Behold The Burger Meister

USAmerican icon McDonald's is the epitome of what it means to be an American. International consumers around the globe flock to McDonald's in their country as if they were not just eating lunch but also somehow tasting a few morsels of American culture.

While in China four years ago I noticed people flocking to McDonald's to buy a Big Mac meal (sandwich, fries, Coke) for 17 RMB (about $2.15US), which while cheap by US standards, represented a huge portion of most Chinese worker's weekly wages.

Maybe it was the thought of eating under the golden arches in the shadow of a smiling plastic Ronald McDonald statue that allowed people to temporarily escape their sitz im lieben (life setting). Maybe it was just a nice departure from years on end of noodles, rice, and vegetables.

Or maybe they just wanted to get fat like us.

Meanwhile, back in the US, sales at McDonald's were starting to head south. In fact, by March 2003 McD's stock price had tanked at historic lows. This caused the company to awaken from its slumber and try to figure out what was going wrong. And so it started doing what many would consider to be the antithesis of McDonald's and its burger-laden menu: it started adding more salads and chicken items. In summer 2005 it launched a fruit salad (pears, grapes, apples, with a low-fat yogurt dip). It has added white-meat chicken sandwiches. Campbell's Soup is available as a side dish.

And they even made an adult Happy Meal that came with a pedometer.

By early 2006 sales had rebounded, and the stock price has tripled. Execs are happy, because people are coming back to the Golden Arches.

Credit is given to the new menu items (click here for the article) for reviving sales. But ironically, the company contends that burgers are still its mainstay. In fact, any casual observer would be hard-pressed to find others buying these healthier items. McD's confesses that the "80-20" applies to them: 80% of sales are accounted for by 20% of the product items.

In which case, that means burgers and fries.

So how could all those healthier new items be padding the bottom line?

Easy. Those new items broaden the appeal of a restaurant like McDonald's. Imagine yourself in a group trying decide where to eat. If there's one health freak in the bunch, their diet can trump anything. And there's often one in every group.

I speak from experience. I've been the resident health freak among my peeps for many years, and since my friends are respectful, they try to accommodate me as best they can. Which means we don't go to most fast food places, BBQs, or steak joints. Unless they have something healthy on the menu.

Thus, the new healthier items allows McD's to appease the resident health freak, and allow the whole group to dine. The result is that the rest of the group orders what they would normally buy (burgers and fries), while the healthier items are available for those who are cautious.

Great marketing!

While I am still not impressed with the healthier items McD's has offered, I do salute them for waking up and recognizing that the health freak is the one driving the car, so to speak. Satisfy him or her, and the whole group can eat there.

McDonald's has certainly seen its share of troubles lately. Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me didn't help any. But the corporate giant has turned on a dime and is moving in the right direction. If they keep improving, maybe I'll even give my nod of approval and stop by.

As for those Chinese tripping over themselves to get a Big Mac, I can only hope they realize the folly of their ways. Their native menu is so much healthier than McDonald's. They just don't realize the magnitude of their trade.

For two bucks they can do a lot better.

Dr "Health Freak" Gerlich