Franchisee Feelings
According to McDonald’s franchisees, corporate has not communicated to the franchisees about the Pepsi and Coke pilots. They have learned about the tests through media reports, which surfaced March 12.
There would be widespread pandemonium if McDonald’s cut ties with Coca-Cola, says Dave Konopnicki, a nine-store owner in Arizona.
“It would be like McDonald’s doesn’t like french fries anymore,” Konopnicki says. “There’s been a long-standing relationship with Coca-Cola.”
Konopnicki is not opposed to serving Pepsi and says he notices customers bringing Pepsi products into his store.
“There’s a strong Pepsi following just like there’s a strong Coke following,” he says. “But [the Pepsi test] really depends on how it’s rolled out… All in all it’s going to be a win-win.”
He has good reason to be optimistic. After all, his franchisor reported a record financial year in 2006—revenues increased 11 percent driven by a global comparable-sales increase of 6.3 percent.
“McDonald’s is delivering the strongest business results in 30 years,” said Jim Skinner, McDonald’s chief executive officer, in McDonald’s year-end financial news press release. “Our double-digit earnings growth for both the fourth quarter and full year reflects the success of our plan to win.”
It’s that plan to win that excites Jack Earl, a four-store New Jersey franchisee. Earl believes that McDonald’s business planning and execution is second to one. He says corporate always considers the franchisee, too, when making big decisions.
“I am very, very comfortable with the direction of our senior management,” Earl says.
As for the bottled beverage plan, Earl has watched the likes of Quiznos and Subway sell bottles for $2. And he thinks it’s time to jump in the game.
“We have competitors in our marketplace that do quite well with bottled beverages and certainly if there’s a market for it, I’d want to participate in that,” he says.