McDonald’s/Burger King Analysis
Sunny Kumar
Overview
McDonald’s and Burger King have competed as the top two fast food chains in the nation since the middle of the twentieth century. Both of these companies established a strategy built around delivering food at a fast pace and in a consistent quality. The cases at hand revolve around one McDonald’s and one Burger King, both located in Hillybourne, so as to provide a level backdrop to compare the two restaurants in more depth. This analysis will first compare and contrast the two Hillybourne operations; looking at their production process, strategy, and overall impact on competition, profit, and strategy. The second section of this analysis will compare the operations of the Hillybourne McDonald’s with the operations of a modern McDonald’s, as McDonald’s underwent a major shift in production strategy in 2001. Here, we will look to the change in process, and the impact of such change on McDonald’s positioning, competitive viability, and sustainability.
Analysis:
Part A: McDonald’s Case vs. Burger King Case:
Process Maps/Analysis:
Looking first at the McDonald’s process map from Hillybourne, one can quickly see that it is built for pure speed. Large amounts of burgers and fries can be produced in a short amount of time, and additional inventory is held ready to be sold for when a customer places their order. The process map for the Hillybourne McDonald’s is found in Exhibit A. Burgers, fries, and pies are all created based on estimated sales by the day and hour, and held in inventory for when customers place their orders. Custom orders must be created from the beginning of the cycle. McDonald’s strove to meet a customer wait time at no more than one minute in line and 30 seconds at the counter. The Hillbourne location was just over those marks, at two minutes and three seconds total time. The service process at McDonald’s is shown in Exhibit D. The customer made their order