Today, McDonalds's celebrates its 50th birthday. Well, sort of. It's 50 years since Dick and Mac McDonald opened their first restaurant - a drive through - in San Bernardino, California in 1948. However, the restaurant we know today came about through a meeting with a salesman called Ray Kroc. It was he that created the consistency of product and branding that is now so familiar in the fast food sector. Nevertheless, this master of global branding and marketing consistency isn't immune from the vagaries of modern consumers.
Corporate homogeneity has been hugely successful for McDonalds, as any British high street (or indeed most shopping districts of any city in the world) will attest. Many others have duplicated this business model such that today people of different cultures across the globe will sit down in almost identical suroundings to sip Starbucks Coffee, share Pizza Hut pizza, or gobble KFC chicken.
Yet the consumer landscape in fast food is changing, with higher expectations of choice and variety and a growing concern about obesity. McDonalds has answered back with new healthy choices and a comparison of the menus from different countries, even the US and UK, reveals that they're not so homogenous as they once were. Some analysts have criticised the company for confusing and alienating its core customers.
Yet the need for change is a powerful demonstration of the strength of local culture over corporate culture. McDonalds has been forced to bow to regional demands to stem a decline and maintain its success. It's clear that whoever you are, your product and brand will always need to be adapted when entering foreign markets. That McDonalds is able to at least attempt this is testament to its skill in understanding consumers, though it will not be easy for a company that's grown on regimented uniformity.
Other brands had better take heed. Though McDonald's universality puts it first in the cross-hairs, other chains will also become targets. The lesson is simple - understand your local market, then adapt to it or die. For some however, it may be a lesson that's just to hard to learn.
