"branding" news and stories

Fast Food News recently pointed out an interesting little article on the ways fast food companies produce their "grilled" chicken. The piece, which ran in Fast Company, details the process of how chicken breasts are flavored en masse in a "tumble marinator" before being cooked by jets of hot air and then sent under the hot branding wheels of machines like the CM-40 II Charmarker to get that fresh off the grill look (right). Then they're frozen and shipped. A Burger King chicken breast has over 30 ingredients and Panera's grilled chicken is flavored with beef extract, according to Fast Company. Coincidentally, Fast Food news had another funny post about using meat as a condiment.

McDonald's is looking to improve its image - literally. The company has recently rolled out a plan to overhaul and update all of its 30,000 global locations. The goal of this makeover is to refresh the look of the brand, which company officials say seems dated, not having  had a makeover since the early 1990s. The company will keep its signature red and gold colors, but will tone them down and add olive and sage greens to their color scheme.  The stores' roofs will now be flat and slanting, with a leaner, more modern look and a lot of the bright plastic features will be replaced with brick and wood but the golden arches will still be prominently featured

The biggest changes will be seen in the appearance of the restaurants, inside and out. Dining areas will be divided into "three sections with distinct personalities." One will be a "linger" area, with plush chairs and WiFi, similar to Starbucks cafes. The "grab and go" area will have tall counters and stools, as well as plasma TVs with news and weather reports.  Finally, the "flexible" area will have booths for families and other groups who are dining in.

Would a makeover make you more likely to eat in McDonald's restaurants? To "hang out" there as you might in a Starbucks?

 

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Starbucks is making inroads into France, one of the two countries in the world most famous for its cafe culture, but the process is a long and slow one. In France, operating costs are extremely high and the competition is stiff; the long standing national past time of lounging in cafes has produced very high quality coffees and loyal patrons that are formidable competition for the American chain. And though Starbucks is slowly gaining acceptance from its French consumers, the mainstay of its clientele is foreign, which is why Starbucks has chosen to in tourist heavy areas and branch outwards.

Lines form out the doors at Paris locations, mostly of Asian and American tourists. The tourists are likely to order more traditional drinks, like espressos, but come for the familiar feel of the large, comfortable cafe, not to mention the smoke-free atmosphere that they maintain. More and more frequently there are French university students and young professions joining the queue, looking for something over-the-top that they can only find at the American cafe. Starbucks is finding its new niche in the country, despite the fact that there are only 23 outlets in France, compared to more than 55,000 traditional cafes there. Will Starbucks' popularity prove to be real competition for the other cafes? Unlikely, and certainly not in the near future, but it will probably be able to hold its own, even if it operates on a limited scale.

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