About a week or so ago I was reading the Sunday Honolulu Star Advertiser, which serves also as really good toilet paper. My only purpose of this paper is that they publish a daily Jumble puzzle and I love vocabulary scrambles.
Anyway, I get to the financial section, which is second best to the obituary page, and I see this article written by Charles Passy, who I assume writes for The Wall Street Journal Sunday. What got me was the title, 10 Things McDonalds Won’t tell You. How could I resist giving him credit and giving you a laugh?
Before listing the 10 points, he states that the food may be getting better, but the business is getting worse for Mickey D’s (my choice of the name). Now, for his 10 revelations:
1. We may have lost the recipe to our secret sauce.
Ah, McDonald’s, where we feast on Big Macs, Egg McMuffins and even the occasional sweet-chili chicken McWrap. In the U.S., the fast-food chain, founded in 1948, has sales almost three times as big as its nearest competitor.
Worldwide, the company serves almost 70 million customers a day, in more than 100 countries. In 2014, such feasting equated to revenue of $27.4 billion.
But these days, things don’t seem golden under the Golden Arches. McDonald’s recently reported that its net income in the fourth quarter of 2014 dropped by 21 percent from a year earlier. And in January, the company changed management, with CEO Don Thompson retiring.
What’s behind the company’s woes? Some restaurant experts cite the Chipolte factor: Fast-casual chains- widely seen as healthier, and more popular with millenials – are grabbing market share. Others fault the proliferation of new items on the menu, which has been linked to slower service.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Becca Hary says that 2014 was a difficult year and performance fell short of our expectations, but that our management team is focused on regaining momentum.
2. We say opportunity; others say low-wage job.
About 1.9 million people worldwide work for McDonald’s. And, like other fast-food chains, McDonald’s has come under fire for paying low wages.
PayScale, a firm that tracks compensation data, puts McDonald’s median pay for restaurant workers at $7.74 an hour, slightly below that of such competitors as Burger King at $7.96 and Wendy’s at $7.87. The nationwide minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Ms. Hary says the company supports “fair wages” aligned with a competitive market-place, and adds that any increase in the minimum wage should be gradual, to minimize its impact on employers.
3. We may not be as charitable as we seem.
McDonald’s philanthropic efforts focus on its Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) organization, which maintains 300 residences that provide housing for families when a child is being treated at a nearby hospital.
But some critics have questioned how generous McDonald’s is. A 2013 report by public-health lawyer Michele Simon found that McDonald’s provided only one-fifth of the funding for RMHC in 2012. Simon also reported that McDonald’s gave 0.32 percent of its pretax profits to charity (based on a six-year average), while other corporations of similar size gave an average of 1.01 percent.
McDonald’s declined to comment on Ms. Simon’s report.
4. For every Big Mac success, we have plenty of Hula Burger flops.
The Big Mac, the Quarter Pounder and the McRib are some of McDonald’s iconic inventions. But the chain has also launched its share of duds. Among them: the Hula Burger (with a slice of grilled pineapple substituting for a beef patty), McSalad Shakers (a salad served in a cup), and even a McPizza.
Wall Street analysts say McDonald’s recent paucity of breakthrough items has some investors concerned.
5. We’ve faced plenty of challenges overseas.
McDonald’s has a strong presence in cities around the world, from Abu Dhabi to Zagreb. But over the past year, the chain has run into headline-grabbing issues abroad.
In China, its meat supplier was accused of selling goods beyond their shelf life. And after McDonald’s closed restaurants in Crimea following Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian region, several of the chain’s restaurants in Moscow, Sochi and other cities, ostensibly because of sanitation issues.
In a conference call before his retirement was announced, Mr. Thompson said McDonald’s was in recovery mode in Russia and China with a focus on winning customers back.
6. We’re still blamed for the obesity epidemic.
After the 2004 release of the documentary Super-Size Me, in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald’s food for 30 days and gained 24 pounds, McDonald’s became a symbol of fast food’s role in America’s obesity epidemic.
Since then, McDonald’s had added more menu items that nutritionists approve of, and eliminated the supersize option. But, nutritionists still fault much of its menu items as high in calories and saturated fat. Ms. Hary says the chain is providing information to enable our guests to make informed choices.
7. Pink-slime wasn’t our only controversial ingredient.
In 2011, McDonald’s was ahead of its competitors in removing a controversial ingredient from its hamburgers – a finely textured beef dubbed pink-slime by critics.
But food-safety advocates continue to express concern about McDonald’s beef, which isn’t hormone-free (some critics believe the hormones pose a health risk), and its breads, which contain azodicarbonamide, a chemical that makes breads fluffier but is also found in yoga mats.
McDonald’s says it is committed to being transparent about the ingredients it uses, and that it will begin purchasing verifiable sustainable beef in 2016 (until then, screw um).
8. Our franchisees aren’t always happy campers.
In the U.S., 90 percent of McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated by franchisees. But there’s dissension in the franchise ranks: in a recent survey by Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski, some franchisees expressed frustration with the company for its marketing efforts and for making changes too slowly. Ms. Hary says the study captures the views of a small number of the chain’s 2,00-plus franchisees.
Franchisees have also complained about new menu items that result in slower service. Our kitchen comes to a halt when we get an order for a McWrap, one franchisee told The Wall Street Journal last year.
