Who better to ask than mystery shoppers who have shopped both McDonald's and Five Guys. I like McDonald's for breakfast. I prefer Five Guys' burgers. If I could change anything about McDonald's it would be the taste of their fries and food.


[www.theguardian.com]
McDonald's in crisis: can it fight off the Five Guys threat?
New British CEO Steve Easterbrook set to unveil turnaround plan to bring back lost customers and profits as rivals muscle in on burger market

This weekend, Easterbrook will be putting the final touches to a plan he will be hoping receives similar reviews. On Monday, Easterbrook will reveal his strategy to turn around the 60-year-old company which is rapidly losing customers. The Golden Arches are looking increasingly tarnished. After decades of expansion that saw McDonald’s march into China, Russia and expand around the world, the burger brand is no longer flavour of the month. A million people have turned their back on McDonald’s in 2014, and profits went with them. Last year McDonald’s’ annual net income dropped 15% to $4.7bn - making 2014 one of the worst years in the company’s history.

Easterbrook, a 47-year-old father-of-three, is under no illusions about the scale of the task ahead of him, and has billed himself as an “internal activist” and “constructive agitator” unafraid to challenge convention at the company he first joined in London more than 20 years ago.

Hmph. If their food was edible they'd have more business. When you have companies out there serving up real burgers made from real meat with flavor and fresh buns, without fillers and gristle, what did they think would happen? They're all about speed and nothing about quality. Yes, they should ask the mystery shoppers something other than "How long, to the second, did it take to get your two ounces of mystery meat and cereal burger?" They should be asking, "How did your mystery meat and cereal burger taste compared to other fast food burgers you've eaten?"

When I'm traveling I will eat almost anywhere else before I go into McDonalds for lunch or dinner. And I don't shop them.

I will go to McD's for breakfast, though, although Burger King's Bacon Egg and Cheese biscuit is a lot better than McD's, and larger, and has a better biscuit. But I'll take McD's if there is no Burger King around.

Ive said many times that the MSC that handles McDonalds is doing a great disservice to the company by concentrating on getting crappy food out in less than 1.5 minutes rather concentrating on taste and quality. An excellent consultant will stand up to a client and try to give them what they need versus what they ask. You see much higher quality with other MSCs. I look at this MSC as the Walmart of MSCs--concentrating on cheap rather than quality. Many of the questions on their reports are designed to encourage specific answers rather than completely honest answers. They are like a push poll in politics--they make the candidate feel good and are used to attempt to sway public opinion but not really based on reality.

According to another thread there is a chance Five Guys may be shopping around for a new MSC. That would not surprise me if this story is accurate.

The MSC in question really is a dinosaur. Their website is outdated and poorly-designed. They seem to think as long as it's not broken it doesn't need fixing.

As for McDonald's, their business model has never relied on high-quality food, and it's laughable that they keep trying fruitlessly to produce it.

I'm not one to blame the MSC for the client's choices.

I choose to frequent one of these, but not the other no matter how many times they ask me to shop the second. I guess there are enough ppl that like mystery meat served quickly.

I hid the McD's shops by deliberately flunking the qualifying test. I wouldn't mind shopping them, but McD's puts onions on everything but the McNuggets and I was wasting way too much time having to open every single shop to try to find the "special order" shops where I could tell them to hold the onions. Five Guys I'll do every chance I get.

Hmm.... maybe I should ask to be reactivated to them. It would be the ultimate diet shop because all I could do would be to take a nibble from the edge.

Yes, I agree with all above - but McD's has it's place.

Yes, Five Guys burgers and fries are superior to them in all regards. But McD's niche is FAST food, value priced. I cannot walk out of FG under 10 bucks - but if I'm having a tight week or something my car change could get me a one dollar burger and a large one dollar tea to fill me up the rest of the day at McD's.

Not to mention, if you have little kids McD's really caters to them to with their playlands and happy meals.

I got completely burned out on Five Guys. I don't think I can eat there for at least a month now.

I don't want to see any business fail...

If I could give McD's tips (I love their Qtr Pounders) then I would say to them:

McD's: I fear you are going to end your mystery shopping program, as soon as you figure out it's not about the speed but the quality. I happen to love your burgers but did you know your medium shakes have 750 calories?? I can get a smoothie at Smoothie King, big medium and it only has 400 calories. Did you know your full breakfast with pancakes eggs and sausage has a whopping 1200 calories? I realize a lot of the big guys have massive calorie counts too and you have tried to modify your menu by offering apple slices and parfaits but I just don't think folks are thinking much about parfaits or oatmeal.
McD's, get into the "meat" of the matter and offer MORE grilled choices and I will love you, I promise

Excellent, @SunnyDays2!

(heart)

Five Guys gave free food to the troops while they were Baltimore for the riots.

Although I don't think its shopped IN-N-OUT BURGER period. I think they are what MC Donalds was when Ray Croc ran it. You got your Burger and your Cheeseburger. The only other menu items are fries, soft drinks, and shakes. Oh yeah and they are way cheaper.

And they refuse over and over to sell the chain and expand it. They also pay their line employees something like $15/hour and their managers about $50,000/year. I don't think mystery shopping is an issue for them like it is for other fast food places.

Their profits also aren't as high as they would be for another chain pulling in $650M in revenues, but I don't think maximizing profits is their goal.

Starting salary in Texas is $10.50 an hour for In-N-Out.

Yeah, COL in Texas is still a bit lower than in California, so that makes sense. $50K in most parts of California is like $35K in most parts of Texas.

In and OUT is shopped
You have to order a specific item

I wish both McD's and 5 Guys served healthier fare. At McD's I usually get a grilled chicken wrap with no cheese or sauce. At 5 Guys there's not much healthy. The veggies are grilled in oil, but the veggie sandwich seems to be the healthiest thing to eat there.

