A few days before, people received a piece of shocking news that was about McDonald’s. It came out that it had suddenly shut one of its outlets in the USA, after a long period of eighteen years. The restaurant was situated inside Walmart. It was closed on March 31, 2021. Although the reasons for this decision have not been made public by the company, however, its representative and spokesperson in the USA, Ms. Lindsay Rainey, had a talk with the media and told some essential information about this decision. She said to them that the restaurant closed recently was actually among the three restaurants in Walmart that have decided to terminate operations there.
As reported by her, this restaurant and the other two that were closed were low-volume restaurants inside Idaho Walmart. This can be the primary reason for their closure as their local franchisees showed their willingness for the closure of their facilities. On the other hand, the large-volume restaurants will keep on doing their business in Walmart stores, at different locations.
The location of other restaurants that were closed was not disclosed by her. Last July, it was announced McDonald’s that had plans to close low-volume restaurants in the USA. It was because they recorded a low sales volume. The count of the restaurants that were included in the list to be closed permanently was two hundred. However, it had around 14,000 restaurants and stores in the USA.
Background:
McDonald’s Corporation is a famous American fast food company which is spread almost across the whole world. It was founded in 1940 and since then has continued to grow at a magnificent pace. The first restaurant of this food chain was opened in California, United States of America, by Maurice McDonald and Richard McDonald.
They started off as a small hamburger stand and then, with their hard work and strategic planning, transformed it into a large franchise. Its world-famous Golden Arches logo was introduced in 1953 in Arizona. In 1955 the McDonald fast-food chain was acquired by Ray Kroc from the McDonald brothers. He had earlier joined McDonald’s as a franchise agent and later became the founder of the McDonalds Corporation. Its global headquarter has been moved from Oak Brook, Illinois, to Chicago in June 2018.
If we calculate their revenue, it is the world’s largest restaurant chain to earn the most income. It has its outlets in about a hundred countries where over sixty-nine million customers are served daily. The estimated quantity of its outlets is near 37, 855. McDonald’s offers a wide range of fast food items such as hamburgers, French fries, cheeseburgers, wraps, breakfast items, milkshakes, desserts, and soft drinks.
It is best known for its signature hamburgers, French fries, and cheeseburgers. It also started offering fruit, fish, smoothies, and salads after facing backlash from people for serving unhealthy food. McDonald’s primary sources of revenue are rents, franchise fees, royalties, and restaurants’ sales. It is regarded as the world’s ninth-highest brand with the most valuation. It is also known for its large number of employees that are above 1.7 million.
Possible reasons:
Some people think that the closure occurred due to the pandemic; however, their previously mentioned announcement shows that they had planned before the pandemic. The spread of COVID-19 all across the world may have caused these plans’ execution to be accelerated.
Since the pandemic has made us live with some absolute rules, people are opting for contact-less procedures in almost everything as far as they are available. As we see, in traveling, they want to have as little contact with other people as possible. Most people book tickets, hotels, conveyance online to avoid physical contact. Similarly, in other activities like banking and education, we have seen a trend of contact-less or online performance of activities like e-banking and online nursing assignment writing service uk.
This may be the reason that the restaurants offering drive-thru facilities showed a much speedy recovery from the effects of COVID-19 than the ones with the only dine-in facility. Also, the restaurants located inside malls or shopping centers heavily depend on tourists. Due to the pandemic, travel bans were imposed everywhere, and places with large public gatherings were also temporarily closed. This is the reason that restaurants located inside malls and shopping centers struggled more during and after the lockdown. Due to a constant fall in revenue, franchisees had to take the decision to close them permanently as they were not capable of continuing business in such a situation.
Since the actual reason is not clearly mentioned. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, all the bases are just speculations that might be true or not. The owner of McDonald’s restaurants in Rexburg, Blackfoot, and Idaho Falls, Trent Chicos, said that they had pretty fair business during the COVID.
When dine-in was suspended in the restaurants, they got benefit from their drive-thru. He also thanked the local community for their constant support for their business during thick and thin. Trent Chicos has been busy restoring the occupied place to its original state before the restaurant was opened there in 2003. Since the restaurant has been closed, they have to return the acquired space in Walmart to its original condition. He also said that he currently has no plan to open another McDonald’s store in Eastern Idaho.
Employee Management:
With the closure of a business, the major problem comes in the form of a source of livelihood for its employees. McDonald’s showed a responsible attitude and polite behavior in this regard. Instead of just closing the restaurant and bidding farewell to its employees, it offered its employees job opportunities in other stores in the area. This shows their sense of responsibility and loyalty to their employees as they give priority to their workforce and acknowledge their contribution to the firm’s success.
Rainey expressed his views on this decision and told the media that although terminating business in a restaurant and its permanent closure is a challenging decision, however, they look forward to opportunities and are determined to serve their customers with other stores in the area.