Sunday, June 14, 2009


McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily.[3] McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables.
In addition to its signature restaurant chain, McDonald’s Corporation held a minority interest in Pret A Manger (a UK-based sandwich retailer) until 2008, and owned the Chipotle Mexican Grill until 2006 and the restaurant chain Boston Market until 2007.[4] The company has also expanded the McDonald's menu in recent decades to include alternative meal options, such as salads and snack wraps, in order to capitalize on growing consumer interest in health and wellness.
Each McDonald's restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations' revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion.[5]
Business model
McDonald's Corporation earns revenue as an investor in properties, a franchiser of restaurants, and an operator of restaurants. As of 2008, only 20% of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by McDonald's Corporation directly. The remainder are operated by others through a variety of franchise agreements and joint ventures. The McDonald's Corporation's business model is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinary franchise fees and marketing fees, which are calculated as a percentage of sales, McDonald's may also collect rent, which may also be calculated on the basis of sales. As a condition of many franchise agreements, which vary by contract, age, country, and location, the Corporation may own or lease the properties on which McDonald's franchises are located. In most, if not all cases, the franchisee does not own the location of its restaurants.
The UK business model is different, in that fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois.
In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McDonald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments.
As a matter of policy, McDonald's does not make direct sales of food or materials to franchisees, instead organizing the supply of food and materials to restaurants through approved third party logistics operators.
According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's. (According to a news piece on Fox News this figure is one in ten). The book also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, potatoes, and apples. The selection of meats McDonald's uses varies with the culture of the host country.
Products

A McDonald's Big Mac combo meal served with French fries and Coca-Cola.
Main article: McDonald's products
See also: McDonald's products (international)
McDonald's predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken sandwiches and products, French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items, and desserts. In most markets, McDonald's offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and other localized fare. Portugal is the only country with McDonald's restaurants serving soup. This local deviation from the standard menu is a characteristic for which the chain is particularly known, and one which is employed either to abide by regional food taboos (such as the religious prohibition of beef consumption in India) or to make available foods with which the regional market is more familiar (such as the sale of McRice in Indonesia).

KFC Corporation, or KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC is a brand and operating segment, called a "concept",[2] of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. The restaurants are known as Poulet Frit Kentucky or PFK in the province of Quebec in Canada.[3] In France, however, the chain is known as KFC.[4]
KFC primarily sells chicken in form of pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried chicken, KFC also offers a line of roasted chicken products, side dishes and desserts. Outside North America, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare.
The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, though the idea of KFC's fried chicken actually goes back to 1930. The company adopted the abbreviated form of its name in 1991.[5] Starting in April 2007, the company began using its original name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, for its signage, packaging and advertisements in the United States as part of a new corporate re-branding program;[6][7] newer and remodeled restaurants will have the new logo and name while older stores will continue to use the 1980s signage. Additionally, Yum! continues to use the abbreviated name freely in its advertising.

Born and raised in Henryville, Indiana, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime.[8] Sanders first served his fried chicken in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression at a gas station he owned in North Corbin, Kentucky. The dining area was named "Sanders Court & Café" and was so successful that in 1936 Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon granted Sanders the title of honorary Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine. The following year Sanders expanded his restaurant to 142 seats, and added a motel he bought across the street.[9] When Sanders prepared his chicken in his original restaurant in North Corbin, he prepared the chicken in an iron skillet, which took about 30 minutes to do, too long for a restaurant operation. In 1939, Sanders altered the cooking process for his fried chicken to use a pressure fryer, resulting in a greatly reduced cooking time comparable to that of deep frying.[10] In 1940 Sanders devised what came to be known as his Original Recipe.[11]
The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when the route planned in the 1950s for what would become Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, he sold his properties and traveled the U.S. to sell his chicken to restaurant owners. The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman in South Salt Lake, Utah; together, they opened the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952.[12] By the early 1960s Kentucky Fried Chicken was sold in over 600 franchised outlets in both the United States and Canada. One of the longest-lived franchisees of the older Col. Sanders' chicken concept, as opposed to the KFC chain, was the Kenny Kings chain. The company owned many Northern Ohio diner-style restaurants, the last of which closed in 2004. Sanders sold the entire KFC franchising operation in 1964 for $2 million USD [13] Since that time, the chain has been sold three more times, most recently to PepsiCo, which made it part of its Tricon Global Restaurants division, which in turn was spun off in 1997, and has now been renamed to Yum! Brands. Additionally, Colonel Sanders' nephew, Lee Cummings, took his own Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises (and a chicken recipe of his own) and converted them to his own "spin-off" restaurant chain, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken.
Today, some of the older KFC restaurants have become famous in their own right. One such restaurant is located in Marietta, Georgia. This store is notable for a 56-foot (17 m) tall sign that looks like a chicken. The sign, known locally as the Big Chicken, was built for an earlier fast-food restaurant on the site called Johnny Reb's Chick, Chuck and Shake. It is often used as a travel reference point in the Atlanta area by locals and pilots.[14]
The original handwritten recipe is kept locked away at the KFC corporate headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky as a closely-guarded secret.[15] Only two members within the Yum! corporation know the recipe in its entirety.[16]

Packaging
The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken and has come to signify the company was originally created by Wendy's restaurants founder Dave Thomas. Thomas was originally a franchisee of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken and operated several outlets in the Columbus, Ohio area. His reasoning behind using the paper packaging was that it helped keep the chicken crispy by wicking away excess moisture. Thomas was also responsible for the creation of the famous rotating bucket sign that came to be used at most KFC locations in the US.[17]

Menu items
This is a list of menu items sold at KFC.Packaging
The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken and has come to signify the company was originally created by Wendy's restaurants founder Dave Thomas. Thomas was originally a franchisee of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken and operated several outlets in the Columbus, Ohio area. His reasoning behind using the paper packaging was that it helped keep the chicken crispy by wicking away excess moisture. Thomas was also responsible for the creation of the famous rotating bucket sign that came to be used at most KFC locations in the US.[17]

Menu items
This is a list of menu items sold at KFC.
G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City. G-Unit emerged on the New York scene by independently releasing several mixtapes. The name of the group is short for Guerilla Unit as well as Gangsta Unit.[1]

In 2003, the group's debut album, Beg for Mercy, was released. However, whilst the album was being recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession. Therefore, he only makes two appearances both on pre-recorded tracks. His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy sold 2.3 million copies in the U.S. and 4 million copies worldwide[7]. The only featured guest on the album was R&B singer, Joe. Production came from Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch as well as others.
Their second album, T.O.S: Terminate on Sight, was released on July 1, 2008.[13][14] While the album was being recorded, internal conflicts arose between Young Buck and 50 Cent, which resulted in Young Buck being kicked out of the group, but still signed to G-Unit Records.[10] Young Buck still appeared on songs previously recorded with the group, but was credited as a featuring artist. As of August 8, 2008, the album has sold 185,000 copies in the United States.[15][16] Along with Young Buck, Mavado guests on the album, while production came from Swizz Beatz, Tha Bizness, Rick Rock, Polow da Don and others.
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