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Introduction
McDonald’s, the long-time leader in the fast-food wars, faced a crossroads in the early 1990s. Domestically, sales and revenues were flattening as competitors encroached on its domain. In addition to its traditional rivals—Burger King, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell—the firm encountered new challenges. Sonic and Rally’s competed using a back-to-basics approach of quickly serving up burgers, just burgers, for time-pressed consumers. On the higher end, Olive Garden and Chili’s had become potent competitors in the quick service field, taking dollars away from McDonald’s, which was firmly entrenched in the fast-food arena and hadn’t done anything with its dinner menus to accommodate families looking for a more upscale dining experience.
While these competitive wars were being fought, McDonald’s was gathering flak from environmentalists who decried all the litter and solid waste its restaurants generated each day. To counter some of the criticism, McDonald’s partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to explore new ways to make its operations more friendly to the environment.
Facts
McDonald’s roots go back to the early 1940s when two brothers opened a burger restaurant that relied on standardized preparation to maintain quality—the Speedee Service System.
So impressed was Ray Kroc with the brothers’ approach that he became their national franchise agent, relying on the company’s proven operating system to maintain quality and consistency.
Over the next few decades, McDonald’s used controlled experimentation to maintain the McDonald’s experience, all the while expanding th ...