Sometimes even marketing mavens make
mistakes. When an iconic brand the ilk
of McDonald’s reveled its ‘next generation To-Go Model’ that model looked more
like something that it could have rolled out in the mid-1990’s. We had to ask
just what are they doing? Why because this ‘Next Gen” program was packed with
industry and customer relevance back in 1999.
However today it is not according to the team at Tacoma, WA based www.FoodserviceSolutions.us.
According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at
Foodservice Solutions® the “Next Generation To-Go Model” looked much, much more
like yesterday’s retail foodservice model than today’s and a far cry from
tomorrow’s restaurant business model.” Just ask Ruby Tuesday how well
curbside pick-up works? Did not drive incremental sales after 8 years for them
did it? How about at
Applebee’s? Has anyone at McDonald’s ever hear of Mobile Augmented-Reality or Integrated Virtual Reality?
Walmart is testing curbside delivery
and last year they spent more money on technology development than they
received in sales from click & collect.
So, when McDonald’s states that it
is adding curbside delivery and altering how customers place drive-thru orders
as part of a revised long-term strategy revealed it looks more like a strategy
developed in cooperation with either an out-of-date industry consultant
or a company selling off the shelf software or both to
the team at Foodservice Solutions®.
No
one reading this industry blog for one minute believes that when McDonald’s
pledged to become “the global leader” in delivery through arrangements with
third-party services has any relevance to anyone other than third-party
delivery companies around the globe.
Members
of the team at www.FoodserviceSolutions.us sold the first 7 national restaurant chains
third-party delivery services in 1999 for a company called CyberSlice that they
helped evolve into CyberMeals, then Food.com.
Regular readers of this blog know this is not 1999; it is 2017 wake-up
retailers.
The
simple fact is McDonald’s only relevance from the “Next Generation To-Go Model’
was to blow a little smoke at financial analyst so they could tell you why to
buy the stock. Customer relevance was
completely missing. The three relevant
pillars were blow smoke at analyst, hide in the smoke, and buy time with
franchises.
CEO
Steve Easterbrook was correct is saying “technology” will be key moving
forward. What was missing from his
statement was customer relevant technology not 1999’s technology. Even an iconic regional fast food retailer
Dick’s Drive-In understands 2017 foodservice marketing technology both Inside-Out and
Outside-In.
The
labor saving kiosks first rolled out by McDonald’s in 2011 are an underpinning
of what McDonald’s is calling the Experience of the Future are way overdue.
Success does leave clues and six years to test a technology? This is 2017.
(2011) yesterday’s tactics are not as customer relevant as they once
could have been for McDonald’s. Simply put yesterday’s tactics are not
tomorrows strategy.
Food branding, Food marketing, Food
positioning, Food pricing, and Food portability have somehow gotten lost in a
sea of big data clearing looking at yesterday’s data points. Food first, technology second
according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® who’s team by the way sold those first seven national
accounts for online ordering for CyberSlice, CyberMeals, and Food.com and has
kept his hand in the game ever since.
We ask are chain restaurants still relevant? Are your
customer counts sliding? Do you understand today’s foodservice customer
migration? Foodservice Solutions® team
does. Where, How, and When do customers
want to obtain fresh prepared food? Looking for clues? Try Outside- Eye’s for
inside results www.FoodserviceSolutions.us 253-759-7869.
Below 2010
Drive-Thru C-store eerily similar don’t you think? #NothingNew
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