Understanding Fast Food

I love fast food and have studied the business side of the industry since I was a kid. It all started with my dad who has been a traveling salesman since I can remember. I’d go on road trips with him and by road trips I mean at least 12 hours a day in a car. We’d talk a lot about business, music, politics, and anything else that came up. Fast food is the diet of the traveling salesman and when you eat fast food because you have to, you analyze the companies much deeper than the average consumer.

Let’s start off with the basic players and overview. So what exactly is fast food? Fast food is food that can be purchased in a restaurant or in a drive thru and is quick to obtain when you are in a hurry. Overall everything I will talk about when analyzing the fast food industry applies to almost every restaurant and can be applied to many other food companies and businesses.

When eating fast food frequently and on the road you are looking for what I call the core values. The core values are taste, cleanliness, variety, price, availability, and amenities. Taste and variety are similar because you want food that is different and tastes good. Along with this you can consider how healthy the food is. In many cases companies that offer unique food that is different from the typical fast food offerings gain business because it is healthy. After traveling for a few days or even one day it is nice to have fruits, vegetables, and a real meal that isn’t fast food which is one reason some companies do better than others.

Cleanliness is very important for many reasons. After you have been traveling in a filthy tuna can that is packed with bags, marketing materials, and construction tools and supplies you want to be able to sit in a clean place and relax while you eat. Many restaurants are typically dirty or were dirty but can’t break their image as a dirty place.

    Eating at McDonald's with my dad.                                                                                  My niece eating at McDonald's.  

Now let’s wrap the last three together and get to looking at the current and past fast food industry. Price and availability are two of the most common issues while looking for something to eat. If the restaurant is expensive and you’re on a stipend or you work for a start-up company with low funds, price can be a large factor. Surprisingly food prices vary especially when it comes to getting the best value. Also availability is important when traveling by car. When you are driving through the middle of nowhere sometimes there is only one or two places to pick from. If you travel regularly though you know what is available for hundreds or thousands of miles since you have traveled these same areas over and over. As my sister famously said as a kid, “Dad might be lost but he can always find a McDonald’s.” And the last point is amenities. Amenities used to be the availability of restrooms and free refills but today it has expanded to free Wi-Fi and the number of available power outlets. 

Now let’s analyze the companies and how you win at the fast food game. McDonald’s is king with Starbucks following a similar path. So why is McDonald’s king? The key is that McDonald’s has clean restaurants, good tasting food (some healthier options), good value and prices, they are located on every street corner, and they offer great amenities (they never complain if you use their restrooms with no purchase and they typically have free Wi-Fi). The McDonald’s image is what sets them apart. Many other restaurants have tried to make changes to the core values listed above but they don’t know how to successfully change their image. Also many restaurants don’t understand the core values and have therefore failed. The reason McDonald’s is so successful is because they saw the core values before everyone else and made the changes needed quickly.

When reviewing fast food companies one needs to think about the taste, cleanliness, variety, price, availability, and amenities. McDonald’s has done the best out of any restaurant. But McDonald’s gets trashed talked by everyone and especially health nuts since people now view fast food as being “bad” and since McDonald’s  is the best fast food company they take a majority of this hatred. As for amenities another great fast food company to look at is Starbucks. Starbucks has great friendly customer service, tons of outlets, a variety of food and beverage options, they are basically everywhere (especially on the West coast), offer free Wi-Fi, and I don’t think they would care if I used their restrooms even if I didn’t purchase products which makes them great. As for price, Starbucks has high priced products but they add value in other ways. Overall Starbucks has developed a great image and following because it has followed the core values.

So next time you are thinking about getting some fast food think about why you are choosing to eat where you do. I bet the core values of taste, cleanliness, variety, price, availability, and amenities plays a key role of where you eat. Also think about the restaurants that you won’t eat at and I bet they do poorly on the core values.