Product: McDonald’s offers a standard menu including burgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, desserts and other items which vary by location of the branches. Food products are cooked in advanced, kept hot and packaged to order, allowing for a customer’s short wait time. Due to changes in customer demands, McDonald’s is constantly introducing new products and phasing out old products.

Price: McDonald’s implements various types of pricing models. There are three tiers. There is value pricing with its Dollar Menu, which was launched nationally in 2002. With the economic downturn at the time, this was a good way to keep and acquire new consumers. They also employ product line pricing for its regularly priced items. Included in its Value Meals are the sandwich, French fries, and a drink. Then they also have their more expensive premium items like the Angus burgers. McDonald’s also does promotional pricing. Often times, there will be banners and posters advertising deals like “Two Sausage McMuffins for $3.” Recently, McDonald’s have also use penetration pricing, for its breakthrough into the coffee market. For a few hours in the early morning, customers can try a small coffee for free.

Place: Products and services are offered in stores with seating available and drive through locations conveniently placed along highways. McDonald’s is the world’s largest owner of corner lots. This can be advantageous in that customers from a wider range away from the store can see it and consider dining there.

Promotion: McDonald’s engages in a lot of advertising through the usual media of television, radio and newspaper, as well as public relations through sponsorships and sales promotions. McDonald’s has always been a major sponsor for the Olympic Games. Children who are a major target for McDonald’s, are attracted by the small toys that come with their meal.

People: Customers, workers, and management are the key players in this segment. Employees wear a standard uniform and are expected to provide friendly and quick service. Because production and consumption of this service occurs at the same time, it is important to manage employee appearances and behaviors. Customers may also need managing, as they affect the atmosphere in the restaurant and could make or break another customer’s experience.

Physical Evidence: McDonald’s has a well-established brand and one of the world’s most recognizable symbols, “the Golden Arches,” which appeals to customers of all age groups and nationalities. The arches are a part of the restaurant design, which was later used in its logos. The food packaging is all very standardized with this logo. The interior design and layout of restaurants very similar, signifying consistency not only in their foods but in everything they do. It is important to manage the look of the restaurant, including hygiene.

Process: The process of delivering the product and service is completely transparent. From placing the order to being able to see your food being prepared behind the counter to receiving your meal, every part of the process is available to the customer. In this way, it is extremely important to ensure that mistakes do not occur, and if they do, they are resolved quickly and efficiently.

5 Dimensions of Service Quality (RATER)

Out of the five dimensions of reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsibility, McDonald’s makes an emphasis on reliability, to be able to provide consistent quality of service. Ray Kroc was the man who transformed McDonald’s from a local restaurant in San Bernardino, California into an international chain of restaurants. “Ray Kroc wanted to build a restaurant system that would be famous for food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparation. He wanted to serve burgers, buns, fries and beverages that tasted just the same in Alaska as they did in Alabama.” In order to achieve this kind of consistency, Kroc, launched a training program called Hamburger University where franchisees and operators learned the scientific methods of running a successful McDonald’s.

Workers, customers, and management are the key players in this segment. McDonald’s makes an emphasis on reliability, to be able to provide consistent quality of service. Employees wear a standard uniform and are expected to provide friendly and quick service. In 1961, a training program called Hamburger University was launched for franchisees, operators, and managers learned the scientific methods of running a successful McDonald’s. Here the training mission is “to be the best talent developer of people with the most committed individuals to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value in the world.”

Because production and consumption of this service occurs at the same time, it is important to also manage the customer’s activities at the restaurant. They affect the atmosphere in the restaurant and could make or break another customer’s experience. Recently there was a security issue where a customer was almost killed by two other customers. One employee recorded the incident and did not do anything to try to stop it. In critical situations like this, employees should be trained to know how to handle it. They have to make sure that all customers will be fine in a safe environment in the restaurant. After this incident, McDonald’s claimed that more security cameras will be installed so that it serves as a warning for any future perpetrators that they will be recorded.