Success of Fast Food Restaurants

McDonald's (USA) serves 27 million people every day, 1 million more every year since 2003. Since 2002 McDonald's (USA) have experienced 45 consecutive months of sales increases. In a recent Business Week column, McDonald's CEO James Skinner claims "We've learned. We've evolved. We believe we've cracked the code in the United States."What is the code? Americans like to eat all day long. Most outlets are open 18 hours a day. Others are 24/7. McDonald's essentially want you to stuff yourself from dawn 'till dusk. It seems that many customers are only too happy to oblige. After all, McDonald's have kids play areas, they have McCafe's, they have wide-screen TV's. So it is safe to say that this is a place that knows how to do business.

Taco Bell is also a very successful place of business that is a unit of Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc., made its name promoting its menu to Americans as something straight out of Mexico. But it's a very different dynamic south of the border. Here, the company is projecting a more "American" fast-food image by adding French fries — some topped with cheese, cream, ground meat and tomatoes — to the menu at its first store, which opened in late September in the northern city of Monterrey. Taco Bell has taken pains to say that it's not trying to masquerade as a Mexican tradition."One look alone is enough to tell that Taco Bell is not a 'taqueria'," the company said in a half-page newspaper ad. "It is a new fast-food alternative that does not pretend to be Mexican food."It's still a mixed message for Mexicans like Marco Fragoso, a 39-year-old office worker sitting down for lunch at a traditional taqueria in Mexico City, because the U.S. chain uses traditional Mexican names for its burritos, gorditas, and chalupas. I know it sounds good, thats because it is.

Subway is also a company that many love that has been very successful in this particular niche market. The owner and founder says that "They embraced the idea of educating the convenience-store environment on why branded fast food makes sense there—not Subway in particular, but fast food in general.