McDonald’s Korea is bringing the heat with its new burger.
Peppery, slightly tangy and rounded out with a nutty spread, the Jinju Pepper Cream Cheese Burger is pleasantly spicy, even for the average Korean’s taste buds.https://t.co/AJ2WZXoETP
— The Korea JoongAng Daily (@JoongAngDaily) July 10, 2024
Anyone want to buy the McDonalds franchises in South Korea?:
Customers order set menus at a McDonald’s restaurant in Seoul on May 27, last year. Korea Times file
McDonald’s is moving to sell its Korean branches as more companies enter the overly-crowded fast food market here, the company said Friday. The U.S. fast food giant first attempted to dispose of its Korean business back in 2016 but failed to do so as potential buyers opted out, due to high sales prices and other reasons.
Mirae Asset Securities has been selected as a sales manager to find the new owner of McDonald’s Korea, which has seen its profitability deteriorate, despite rising revenue, because of rising wages and higher raw materials costs, amid intensifying competition.
“McDonald’s is looking for a strategic partner in Korea to improve the company’s growth. We are working with an external consulting firm to review various options. We will provide more details on the sell off at the appropriate time,” a McDonald’s Korea official said.
McDonald’s sales in Korea have actually increased from 724.8 billion won ($570.4 million) in 2019 to 867.8 billion won in 2021. This increase is only counting the revenue created from the restaurants McDonald’s Korea directly managed, and if sales created with franchisees are included, the figure reaches over 1 trillion won. It is the largest sales achieved by the American fast food restaurant chain in Korea. Its operating losses reached 44 billion won in 2019, 48.3 billion won in 2020 and 27.7 billion won in 2021.
Various factors are attributable to McDonald’s money-losing business in Korea. Higher delivery service fees here during COVID-19 have increased its business expenses, along with soaring costs of labor and raw materials.
I am not a fan of Chicken McNuggets, but for those who are here is another meal option for you:
The “BTS meal” includes a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries and Coke as well as two new dipping sauces — sweet chili and Cajun flavors — inspired by recipes from South Korea, where the boy band is from.
The meal is the first celebrity collaboration to go on sale globally, McDonald said.
The limited edition meal went on sale in South Korea, the U.S. and 10 additional countries, and it will be available in nearly 50 countries by next month, it said.
For people that have done beach clean ups would know, plastic packaging is a major pollution concern in the world’s oceans. This is a small start to trying to reduce the pollution:
McDonald’s Korea has announced a new campaign aimed at contributing to the environment and community under the slogan “Small but great changes for a better community.
In light of the current COVID-19 situation, the American fast food restaurant chain presented four actions ― Our Planet, Food Quality & Sourcing, Community Connection and Jobs, Inclusion & Empowerment ― to aid local communities and protect the environment.
McDonald’s Korea said it will implement concrete plans for each to achieve sustainable growth.
Our Planet
The company plans to expand the operations of eco-friendly restaurants through reducing its use of plastics, using environmentally friendly packaging materials and replacing all of its delivery scooters with green electric vehicles.
By 2025, McDonald’s plans to transition 100 percent to recyclable, recycled, or certified packaging materials by to end plastic use, and to replace the inks used on such materials with natural ones. To this end, the company will also introduce cup lids that allow customers to enjoy their drinks without using a plastic straw.
A civic group holds a rally in front of a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Seoul on Oct. 29, 2019, to call for the prosecution to investigate McDonald’s over serving defective food products. Among the protesters was the mother of a four-year-old daughter who suffered a permanent urethral disability after eating a contaminated burger patty from the global chain in 2016. (Yonhap)
From my perspective the McDonald’s in South Korea always seem cleaner and more professionally run than most I see back in the US:
An inspector of the Korea Consumer Agency leaves a McDonald’s restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul, carrying an ordinary paper bag without an airtight sterilization container./ Courtesy of McDonald’s Korea
McDonald’s Korea has filed a court injunction against the disclosure of the results of the Korea Consumer Agency’s sanitary inspection, the U.S.-based fast food chain said Wednesday.
