American counterparts. These facts confirm the correlation between price and quality.

Finally, we have liberty and conviviality. There are very few constraints in fast food restaurants (you can do what you would not dare at a formal restaurant, or at someone’s residence); it is also a place where children are welcome. Fast food establishments are changing their landscape by becoming places where families can come and share together. Family life is part of the fast food chains’ Marketing Strategy.

The French Consumer

18 Nov

Let’s describe the French consumers and define some of the main characteristics and expectations they have regarding their dining experiences.

Everybody knows that the French are very proud and narcissistic of their culinary tradition; Michelin is the “Bible” of French cuisine for diners, and classifies the best establishments for fine dining, with rankings and grades. The new French approach to cooking and food presentation appeared in 1973; it is called Nouvelle Cuisine, and is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased emphasis on presentation (freedom to surprise). The fear of loss and the globalization have created this new passion in gastronomy.

The French began to change their eating habits towards the mid 1960s’; they truly began to see a need to eat in a hurry, as they had to adapt to new patterns of societal norms. Even though the French could potentially accept fast food, quality and excellence had to be at the order of the day. In fact, the eruption of diseases like the Mad Cow in Europe proved an opportunity to learn more about the discriminate taste of the French: they increasingly went organic as fears over these diseases, and US-style fast food raised new awareness about eating habits. This shift in French consumers’ behavior helps to explain why McDonald’s France opened its doors to the media during this particular time to make visits to their kitchens: they wanted to reassure their clientele that they were being proactive regarding the potential dangers of these diseases.

In many cases, the consumption of fast food product is the result of a response to the moment of consumption (it all depends on the present need). For instance, a corporate executive at La Defense might be able to take a quick sandwich at a nearby outlet, but take his kids to McDonald’s on Saturday to spend time with them.

 

From “Nouvelle Cuisine” approach…..

 

….. to the Fast Food trend.

“The McDonald’s Effect”

18 Nov

There were three main issues attributed to the fast food industry:

–   Poor retention of personnel

–   High level of waste that this type of business entailed

–   Heavy cost to replace items like dishes or silverware.

The McDonald’s brothers (Maurice & Richard) came up with a new strategy: their famous assembly line method of preparing burgers that would revolutionize the fast food industry. Needless to say that this was a huge success, so much that Ray Kroc bought McDonald’s in 1961, for $2.7 million. It would also not be long before other famous names in the fast food industry would start to emerge (Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy’s…).

This is the “American” story, but a question still remains: how did the fast food industry make its way into the French way of life?

Short Fast Food History

18 Nov

Most of us would consider the official beginning of fast food with the birth of McDonald’s and the franchise model; the reality is that Thomas Jefferson brought the French recipe for “pommes frites” to the U.S. for the first time as early as 1802! However, French fries did not become well known in the U.S. until the 1920s.

Another fast food favorite example would be the hamburger; it’s a traditional Russian food that was brought to Hamburg by German sailors visiting Baltic ports, in the 1600s. These sailors came to the U.S. in the 18th century, settled in Cincinnati, and continued the consumption of this delicacy.

Fast food, as we know it today, is the result of an evolutionary process in our eating habits: with the end of World War II, and the massive entrance of women into the workforce that followed, there was a need for more efficiency in food preparation. As a result, restaurants evolved into diners, cafeterias, and early drive through or drive-in restaurants. The “modern” fast food restaurant became the next step toward more efficient food consumption.

Fast food was partially born because of a need to “eat on the run”, fulfilling a vital need (eating) while at the same time tending to the needs of society (working).

McDonald’s awareness among American Children – Supersize Me (2004)

9 Nov

Amazing experience among American children extract from the movie Supersize Me:

Children can’t recognize Jesus Christ… but Ronald McDonald is a real star !!!

Frightening ?

McDonald’s – I’m loving it!

9 Nov

Hey FF followers,

Now let us give you some details about THE giant of the fast food industry…

Name: McDonald’s

Founder: the two brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald (who created the first burger restaurants) & Ray Kroc (who bought the McDonald’s company)

Founding date: 1955 in the United States; the first McDonald’s opened in France in 1972

Headquarter:  Oak Brook, Illinois, USA

Key figures about McDonald’s restaurants :

  • Present in 119 countries
  • Serving 58 million customers each day
  • Operating 32 737 restaurants worldwide (of which 1 134 are in France)
  • Employing more than 1.5 million people worldwide

Turnover of McDonald’s in 2010 in France: € 3,9 billion (+8% vs 2009)

Comments:

France is the 2nd biggest market for McDonald’s (after the USA).

