One in a Million 37,000 You could be forgiven for doing a double-take driving past the McDonald’s in Sedona, Arizona (my family and I recently visited). Apparently, it’s the only McDonald’s in the world (out of almost 37,000) where the company’s famously “golden arches” instead are teal (blue-green). I assume the city’s zoning restrictions dictated...Read More
Any Port Name-Brand Restaurant in a Storm I can’t prove it, but I’ve got a hunch that a big slice of McDonald’s’ customers are more than 100 miles away from home. Like us, over the weekend. McDonald’s . . . On the Road Traveling to (kind of) Northern Minnesota to visits friends at their cabin,...Read More
Just One Catch It turns out that sheetrockers aren’t the only ones who can make good money these days in North Dakota. See, “North Dakota Boom, Twin Cities Ripples?” Someone who came through one of my open houses yesterday with North Dakota ties said that the local McDonald’s are paying $16(!) an hour. The catch?...Read More
“Is there a “Taste of America” in India, Daddy?* “What is an expert? Someone who is 20 miles from home.” Switch the subject to food and add a zero (or three), and you’ve just described one of the culinary (marketing?) world’s enduring truths. And yes, the same phenomenon applies elsewhere; see “Minnesota Bratwurst — in...Read More
“Is That Like a Licensing Fee?” Getting breakfast at McDonald’s this morning, my 8 year-old son asked me how much a Redbox was. If you didn’t know, McDonald’s — and virtually every other retail location — now sport the ubiquitous red vending machines that dispense DVD’s, not soft drinks. Thinking he meant a DVD rental,...Read More
“Would you like fries — and a cherry pie, and a latte, and a DVD, and a ??? — with that?” I think it’s fair to say that we live in an “up-selling” world. There’s never just one membership category anymore; there’s “standard,” “deluxe,” and “premiere” (that applies to everything from credit cards to health...Read More