McDonalds Case Study

What are the benefits to McDonald’s of having a slightly different menu in different locations around the world? What are the costs of doing so?

By opening in different locations and countries, McDonalds opens itself to a larger market.

McDonald’s offers a slightly different menu in different locations around the world in order to attract more customers. By “personalizing” the menu in a location, McDonalds try to adapt its menu to fit more the customers while keeping the spirit of the brand. Mcdonalds tries to adapt their menu to reflect diferent tastes and traditions. By adding differents ingredients or naming a burger differently, McDonald’s tries to push the customers to identify themselves to the brand. The customers feel that McDonald’s is part of their culture since it follows its aspects and tastes. This move leads to a higher market share for McDonalds in the fast food industry of the countries in which they have opened restaurants.

However, opening in different locations comes with some costs. Every country has its own policies in terms of opening new restaurants or developping menu items. The legal factors can be costly regarding the country where restaurants are opened.

At what point does a heavily differentiated menu result in McDonald’s not being a McDonald’s anymore?

Some items in McDonalds menu are iconic and cannot be left apart regardless of the location. A heavily differentiated menu will definitely result in losing the essence of the brand. McDonald’s has to be McDonald’s with all the iconic items that we know all over the world. By trying to identify to a certain tradition or culture, McDonald’s could become a regular fast-food of the location and lose its originality of being a McDonald’s.