McDonalds Profitability

Source: http://www.skinnytwinkie.com/

• Briefly explain why you are interested in studying your topic:  

Mcdonald's is the second most popular restaurant in the world (behind only subway) I want to explore how much gross income Mcdonald's has annually and what are the greatest factors behind their profit.

• The overall question I plan on answering by the end of the project:

What affects the profitability of Mcdonalds menu choices?

• Sub questions I will need to answer in order to answer the overall question:

How will all-day breakfast benefit the revenue of mcdonalds?

What have been the greatest factors in mcdonald's success?

Which menu items create the most revenue?

how has management changed the face of Mcdonald’s to increase profit?

what promotions bring in the most revenue each year?

How has the dollar menu affected Mcdonald's?

• My plan of research (what specific Library Databases, specific websites, names of authors, people, etc. will I pursue to find the answers to the questions above):

1. The database ‘Teen Health and Wellness’ would be a good database that I can research to understand how the health craze in the United States has affected the choices the public makes on fast food and Mcdonalds
2. I will also use the ‘Teen Health and Wellness’ to look deeper into how putting the nutritional label onto all food items has affected profitability.
3. i'm going to use the ‘Global Issues in Context’ to research how the profitability of fast food changes when money gets tight and compare yearly revenue with economic prosperity.
4. I will use the ‘Student research center’ to look further into recent articles about all day breakfast, saturated fat, and the “dollar menu”.
5. I'm going to use ‘Proquest: research library’ to look into the business of Mcdonald's and who is behind operations at each location.

http://marketrealist.com/2014/01/key-threats-can-cause-mcdonalds-profitability-fall-cliff/

Key threats that can cause McDonald’s profitability to fall off a cliff

McDonald's is the most popular fast food restaurant in the World. With over a billion stores and counting, minor changes to the business model results in changes of thousands of dollars. There are many factors that determine how the franchise will stand in the constantly changing business world. Since 2005 McDonald's has seen an increase in nearly 10 million dollars annually.  Part of this growth is accredited to the healthier menu options. In a survey by the Washington post a simple survey showed people would rather pay more for healthier food than less for cheap food. As of 2010 McDonald's began recording all nutritional facts on food items sold. After the implemented the nutritional code the corporation saw their largest jump in annual revenue since 1996. In an article by the Market Realist McDonald' "business model is built around growing comparable sales to realize margin leverage". McDonald's credits itself with comparing their model with other fast food chains and making changes accordingly. In conclusion, there are many factors in the operations of McDonald's and by minimizing costs they are able to maximize on profitability.