9. There could be more than one Ronald.
Ronald McDonald has been part of the company’s marketing for more than50 years. The red-haired clown makes appearances everywhere from McDonald’s restaurants to schools and libraries. He’s on Twitter, and even takes selfies.
But while Ronald’s schedule would seem to demand deployment of multiple clowns, McDonald’s doesn’t publicly acknowledge that it employs more than one Ronald.
10. We’ve got a secret menu.
Like Starbuck’s and other chains, McDonald’s has a secret menu – widely discussed online – of dishes that can be created by piercing together ingredients from established items.
The Poor Man’s Big Mac, for example, is a McDouble burger with extra lettuce and special sauce instead og ketchup and mustard. The Chicken McGriddle is a McChicken patty between two McGriddle cakes. And, the Land, Sea and Air Burger? It’s a gut-busting alalgam of a Big Mac, a Filet-O-Fish and a MCchicken sandwich.
And this is how a reporter that values his job writes about McDonald’s. For me, instead of Golden Arches, the logo should be a Toilet Bowl to emphasize the fact that McDonald’s craps on everyone and anyone with no prejudice to race, color, religion or sexual preference.
The fact that they will change to a “better” beef in a year means that first we use up what we’ve got and then we buy new stuff that resembles beef.
But they are loved. Imagine what the pharmaceutical industry would be like without “Crapola D’s” and how many customers (Oh, I mean patients) the medical profession would lose if the fast food restaurants closed.
Wanna have some fun with an experiment? Go buy a Big Mac, take it home and put it somewhere while it’s in its original, unopened package for at least a month. Then go find it and open it. Betcha it’s still like it was when you bought it. The horrors thrust upon us never end.
Aloha!
About Hesh:
I have been doing a radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called “Health Talk”. To listen to the show please tune into 1080 or 108 am or go to www.kwai1080am.com on your computer at 8am Hawaii time. FYI, 8 am Hawaii time is 10 am on the West coast and 2 pm on the East coast. To call in, the number is (808) 524-1080.
Now, American Voice Radio will be picking up my streamed show and playing it all week until the next one takes place. To listen, go to americanvoiceradio.com and click on my link at AVR 2. Starting in December I will be doing another radio show on AVR at 9:00 am Hawaii time on Thursday mornings. Just go to the website, click on AVR 1, and listen live or tune in later and listen via the archive to Health Talk with Hesh.
See you on the radio!
In 2007, I was “forced” to get a masters degree in Nutrition to stop all the doctors from calling in asking what my credentials were. Besides that, they never liked it when I asked them what their credentials were that would enable them to treat an illness without drugs or surgery.
If you go to www.healthtalkhawaii.com and click on Podcasts and Articles, there are years of shows there as well as hundreds of health related articles that are completely free to listen to and read.
I am an activist. I am vehemently opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation, and everything else that the “pimps” (big pHarma, Monsanto, and the large food companies), and the “hookers” (the doctors, the government agencies, the Public Health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the “tricks”.
At 75, I am in 3 softball leagues, racewalk, do stand-up paddling, hike, swim, do weights and cardio, and teach women’s self-defense classes based upon 20 years of Wing Chun training. I have been a vegetarian since 1975 and a vegan since 1990, have no illnesses and take no meds.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child, I developed asthma, which plagued me until 2008 when I learned about and started taking the organic sulfur crystals. My asthma was reversed in 3 days and has not come back.
So far, 26 cases of autism that we know about have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, asthma, osteoarthritis, joint pain, gingivitis, and erectile dysfunction. The sulfur has increased sexual activity, eliminated toxins, heavy metals, radiation, and parasites. It speeds up athletic recovery time, increases blood circulation, reduces inflammation, increases resistance to the “flu”, reduces wrinkles, allergies, PMS, monthly period pain, migraines, nausea, lowering high blood pressure, raising low blood pressure and way more, because the oxygen that the sulfur releases floods and heals the cells in the body.
The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids.
You can find out more about this on my website under Products.
My book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”, which has been published, can be viewed and purchased at www.asanediet.com. The book clearly explains why what you eat, for the most part, is designed to keep you in a state of declining health.
I have recently discovered two amazing super foods – Zeal and Shakeology – Zeal contains 30 amazing probiotics, anti-oxidents and more, all designed to build and strengthen the immune system and Shakeology contains 42. What’s great about Shakeology is that it is filling, replaces one meal and keeps you full for hours and helps with weight control and loss. For more info about Shakeology please email me or go to www.beachbodycoach.com/heshgoldstein. The good news about Shakeology is if you are not satisfied after 30 days the company will refund you.
And now I have come across an amazing bee pollen that is so soft it melts in your mouth and has so many benefits. It is rich in vitamin B12 and all B vitamins, proteins, minerals, beneficial fatty acids, carotenoids, bioflavenoids, antioxidants, antihistamines, enzymes, antibiotics, and natural phenylalanine, which acts as an appetite suppressant, and more.
My daily regimen consists of one teaspoon of the crystals twice a day, one scoop of the Zeal in cold water, one packet of Shakeology either in 8 to 12 ounces of water or added to my smoothie and a heaping tablespoon of bee pollen. For more about Shakeology please go to www.beachbodycoach.com/heshgoldstein.
Hesh Goldstein, MSNutri
“Health Talk” Moderator, K-108 Radio
POB 240783, Honolulu, Hi 96824
(808) 258-1177
www.healthtalkhawaii.com
www.asanediet.com
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