First of all, it is a rumour, and the rumour is that Uni-president might be the buyer. Estimated value of Taiwan’s McDonalds franchise is over 20 Billion NTD without considering real estate properties.
If true, I have a few questions:
Why sell Taiwan’s McDonalds franchise when it is seemingly crushing all other fast food businesses in Taiwan?
If the reason is that McDonalds is doing really poorly in the US and could use the money, why not just hold on to it and learn from its success?
Exactly why is McDonalds doing so poorly in the US and Japan, while doing so well in Taiwan?
Taiwan used to have Wendy’s, A&W, Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) and Arby’s. Wendy’s was even featured in Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman to show how young people are turning away from traditional food. I think we can say McDonalds pretty dominate the market. Burger King is hard to find, and even the once very popular KFC seems to be slowly fading into the background. Yet, McDonalds are still opening new stores with its new stand alone store fronts that’s packed everyday.
They must be doing something right here in Taiwan, I just can’t figure out what it is.
Nearest I can tell from this article, Mcdonald’s will sell Its stores to another buyer.
However I’m not sure if that means the private buyer will continue the McDonald’s business under a licenced name or whether McDonald’s as we know it is kaput
On my other link, the article said that McDonald’s isn’t doing so hot in the US so they might need the money?
I think it is all about the real estate. The market in Taiwan is at the top now, and McDonald’s really is a real estate company first and a junk food joint second, so they probably see the upside in getting out of their holdings now.
Companies love to sell of successes, not sure why. It feeds the beast (corporation) immediately, they are not worried about the future, just the current cash flow to look good on their books for investors.
I think Taiwan McDonald’s is successful because it is a place for people to “hang out” and study, and enjoy air conditioning. While they are there they consume products. Taiwan in USA and Japan doesn’t really have this type of customer.
I am noticing KFC in Kaohsiung closing down a lot of stores, it really is too bad. There is no BK in Kaohsiung but there used to be a few. Pretty soon there will be no decent junk food left other than that really atrocious Dan Dan Hamburger.
i much prefer BK over MacDs in taiwan. haven’t bothered with kfc other than the one time and it tasted bland. the problem with most macdonalds here is they still have decor left over from the 80s, i just can’t deal with it.
[quote=“hansioux”]First of all, it is a rumour, and the rumour is that Uni-president might be the buyer. Estimated value of Taiwan’s McDonalds franchise is over 20 Billion NTD without considering real estate properties.
If true, I have a few questions:
Why sell Taiwan’s McDonalds franchise when it is seemingly crushing all other fast food businesses in Taiwan?
If the reason is that McDonalds is doing really poorly in the US and could use the money, why not just hold on to it and learn from its success?
Exactly why is McDonalds doing so poorly in the US and Japan, while doing so well in Taiwan?
Taiwan used to have Wendy’s, A&W, Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) and Arby’s. Wendy’s was even featured in Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman to show how young people are turning away from traditional food. I think we can say McDonalds pretty dominate the market. Burger King is hard to find, and even the once very popular KFC seems to be slowly fading into the background. Yet, McDonalds are still opening new stores with its new stand alone store fronts that’s packed everyday.
They must be doing something right here in Taiwan, I just can’t figure out what it is.[/quote]
They’re cheap (double cheeseburger + drink for 50NT$). And nothing beats cheap food for Taiwanese.
Plus they offer a free air-conditioned, clean space to sit, at least in their newer McCafe-themed restaurants.
Compare that to KFC / Burger King: relatively expensive and not so well maintained restaurants.
Hmm. I’m curious how this is going to go. What with all the food scandals, McDonald’s is one of the last cheap places that I “trust” (as in, I trust them to stretch the rules as far as they can go to reduce costs, but to not quite break the rules or give me oil that’s been in use since the 1980s).
On Burger King: in my experience they don’t clean their restaurants well in Taipei. Taiwanese McDonald’s feel like comfortable middle class places; Taiwanese Burger Kings make me feel like I’ve made seriously bad choices in my life. I still prefer Burger King’s food. Not that either is actually good, mind you, but if I’ve inadvertently wound up in a generic food court, I’ll usually opt for either the Korean place or the hamburger place.
Do other fast food places not succeed here because they’re, gasp, too expensive? Subway seems to have done OK. I’m not sure how Quizno’s or Dairy Queen are doing. I fail to understand why KFC seems to never have the original flavour, which actually has some taste, but only has the, um, puffy fried nominally “spicy” but bland-as-f*ck flavour.
