Unit 4 McDonald's
Pre-reading
1. Read and translate the following international words:
hamburger burger franchising
fast-food teenager story
order soda fountain
interest machine arch
familiar summarize system
reason production process
original concept salad
senior innovative stimulate
traffic expansion appetite
brand audience billion license
2. Read and translate the following groups of words derived from a common root:
1) success — successful — successfully — unsuccessful — succeed;
2) close — closure — disclose — disclosure — disclosing — closet;
3) reason — reasonable — unreasonable;
4) person — persona — personal — personalization — personation — impersonation — personify — personification;
5) act — active — inactive — action — activity — activate — interactive — interaction — actor — actress — enact;
6) develop — development — developed — undeveloped — underdeveloped — underdevelopment;
Reading
3. Read the text and translate it. While reading the text try and find answers to these questions:
1. What was Ray Kroc selling in the 1950s?
2. What is the reason for the success of McDonald's?
3. What is the original concept of hamburger restaurants?
4. What is the world's most populous nation?
5. What is Fuddruckers?
McDonald's
The world's greatest fast-food success story is undoubtedly McDonald's. Back in the 1950s, Ray Kroc was selling soda fountains. He received an order from Mr. McDonald for two soda fountains. Ray Kroc was so interested in finding out why the McDonald brothers' restaurant needed two machines (everyone else ordered one) that he went out to the restaurant. There he saw the now-familiar golden arches and the hamburger restaurant. Ray persuaded the McDonalds to let him franchise their operation. Billions of burgers later, the reason for the success may be summarized as follows: quality, speed, cleanliness, service, and value. This has been achieved by systemizing the production process and by staying close to the original concept — keeping a limited menu, advertising heavily, being innovative with new menu items, maintaining product quality, and being consistent.
McDonald's is the giant of the entire quick-service/fast-food segment with worldwide sales of $31.8 billion. This total is amazing because it is more than the next three megachains combined — Burger King ($9.01 billion), KFC ($8.2 billion), and Pizza Hut ($7.5 billion). McDonald's even has individual product items that are not the traditional burger -for example, chicken McNuggets and burritos as well as salads and fish, which all aim to broaden customer appeal.
Customer appeal has also been broadened by the introduction of breakfast and by targeting not only kids but also seniors. Innovative menu introductions have helped stimulate an increase in per-store traffic.
In recent years, because traditional markets have become saturated, McDonald's has adopted a strategy of expanding overseas. It is embarking on a rapid expansion in the world's most populous nation, China, developing 300 restaurants by the year 2000. The reason for this expansion in China is a rapidly developing middle class with a growing appetite for Western culture and food. McDonald's is now in eighty-five countries and has a potential audience of 3.2 billion people. Of the company's roughly 18,000 restaurants, some 6,400 are outside of the United States1.
It is interesting to note that of the estimated $31.8 billion worldwide sales, about $15 billion are from outside of the United States, and about 50 percent of total profits come from outside of the United States1.
1 According to statistics published in April 2005, McDonald's chain is already roughly 30,000 restaurants all over the world, serving more than 68 million customers daily.
More than two-thirds of new restaurants added by McDonald's are outside of the United States.
McDonald's also seeks out nontraditional locations in the U.S. market, such as on military bases or smaller-sized units in the high-rent districts.
It is very difficult to obtain a McDonald's franchise in the United States because they have virtually saturated the primary markets. Carl's Jr., a California-based chain of 583 units has a franchising fee of $35,000, with a royalty fee of four percent and an advertising annuity of four percent. It often costs between $800,000 and $1 million to open a major brand fast-food restaurant. Franchises for lesser-known chains are available for less money.
Each of the major hamburger restaurant chains has a unique positioning strategy to attract their target markets. Burger King hamburgers are flame-broiled, Wendy's uses fresh patties.
Fuddruckers is a restaurant chain that describes itself as the «Cadillac of Burgers». Other gourmet burger restaurants may offer larger burgers with more side dishes to choose from, and they generally have decor that would attract the non-teenage market. Some of these restaurants have beer and wine licenses. Some smaller regional chains are succeeding in gaming market share from the big-three burger chains because they provide an excellent burger at a reasonable price. In-N-Out Burger and Rally's are good examples of this. The top ten hamburger chains are listed in Table 1 [1, 215-216].
Table 1.
Top Ten Hamburger Chains
S
ales
for fiscal year July 1, 1996-June 30, 1997 Chain ($ million)
1. McDonald's 31,812.0
2. Burger King 9,010.0
3. Wendy's 4,700.0
4. Hardee's 4,085.0
5. Jack in the Box 1,229.0
6. Sonic Drive-ins 1,012.7
7. Carl's Jr. 648.0
8. Whataburger 443.0
9. White Castle 351.5
10. Checker's Drive-ins 328.0
Vocabulary notes
hamburger = гамбургер (рубленая котлета из говядины;
beefburger = burger подается в разрезанной надвое круглой булочке)
soda fountain установка-автомат для продажи газированной воды
order заказ
to persuade убеждать
golden arches зд. золотые арки (логотип ресторанов Макдональдс)
to franchise осуществлять франчайзинг (специальный вид лицензирования, когда фирма — владелец известной торговой марки — предоставляет компании право ставить свою торговую марку на продукцию этой компании, но при этом данная фирма получает право контроля за качеством продукции компании-франчайзера)
cleanliness чистота
billions of burgers зд. после того, как были проданы миллиарды
later (порций) гамбургеров
value зд. отличительная черта (характерная только для данной сети ресторанов и являющаяся частью их бренда)
to systemize отлаживать, систематизировать, упорядочивать
production process производственный процесс
to advertise heavily проводить интенсивную рекламную кампанию
giant гигант, исполин
customer appeal зд. привлекательность для клиента
kid зд. ребенок
per-store traffic зд. торговый оборот в расчете на реализацию продуктов и услуг в данной точке обслуживания
populous населенный
nation зд. страна
roughly примерно
to seek out зд. охватывать своими услугами
high-rent district зд. престижный район; букв, район, стоимость жилья в котором очень высока
to saturate зд. насыщать, заполнять
royalty fee процент от продажи каждого вида услуг в данной торговой точке
annuity аннуитет — сумма денег, вкладываемая во что-либо, с тем чтобы впоследствии получать от этого вложения постоянную ренту
major brand основополагающий бренд
to attract one's target захватывать намеченный рынок
market
to flame broil жарить на открытом огне
patty пирожок
beer and wine license лицензия на торговлю пивом и вином
reasonable зд. доступный, разумный
top ten зд. первая (ведущая) десятка