Fast Food Industry Florida McDonald’s Restaurant Business Plan

Florida McDonald’s Restaurant Business PlanNameInstitutional AffiliationDate
Background
The first MacDonald Franchise was opened on April 15, 1958 by Ray Kroc at Des Plaines III. The first franchise was opened by Kroc when he was just 52 years old after working as salesman for almost thirty four years CITATION Jam101 \l 1033 (James, 2010). During the time that Kroc worked as a sales man, he would sell paper cups to the fast food retailers such as Howard Johnson’s and Dairy Queen. He also sold muiltimixers that were used in mixing milkshakes for drinking. It was during his sales job that Kroc met Dick and McDonald who were running a small hamburger joint in California. They had bought eight mixers and Kroc was curious to see the kind of activity that they were carrying out of making 4o milkshakes at one time. After observing what the MacDonald brothers were carrying out, Kroc was so impressed with their venture that he was willing to open the first MacDonald Franchise CITATION Jos15 \l 1033 (Joshi & Dalal, 2015). In 1961, he realized that his vision for MacDonald was not in line with the McDonald’s and he decided to buy the company from the two brothers. He went ahead to open the first Franchise of Mc Donald.
According to the site of the company, the restaurant sold $366.12 worth of burgers, fries and shakes on the inaugural day. By the time of the death of Kroc in 1984, the worth of the company had grown to at least $500 according to the New York Times. Currently, Mc Donald is available in over 100 countries and it serves 69 million customers on each day in 36,000 locations and in the year 2017 the company reported a revenue of $22.75 billion CITATION Fra16 \l 1033 (Fraser, 2016).
McDonald has also stood controversy over the years and one of the latest controversies that the company went through was the pressure that was placed on the company to increase the wages of employees. Another controversy was the perceived association with a global increase in obesity. The company responded by adding health food to its menu. However, this has not stopped the chain from remaining to be one of the largest hamburger chain in the world. The company is also associated with a number of charity events. In 1987, the company founded The Ronald MacDonald Charities that offers charity to different groups of people in the society.
Overview of the Fast Food Industry
The fast food industry is one of the industries that is growing at a very fast rate and in recent cases, rarely can you pass a street without noticing the existence of a fast food shop. Globally, it is approximated that the fast food industry generates a revenue of over $570 billion which is much bigger than the economic value of a number of countries. In the US, the revenue from the fast food industry was approximated to be at $200 billon in the year 2015.
It is also expected that the fast food industry will be having an annual growth of 2.5% for the next few years. In the US, there are over 200,000 fast food restaurants. According to nutrition statistics, it is estimated that 50 million Americans eat at each of the restaurants every day.
The fast food industry is also a source of employment to different people across the US and it I estimated that there are over 4million people who are employed at the various restaurant franchises in the US alone.
In most cases, the fast food chains focus on the consistency of experience of the customers, affordability of meals offered and speed. The foods are processed and then placed in an assembly line so that the customers can access them.
The fast food restaurants belong to a category of the restaurant industry that is referred to as Quick Service Restaurants and they account to more than 50% of all the sales that are made in the restaurant industry. In most of the fast foods, the customer orders the food that they need, pay at the counter and then take the food out or take a seat and eat it at the restaurant. The menu in most of the fast food joints is the same and the customers enjoy a great experience of the foods that they take.
McDonald SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1 McDonald is already popular and it serves customers in over 120 countries. MacDonald remains to be one of the largest restaurant network in the world. The company together with the franchises, it operates 37,241 restaurants in the 20 countries.
2 The company has been successful in rolling out new items and adding them to the menu such as coffees, Angus burgers, smoothies and this has played a great role in helping the company to expand its operations and ensure customer royalty.
3 The operations of the company are spread around the world which means that the company has become more exposed to different currencies and economies. The familiarity with the different currencies and economies play a great role in helping the company to learn on the ways of operating in a new location.
4 The company has economies of scale meaning that the company can share its fixed costs due to the different locations meaning that it is one of cheapest places that one can eat at.
5 It is easier for the company to identify the best practices of making sure that they have been implemented. This is because the company has got experience in hiring new employees and coming up with the best way of performing tasks.
Weaknesses
1 It is difficult for the company to find new prime locations especially in the United States since the company has already existing outlets in almost every part of the country. This will make it difficult to find a new location for the restaurant.
2 Due to the rapid growth of the company, McDonald has opened most of its franchises outside the US and it has posed great cultural challenges in terms of employee work ethic and in terms of meeting the needs of the customers.
3 There is a high employee turnover rate. Even though the company has good managers who have played a great role in the management of the different restaurants, there is still a high turnover rate since employees are fired from the restaurant so often. There are also others who quit their jobs due to low salaries.
4 There is the issue of unbalanced meals offered by McDonald. Most of the meals offered at the restaurants are chicken, bacon, beef and even eggs. Still the amount of vegetable and salad that is offered together with the meals is so low leading to unbalanced diet.
Opportunities
1 There are various opportunities for the opening of new restaurants. One of such is Florida and the company will take such opportunities to make sure that it has expanded.
2 There are also various menu opportunities that the company is coming up with and this will play a great role in winning more customers.
3 McDonald’s has a powerful brand name already in the market. The establishment of other restaurants therefore will be quick and swift and the company will not have any challenges since it has already established itself.
Threats
1 The government is coming up with various regulations that are targeting the fast food industry and this may affect the operations of the company.
2 The increase of the commodity price will lead increase the costs and in different economies, the countries may regulate the ability of the company to hike the prices to the consumer.
3 There is a fierce competition from other strong brand names such as Burger King, Yum! Brands, Wendy’s. This has made the company to lose a large number of customers. There are also other brands that are establishing themselves in the fast food industry.
4 There are also environmental issues that are surrounding the operation of the company. Of recent, companies that are influencing the environment in different ways have been criticized. Id McDonald continues to use HCFC -22, then there is a likelihood that it will lose customers in the future.
Target Market of Florida McDonald’s
The restaurant will target people who live in Florida and they love eating out. There are also other franchises available in Florida that offer the same food as the one that is offered at McDonald’s. However as a market strategy, we will target the people located in offices and the different industries that are in Florida. The restaurant will rely on door step delivery of all the food that is bought by the customer.
The restaurant will also be located on a busy street and therefore, the number of people who will be flocking the restaurant to seek our services is likely to increase over a period of time. There will also be a place for people to rely as they have their meal...