[quote=“hsinhai78”]
They’re cheap (double cheeseburger + drink for 50NT$). And nothing beats cheap food for Taiwanese.
Plus they offer a free air-conditioned, clean space to sit, at least in their newer McCafe-themed restaurants. [/quote]
Sadly the double cheeseburger + coke for 50NTD is gone, and that chicken alternative thinggy is a poor substitute.
Still, it really competes with that dirty lunchbox places, price-wise.
It’s their onion rings that I love. I don’t think I’ve ever had onion rings that I really liked in Taiwan. Oh, there was one place - the Burger Stop’s (RIP) onion strings. Those were good.
Sigh. The Burger Stop. Probably the best burgers, and definitely the best shakes and onion ringy-stringy things I’ve had in Taiwan.
Well, I also prefer BK to McD. In any case, Taiwanese customers are Brand victims, meaning that they fall prey of any “hen you ming” brand, in any sector (food, clothes, tech, and so on). This is one of the reasons Apple products are so popular here (in market percentage), compared to Europe, for example, without even having official apple stores in Taiwan.
McDonald’s has been THE fast food brand for decades, and for Taiwanese, a popular brand restaurant chain is usually the place to go, even when they have better alternatives (BK also offers free Wi-Fi, for example, and the specials they make like the black pepper burgers they have now, are vastly superior to what McD offers, in my opinion).
In the western world, there’s an oversaturation of advertisements, and most people I know pay little to no attention to them if it’s not something they’re really interested in. Many westerners have also learned that brands might matter in certain situations, but it’s better to either spend a little bit more to get a better option, or spend a little less to get something about the same quality.
Taiwan used to have Wendy’s, A&W, Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) and Arby’s. [/quote]
Taiwan had A & W !!! they are excellent, great burgers, good real tasting burgers. I would kill for one now[/quote]
Keep it in your pants, hotshot, it was just a little booth in Hsimen, they only sold root beer and ice cream, no Burger Family, no Chubby Chicken, and they lasted about 6 months.
McDonalds is a classy joint compared to most restaurants out there, lots of their restaurants have been redecorated recently and are fairly comfortable bright lit CLEAN places. compare to BK or KFC…dirty a lot of the time.
Mosburger is the only contender but they are more expensive and a little higher end.
lastly McDonalds food is still very cheap. hard to beat all these factors.
[quote=“dan2006”]On my other link, the article said that McDonald’s isn’t doing so hot in the US so they might need the money?
I think it is all about the real estate. The market in Taiwan is at the top now, and McDonald’s really is a real estate company first and a junk food joint second, so they probably see the upside in getting out of their holdings now.
Companies love to sell of successes, not sure why. It feeds the beast (corporation) immediately, they are not worried about the future, just the current cash flow to look good on their books for investors.
I think Taiwan McDonald’s is successful because it is a place for people to “hang out” and study, and enjoy air conditioning. While they are there they consume products. Taiwan in USA and Japan doesn’t really have this type of customer.
I am noticing KFC in Kaohsiung closing down a lot of stores, it really is too bad. There is no BK in Kaohsiung but there used to be a few. Pretty soon there will be no decent junk food left other than that really atrocious Dan Dan Hamburger.[/quote]
I would think the real estate market will climb somemore, now that Mainlanders can buy property, and pay by credit card.
I like McDonald’s and Burger King, BK a bit more. Sometimes I get Pizza Hut pizza, but only their Mexican pizza. Yeah I like fast food. KFC I started liking, but then one time last year it tasted bland and like oil, a real turn off. Haven’t been back.
yes! funny that. the Mexican pizza from pizza hut is actually pretty damn good. it’s one of my weaknesses and when it’s raining, too lazy to go out, etc. call them and get the buy 1 large, free small take out delivery deal. but have to wake up 30 min earlier the next morning before work…if you catch my drift
yes! funny that. the Mexican pizza from pizza hut is actually pretty damn good. it’s one of my weaknesses and when it’s raining, too lazy to go out, etc. call them and get the buy 1 large, free small take out delivery deal. but have to wake up 30 min earlier the next morning before work…if you catch my drift[/quote]
That is also my favorite things to do on the weekend when I am lazy, but I go to pick up my own pizza because then you get buy one get one free large size instead of the small. And I only ever get Mexican.
The problem is I eat too much, and I am unable to sleep well the following day. I think it is just the excessive amount of salt I consume in one sitting.
