New Leader Wants Golden Arches to Turn Into Halos
For years, McDonald’s has lurched from showcasing new items — Egg White Delight Mc- Muffins! sliced apples! — to mining nostalgia for its Big Macs and fries. Customers still line up at the drive-through window for cheap, quick cups of coffee and hash browns. But the company is also trying to appeal to more finicky eaters .
Can McDonald’s be both fast and bespoke? Cheap and high-quality?
多年來，麥當勞搖擺不定，一下子展示百分百蛋白三明治、切片蘋果等新品，一下子利用人們對大麥克漢堡和薯條的懷念。客人仍舊在得來速窗口前排隊，購買便宜、供應快速的一杯杯咖啡和薯餅，不過這家公司同時也在努力吸引更多挑剔的食客。
麥當勞能兼顧快速供餐和訂做、便宜和高品質嗎？
Steve Easterbrook , who took over as the chief executive on March 1, thinks so. He has presented a new vision of McDonald’s as “a modern, progressive burger and breakfast restaurant” where “customization and made to order” are essential .
His first major act as C.E.O. was to announce that within two years chicken served at the restaurants would be free of antibiotics, or at least those antibiotics also used in humans. It was a big move for McDonald’s, which is one of the biggest buyers of chicken .
3月1日接任執行長的伊斯特布魯克認為可以。他提出麥當勞的新願景：既是「摩登又進步的漢堡與早餐餐廳」，同時「客製化和訂做」也必不可少。
他就任執行長後第一個大動作就是宣布，兩年內做到供應的雞肉不含抗生素，至少不含也用於人類的抗生素。這對麥當勞而言是重大決定，麥當勞是雞肉最大買家之一。
A 47-year-old British national, Mr. Easterbrook is credited with turning around the company’s 1,200-store business in Britain in part by doing things — reducing salt , adding organic milk — that appealed to a more health-conscious consumer.
But he may find the challenge in the United States daunting. While McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain, with more than 36,000 outlets, about 14,000 of those in the United States, same-store sales have fallen over the last five years, and last year the company turned in a miserable performance.
47歲的伊斯特布魯克是英國籍，麥當勞在英國1200家分店業績好轉，他功不可沒，部分原因是他在餐點中減少鹽分、增加有機牛奶，吸引了比較在意健康的消費者。
不過他可能會在美國面對極大挑戰。麥當勞是全球最大連鎖餐廳，3萬6000多家分店約有1萬4000家在美國，近五年單店業績持續下滑，去年麥當勞業績慘澹。
The fast-food market has splintered . Upscale fast-casual restaurants like Smashburger and Chipotle attract customers who will pay $5.99 for the Classic Smash burger (“handcrafted” and “seared and seasoned to order”) or $6.65 for a steak burrito (“organic and local produce where practical”). The menu might be full of calories, but it comes with a halo of quality. The McDonald’s core customer, on the other hand, is still looking for a $3.99 Big Mac, served fast.
速食市場分裂成很多塊。高級快速休閒餐廳如Smashburger和Chipotle吸引的客人，願意花5.99美元買「手工製作」、「可調整燒烤程度和調味料」的經典Smash堡，或花6.65美元買「有機、本地食材」的牛排捲餅。菜單上的餐點也許熱量很高，卻有高品質的光環。在另一方面，麥當勞的核心客群仍在尋找3.99美元、快速供應的大麥克。
Rivals of McDonald’s are winning on taste and image. To catch them, the company might have to sacrifice speed, which has been its main advantage. And even on that score, it’s not doing so well.
Ten years ago, customers placing drive-through orders would have their food in an average of 152 seconds . Today, the same order takes 189.5 seconds , according to research from Janney Montgomery Scott. The longer wait times are primarily the result of efforts to make McDonald’s more relevant in a premium, fast-casual world.
麥當勞的對手贏在口味和形象。麥當勞要趕上，可能得犧牲素來最大的優勢——速度。而即使在速度這一點上，它也沒有做得很好。
珍妮金融服務公司研究顯示，十年前，在得來速車道點餐的顧客平均花152秒拿到餐點，現在卻要189.5秒。時間拉長的主因是，麥當勞力圖在優質快速休閒餐飲市場變得更有份量。
The latest turnaround by Mc- Donald’s is a Create Your Own tablet that allows people to custom- build their sandwiches from a menu of meats, toppings and buns. Barry Klein, the former McDonald’s marketing executive who created Ronald Mc- Donald, tried it out. He said the burger he got could compete with those at higher-rated chains , but it was about $1.50 more than a Big Mac . The new burgers can be ordered only inside restaurants, and they take seven or eight minutes to prepare . “When something like two-thirds of the business is drive-through,” Mr. Klein said, “this is not the solution.”
麥當勞最近一次改弦更張是試辦「創造你自己的口味」活動，讓人們從菜單上挑選肉類、配料和麵包，隨意組合成三明治。決定試辦的是創造「麥當勞叔叔」的麥當勞行銷部前總裁克萊恩。他說，他調配出的漢堡足以跟高價連鎖餐廳的漢堡比拚，但比大麥克貴了大約1.5美元。這種新漢堡只能在餐廳裡點，花7、8分鐘製作。克萊恩說：「當得來速大約占了業務量的三分之二時，這並非制勝之道。」
Mike Donahue, who led communications at McDonald’s from 1987 until 2006, said the company had allowed itself to be defined by others. “Instead of telling consumers that they sell more chicken than beef and are the Number 1 seller of apples, for instance, they’ve allowed the fringe groups and so-called influencers to define McDonald’s as the company that’s made America fat,” he said.
1987到2006年領導麥當勞公關部門的唐納修說，麥當勞允許自己被別人定義，「比方說，不告訴消費者麥當勞賣出的雞肉比牛肉多、麥當勞是全國最會賣蘋果的店，反而任由非主流團體和所謂有影響力的人給麥當勞下定義，把它說成讓美國人發胖的公司」。
The new marketing campaign, “Our Food, Your Questions,” is an attempt by McDonald’s to take back its story. Consumers can watch short videos that answer questions such as “What’s in a Chicken McNugget?” (meat from the chicken breast, tenderloin and ribs ground with a small amount of chicken skin).
Mr. Easterbrook’s first big marketing move indicated that he was reaching for the halo — the perception of quality — floating above some of his rival companies.
“It can’t be all things to all people,” Mr. Donahue said. “It has to decide.”
麥當勞新行銷活動「我們的食品，您的疑問」就是麥當勞試著拿回定義權的行動。消費者可以看短片，影片回答各種問題，如「麥克雞塊裡面有什麼？」麥克雞塊由雞胸、腰部嫩肉和肋骨周邊肉與少量雞皮組成。
伊斯特布魯克祭出第一個重大行銷決定顯示，他已向部分同業頂上那「高品質印象」的光環伸出了手。
唐納修說：「魚與熊掌不可得兼，總要取捨。」
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