Growth about +50% for 5 years in France.

Salads represent around 10% of sales, and the best seller is the Big Mac.

And you, are you lovin’ it ?? 🙂

Mc Jobs: Fast food career the new american dream?

9 Nov

KFC, Tellement bon !

9 Nov

Before going deeper into the world of fast food, let us make you a little presentation of the main actors:

Name: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

Founder: Adam Sanders

Founding date: 1939 in the United States, 1991 the first KFC opened in France

Company:  YUM! Group.

KFC is present in more than 110 countries and feed everyday more than 10 millions of customers in 16 000 restaurants all around the world.

Turnover of KFC in 2010: 213 M€ ( in France)

Number of point of sales in 2011: 130 in France within 53 franchised

Specialty:  Fried Chicken.

Comments:

Special recipe created by the founder which is kept in the head-quarter of KFC.

In October 2011, we will observe the launching of the first halal chicken wings.

The certification halal has been approved by the Paris’ Mosque.

A New Definition of Fast Food ?

9 Nov

“Fast Food” Definition

9 Nov

Before we go any further, we must make a parenthesis to elaborate on the proper definition of “fast food.” What is fast food, really? There are a number of definitions out there that would give justice to the industry.

This is the definition given by the Syndicat National pour L’Alimentation et la Restauration Rapide (SNARR): fast food distinguishes itself from other forms of restaurant service (i.e. traditional restaurants, cafeterias, cafes-restaurants) by two specific characteristics:

  • The absence of table service
  • The utilization of disposable plates and utensils

In France, under legal terms, the possibility to consume on site is not a criterion used to determine whether an establishment corresponds to fast food or not. Today, fast food restaurants represent 2.3% of the totality of restaurants in France (Source: SNARR).

Interesting fact!

9 Nov

Paris alone is home to a full 33% of all fast food restaurants in France…

Small introduction…

9 Nov

Since the beginning of time, France has defined the culinary arts for gourmets around the world. Indisputably its capital, Paris, today reigns as the Mecca for lovers of “haute cuisine” or “fine dining” worldwide. But over the past two decades, a new phenomenon has taken the city of lights by storm. Names such as “McDonald’s”, “Quick”, and “KFC” have literally invaded Paris and have become staples in the daily lives of Parisians. This, however, did not come easily.

As expected, this traditionalistic society has been resistant to change, particularly to the winds of “Americanization” and “Globalization.” For many French people there is an association that good food is French and fast food is American and bad.

Considering the deeply entrenched culinary tradition of the French, what then, explains the huge success fast food companies have sustained since their inception in France?

It is without a doubt not a surprise that the French have the reputation of being the perennial detractors of all things American. When it comes to food and culture, the French are extremely proud of their heritage.

Are the French still narcissistic in their culinary expertise, or have they evolved into a cosmopolitan society that could easily adapt? This question also goes hand in hand with the bigger question regarding whether or not the French have managed to consciously or subconsciously endure or go through their own Americanization.

This blog will attempt to analyze how the phenomenon of fast food in France evolved. It will be inevitable to look at the most important players in the market, and key questions will be answered: What was the general reaction to the entrance of these restaurants? What changed in French society over the years to allow the successful entrance of these restaurants? What is the public perception of these restaurants today? What does the future hold for this industry in France?

Why you should not eat fast food, but in the end … it’s so good !

9 Nov

Welcome!

8 Nov

Welcome to our Blog, fast food lovers!

Can you live without going to McDonald’s, Quick or KFC at least once a month? Or are you just curious about the news, best deals, improvements and strategies regarding the fast food sector?

We are happy to announce you that you are on the right blog to get some information on everything you have ever wondered about! In fact, we will provide you with some key facts that we selected and put together all in one place.

Your research will be easy, fast and convenient thanks to the “Search the Blog” tool located on the upper-right side of the page.

We encourage you to come and visit us often, as the fast food sector is constantly changing, and we want you to be up to date with everything that is going on!

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We wish you a pleasant visit!

The Fast Food Team