Is McDonald's Going Plastic-Free

Customer relevance is always top-of-mind at McDonald’s and customer touchpoints on hot button issues for all chain restaurants today according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

Regular readers of this blog know that our Grocerant Guru® continues to tout that one of the hallmarks of the grocerant niche is the ‘halo’ of better-for-you.  Consumers are dynamic not static and McDonald’s understands that as a key player within the grocerant niche everything that they do to ‘get better’ add relevance for consumers.

So, McDonald’s is testing wooden spoons and edible condiment cups replace less eco-friendly options at "Better McDonald's" locations in Germany. McDonald's currently has more than 1,470 restaurants scattered throughout Germany, but for 10 days in June, customers at its location inside the Mall of Berlin had a completely different experience when they ordered a Hamburger Royal Käse or a Schokolinsen-Saurer Apfel McFlurry. If that taste as good as it sounded that would be enough for me but not McDonald’s.

So all of the test stores service burgers in packaging made from grass and they could've eaten that McFlurry with a small wooden spoon. From June 17 through June 26, the restaurant temporarily reinvented itself as the Better McDonald's Store — and, from a sustainability perspective, that wasn't just a clever name according to press reports.

So, the ‘Better McDonald's’ Store was completely plastic-free, which allowed the company to test out some alternatives to single-use plastics and to receive customer feedback on each of those items. In addition to paper straws, wooden cutlery, and grass-paper burger cartons, condiments and dipping sauces were served in edible waffle cups, and Chicken McNuggets were handed out in paper bags instead of cardboard cartons.

Diana Wicht, the Sustainability Department Head for McDonald's Germany, said in a statement said "Normally, McDonald's goes out with perfect solutions. This time we said, 'We don't have perfect solutions yet… please help us!'"

On note, earlier this year, McDonald's replaced the plastic straws in its U.K. locations with paper straws, and they weren't exactly well-received: more than 53,000 people have signed a petition asking McDonald's to bring back the plastic. (The campaign creator's reason for his big ask? "So I can drink my milkshake proper.")

Reports from Germany as far as Berlin's Better McDonald's went, the McTesters gave high marks to the grass-paper packaging and to the fully edible sauce cups, but they weren't sold on wooden cutlery, with almost half of those surveyed describing the taste of the spoon as 'woody.'  Cleary no pun intended.

Canadian versions of the Better McDonald's Store are being tested in Ontario and British Columbia, and Food & Wine has reached out to McDonald's to see if there are any plans for a similar concept in the United States.  How are you testing disruption? What’s in your supply chain pipeline? How many customer touchpoints would you have to change to drive incremental relevance?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant

Coffee Catches Customers

Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and convenience stores are all garnering incremental customers, top line sales, and bottom line profits driven by an increased demand in fresh full flavored coffee according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today consumers purchase an average of 3.6 beverages per week from c-stores, restaurants, and new non-traditional foodservice locations. Simply put ‘On-the-go’ beverage consumption is fueling coffee visits thus foodservice outlet visits according to Johnson. In fact 64% of consumers have drank coffee within the past month, either at home or from a foodservice outlet.

Erica Colgan, Product Manager at Huhtamaki stated that many of these visits are likely happening on-the-go. “In general, consumer lifestyles are becoming more mobile”... “Coffee has always been an important part of the morning routine for many people, but with busier schedules, it’s often easier to grab a cup to go while on the way to work, school or errands.”

Colgan continued “A great to-go cup starts with proper insulation. While many busy professionals don’t have the time to linger over a cup of coffee in the morning, they want it to stay hot on the go. Not only do quality cups keep beverages at the right temperature for a longer period of time, but they also make it more comfortable to hold—something that’s important for customers who stop in before their morning commutes. “With proper insulation, drinks will stay hot and the cup stays comfortable to the touch, making it easier to hold during commutes and while on-the-go,”

Fresh fast full flavored coffee service in the morning has incremental brand-building power for foodservice outlets. Retail foodservice outlets can print logos and other branding on the outside of cups, which increases brand recall for consumers. With branded cups, an operator can gain additional exposure. Colgan says “allows operators to showcase their brand in a high-quality way. And now, the extended sleeve provides even more room for branding.”

More and more municipalities are banning legacy plastic and Styrofoam cups.  Are you prepared with the proper cups for takeout?  Do your brand cups look more like yesterday than tomorrow? The best-designed to-go cups will take into consideration consumer needs and preferences, and adapt to those needs.

Success does leave clues and being prepared with branded cups of fresh brewed coffee that is full flavored is a clue not operator should over look.  Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869