The agency recently investigated 38 hamburgers marketed by six fast food franchises and five convenience store chains, following lawsuits over alleged undercooked McDonald’s patties.
Five Korean consumers have sued the company so far, claiming their children suffered hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), or the so-called “hamburger disease,” after eating McDonald’s hamburgers.
Although none of the products contained the controversial E. coli bacteria, which is known to cause HUS, the agency found that one McDonald’s hamburger contained staphylococcus aureus above the standard level. The bacterium is a common cause of food poisoning.
The agency initially planned to unveil its findings Tuesday, but scrapped the plan following McDonald’s Korea’s complaint that was applied a day earlier.
McDonald’s Korea criticized the agency for neglecting the required procedures.
“Food hygiene tests should be conducted by trained inspectors who should not hide their identity. A sample should be contained in an airtight sterilization container as well,” a spokeswoman of McDonald’s Korea said.
“However, an inspector, who visited our Gangnam store, pretended to be an ordinary customer. He also carried the sample in a paper bag, not immediately putting it into an airtight sterilization container.” [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I can understand McDonald’s beef (pun intended) if the inspectors are not conducting inspections by agreed upon standards.
A woman dubbed the ‘McDonald’s Goddess’ for her striking looks has been the cause of a surge of sales at a Taiwan branch of the fast food restaurant.
Wei Han Xu has become an Internet icon after pictures of her, including the one above, were shared online by blogger RainDog.
Photos showed her serving customers and buttoning up her shirt while she stood behind the counter.
Rather than wearing an unflattering work outfit, Xu is seen wearing a short skirt and fierce high-heel shoes as she cleans the counter and serves up Big Macs.
Smitten fans became obsessed with finding out where their McDonald’s goddess worked and they poured into the restaurant once they found out.
Doll-like Xu – who is also known as WeiWei – is fine with the fame, having already appeared on Taiwanese game shows. [Tumblr]
Could you imagine the feminist reaction in the US if a McDonald’s tried to have their workers dress in a maid outfit?
Representatives of Alba Yeondae, a union for part-time workers, stage a rally in front of a McDonald’s outlet in Seoul on March 19, 2015. They insisted that thousands of McDonald’s workers, who are affiliated with the union, have been told by their bosses to come to work later or leave earlier than scheduled so they could be paid less. (Yonhap)
It seems that McDonald’s workers in South Korea are also motivated to get themselves replaced by machines:
The leader of protests against McDonald’s “culture of exploitation” of young part-time workers vowed Monday to continue fighting until the firm corrects its practices.
“If the company doesn’t respond to our demands, we will continue to raise our voice on the streets,” Lee Hae-jung, secretary general of the Arbeit Workers Union (AWU), told The Korea Times. “After our protest on Friday, we are waiting for a response from McDonald’s. Another protest will be held.”
A group of part-time workers occupied a McDonald’s outlet in Shinchon, near Yonsei University, Saturday, to demand “higher wages, fair working conditions and union activities within the company.”
“We have received many favorable reactions since then, especially from those who work at other fast-food restaurants,” Lee said. “Many showed empathy when we said it is unfair that most of employees at one of the world’s biggest companies eke out a living on minimum wage.” [Korea Times]
In response, McDonald’s said it did not break any laws in hiring and managing its employees.
“What the union is saying is a complete distortion. McDonald’s clearly abides by the Labor Law,” the company said.
In December, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel also filed complaints against McDonald’s, accusing it of labor violations.
Complaints were filed in 78 cases, claiming that McDonald’s workers in the U.S. were fired or intimidated for participating in union organizing and in a national protest movement calling for higher wages.
Most McDonald’s workers in Korea earn a minimum hourly wage of 5,580 won ($5.10). Meanwhile, the company had a profit of $5.5 billion on sales of $27.5 billion in 2012.
The AWU wants a wage increase to 10,000 won an hour. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I have already seen some restaurants experimenting with touch screen ordering. How hard would it be for McDonald’s to put up touch screens for customers to order from and then a worker brings the food out to them?
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