Fast Food. Britain. McDonalds. These words create a business that affects most of us on a daily basis. Fast Food is food that can be bought whenever you want it, for a cheap price and have a variety of food to suit everyone.

Growth of McDonalds

McDonalds rapid growth began on the streets of South London. From this early start we accepted “the big M” a common sight. The explosion growth of this major company has ricocheted its effects up through the heart of England. The channelled growth between Liverpool and London started in the capital, due to the population density in this area.

At first Wales, Scotland, and most of Ireland were neglected from the plans of the multinational corporation.

Factors affecting the growth of a restaurant

Factors such as nine metres frontage and a well-located store may seem trivial to the customer, however it plays a pivotal role to multinational companies. McDonalds has had a revolutionising effect on Britain for the past three decades.

* 1970-1973 – The first British McDonalds opened its doors to the public in Woolwich

* 1974 – In Britain alone the profits of McDonalds were raised to a staggering �250,000

* 1975 – Three additional restaurants had an impact on Britain

* 1985 – McDonalds is in 165 locations throughout the UK, annually marketing �112 million of food items

* 1995 – Ten years later and the total has almost trebled. �65 million was spent on 50 new restaurants, creating 3,000 new jobs

Global Dominion!

Some might think that McDonalds is searching for world domination. Few people have not heard the name McDonalds. McDonalds PLC has conquered 70 countries within 6 continents. McDonalds was also the first foreign party to enter communist Moscow peacefully.

Why are McDonalds breaking world records?

Speculation has swept the nation about the construction of McDonalds restaurants, on numerous occasions. Recently, McDonalds has smashed the record for building a restaurant in the shortest time, 17 days! This outstanding accomplishment took place in Cardiff; this outlet was earning profit in a few short weeks.

Location factors

Location is changing and McDonalds refuses to be left behind. McDonalds opened its doors to the first Motorway outlet at the Fleetwood Service Station in 1995. Many fast food businesses are looking towards transport routes and airports, in order to gain profit in areas of convenience to the customer.

Other Fast Food Success’

Many other fast food restaurants have thrived over the past few decades. Pizza Hut is a prime example. It is the largest pizza restaurant company in the world. The company has over 12,000 outlets, in 90 countries, employing more then 300,000 people.

The founding brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, took America by storm in 1958. The first branch of Pizza Hut was opened in Wichita, Kansas. 1972 saw 1000 open restaurants in America alone. By 1986 100 restaurants were in business in the UK and over 5,000 worldwide. The latest innovation from the masterful chefs at Pizza Hut is the delicious Twisted Crust, tempting the appetite of the nation.

Primary Data

Questions

I intend to answer the 4 questions below on fast food, in order to get a clearer idea of this ever-expanding multinational business.

Q1. Where are the fast-food outlets located – and is there a pattern?

Q2. Why are the fast food outlets located there?

Q3. Is there a better location?

Q4. Is the best location inside or ‘out-of-town’?

These are two additional questions to determine if the most successful businesses have been in town for a long or short time.

Q5. When did the outlets open?

Q6. How busy are the different outlets on average per week?

Q6a. When is the busiest time for trade?

Data Collection and Recording

Q1. Where are the fast food outlets located – and is there a pattern?

In order to answer this question, information will need to be obtained from a town survey. A map will need to be illustrated with a key, depicting the location of each individual outlet.

Each outlet will have to be placed into a different type of fast food. For example; ‘McDonald’s’ would be placed into the “American” group and would therefore be coloured in the designated colour on the map of Bridgend Town Centre. This information will be contained in the key on the map.

Q2. Why are the fast food outlets located there?

This question requires a questionnaire that can be distributed to the manager’s of various outlets. Also a town survey can be completed by myself and my class to count the amount of pedestrians. We will all have to complete the 10 minute survey at exactly the same time to make it a fair test. Everyone will be located at different positions throughout the town.

A ‘best location index’ could be made from this data. These items will help me discover the location factors that make the business successful.

Q3. Is there a better location?

This will also be answered through the use of a questionnaire to the managers. From this data, the most popular street in Bridgend for business should become clear.

A map will need to completed to show the most popular streets in Bridgend and how location is changing. his information can be used to see if the location of the best spot has changed over the years.

Q4. Is the best location inside or ‘out of town’ for new businesses?

A manager and customer questionnaire will have to be created to gather the required information. With the use of these questionnaires I will be able to get a managerial view but also the view of the general public.

Q5. When did the outlets open?

This will have to be a question on the managerial questionnaire. This question will have to be answered to discover if businesses need to establish a good connection with the surrounding public before it becomes successful or not.

Q6. How busy are the different outlets on average per week?

Q6a. When is the busiest time for trade?

Both of these questions will appear on the managerial questionnaire. They are relevant to my original question. “Have the most successful businesses been in town for a long or short time?”

Data Collection

My class and I collected the data on Friday 27th July 2001. We participated in a town survey between 10:50 and 11:00 at various locations throughout Bridgend Town Centre.

My results were collected at location 10 on the map of Bridgend Town Centre. This was Adare Street.

Many of my colleagues, including myself, wandered the streets collecting information on the location of fast food outlets throughout the town. The results have been recorded as tables, charts and diagrams.

Data was recorded on pedestrians travelling to and from both ends of the streets if applicable.

Data Description

Q1. Where are the fast-food outlets located – and is there a pattern?

This data will be displayed on a map of Bridgend. There will be a key to display what type of fast food each outlet is.

Q2. Why are the fast food outlets located there?

The location factors will be displayed in map form, in order to show the effect of localities on each outlet.

Q3. Is there a better location?

This information will be displayed as a table of results from the managerial questionnaire and as a map to indicate where the results lead.

Q4. Is the best location inside or ‘out-of-town’?

Data from this question will be presented as flow maps, street diagrams (to show the amount of pedestrians at each on average), and graphs of the town survey and analyses of the customer questionnaire.

Q5. When did the outlets open?

Q6. How busy are the different outlets on average per week?

Q6a. When is the busiest time for trade?

All the data concerning these questions will be presented in a table of results from questions on the managerial questionnaire. The data will be analysed afterwards.