I am on Weight Watchers and had to do a McD's for breakfast this morning (only did it for the large bonus). Nothing that they require you to order for breakfast is evening remotely low-fat. I'm allowed 26 points a day. The Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit is 17 points, and that doesn't include the hash brown. No wonder our country has an obesity epidemic.

Off my soapbox for now

Each restaurant has their pros and cons in regards to their food and drinks.

McDonald's? Their Egg McMuffin's are easily the best in the fast food breakfast market (though I believe the way they cook their eggs). Their coffee is surprisingly good as well. They iced tea is decent there as well.

Five Guys? Their burgers are simple, yet delicious. Same with their fries. I love the tea there, but not all locations serve the brewed kind.

Phoebe, maybe do the math (1 point = about 33 calories) and see what it would be if you pulled out the bacon and only ate half the biscuit. That would leave you with the eggs, a slice of American cheese, and part of the biscuit. The bacon is probably six of those 17 points. The cheese is probably another 3 or 4 points if I remember right. You may have to order it as it comes, but that doesn't mean you can't take it apart and just eat the parts you want (after taking the one qualifying tiny bite to taste it).

McDonald's is FAST!

That is a clear advantage for them and the reason I stop there when traveling with a large group. Nobody can feed 50 teenagers as fast as McDonald's.

That said, their burgers need to evolve. There are too many other options now (In n Out, Five Guys, Smashburger, Whataburger, Culvers, not to mention the superior burgers at BK and Hardee's).

Regarding the MSC, I've shopped them for other MSC's and their reports are identical. The biggest MSC is a fly on the bumper of the giant McD's corp. They are going to listen to high-priced consultants a lot faster than they are to the account reps at the MSC's.

Maybe I could become one of those high-priced consultants! Having shopped hundreds of fast food joints, I'm pretty sure I can tell you what does and doesn't retain customers.

@Phoebe70 wrote:

I wish both McD's and 5 Guys served healthier fare. At McD's I usually get a grilled chicken wrap with no cheese or sauce. At 5 Guys there's not much healthy. The veggies are grilled in oil, but the veggie sandwich seems to be the healthiest thing to eat there.

I am on Weight Watchers and had to do a McD's for breakfast this morning (only did it for the large bonus). Nothing that they require you to order for breakfast is evening remotely low-fat. I'm allowed 26 points a day. The Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit is 17 points, and that doesn't include the hash brown. No wonder our country has an obesity epidemic.

Off my soapbox for now

Phoebe, there are always health alternatives when it comes to eating out.

Focus on reducing the carbs where you can (eliminate the bun and lower your intake on fries), and increase your proteins and "good" fats. Also try to limit your bad fats (such as dairy and foods containing high amounts of saturated fats. I know, sometimes we can't avoid this with our selection for the client).

Five Guys used 100% peanut oil, so try not to be so worried that your grilled veggies and oily. Peanut oil contains good, monounsaturated fats and very low saturated fats (the bad kind). For my Five Guys shops, I typically get a burger bowl with all the veggies, mushrooms, grilled jalapenos, peppers, hot sauce and A1 sauce. I throw in a couple of the fries in there, but again, I limit my intake of carbs.

For McDonald's shops, there's little I could do there, mainly because of the selection we can choose as shoppers. For those, I prefer the breakfast shops, as the Egg McMuffin is one of the healthiest fast food sandwiches. The downside is the saturated fats and hydrogenated oils. I see you reference a biscuit sandwich... Opt for the McMuffin instead and don't even finish the muffin.

Again, the focus is the lower your carb intake, increase your protein intake and recognize the "good" and "bad" fats.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2015 05:32PM by Tarantado.

This morning I ordered the Sausage McMuffin. Ate one bite, threw the rest out. For the second sandwich I ordered the Egg McMuffin, took a bite, ate the Canadian bacon and half of the English muffin (don't like their eggs).

I wish McD's would let us order the Egg White Delite for the breakfast shop.

@af517 wrote:

I got completely burned out on Five Guys. I don't think I can eat there for at least a month now.

I'll take a bacon cheese dog with BBQ sauce, but I'm not digging the wait for the shakes to come to Houston.

@Phoebe70 wrote:

This morning I ordered the Sausage McMuffin. Ate one bite, threw the rest out. For the second sandwich I ordered the Egg McMuffin, took a bite, ate the Canadian bacon and half of the English muffin (don't like their eggs).

I wish McD's would let us order the Egg White Delite for the breakfast shop.

The yolk's the most nutritious part of the egg...

@AlfredB1979 wrote:

I'll take a bacon cheese dog with BBQ sauce, but I'm not digging the wait for the shakes to come to Houston.

That'll be nice. Although between Five Guys and James Coney Island I've gained probably 15 pounds this month, so all I need is another reason to get fatter.

@Tarantado wrote:

@Phoebe70 wrote:

This morning I ordered the Sausage McMuffin. Ate one bite, threw the rest out. For the second sandwich I ordered the Egg McMuffin, took a bite, ate the Canadian bacon and half of the English muffin (don't like their eggs).

I wish McD's would let us order the Egg White Delite for the breakfast shop.

The yolk's the most nutritious part of the egg...

It's also got most of the calories and all the cholesterol.


And all the flavor too, but when we're dieting, we have to get used to giving up some of that.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

Although I don't think its shopped IN-N-OUT BURGER period. I think they are what MC Donalds was when Ray Croc ran it. You got your Burger and your Cheeseburger. The only other menu items are fries, soft drinks, and shakes. Oh yeah and they are way cheaper.

IN-N-OUT is shopped.

Oh it is shopped. Nothing better than getting paid to eat a Double Double.