Hamburger Business Review

If the Egg McMuffin isn’t enough, then how can McDonald’s win breakfast?

In this 2004 case study we look at the launch of the McCafé in Canada as a way to compete against the Canadian’s national loyalty to their maple leafed coffee purveyor Tim Horton’s.

In the end we are stymied by what we consider a bit of an underwhelming case study.

Does anyone associate strongly with McCafé? Like they do with Starbucks or Dunkin’? That seems unlikely, and yet McDonald’s plain coffee has been better than Dunkin’ for years in taste tests. But it’s about more than just plain coffee...

In August of 1998 the Russian financial crisis threatened to destroy George Cohon's 14 year quest to bring McDonald's to Russia. The country was in a state of emergency with massive inflation and widespread economic disarray.

Join us as we talk about the dramatic story and come up with our own unique solution to the problem presented in this case study.

This is the pilot episode of Hamburger Business Review that proved the concept of how interesting it can be to talk about Harvard Business Review’s case studies about McDonald’s.

We made the following announcement on March 15th.

Pilot Order: Hamburger Business Review

Experimental Garden Group co-host Mike Merrill and burger innovator Zach Rose are set to co-host and produce a Hamburger Business Review pilot episode in mid to late March of 2023.

Merrill and Rose started to discuss the project after Rose joined the Experimental Garden Group investment club and Merrill later advised Rose on his Thanksgiving Day McTrot quest to patronize every McDonald's in Manhattan on foot. In discussions about how to extend Rose's quest the idea for Hamburger Business Review was developed.

In Hamburger Business Review Merrill and Rose will discuss a Harvard Business Review case study about McDonald's. The latter HBR has over 30 case studies focused on McDonald's ranging from 1980 to 2020. In addition to reviewing the history of these case studies Rose and Merrill will also talk about the current state of McDonald's, especially as it relates to the operations of the chain in Manhattan and Rose's first hand experience with over four dozen of them.

Merrill and Rose are hopeful for a series order after they finish the pilot when Merrill will ask his shareholders to commit him to 8 to 10 episodes with financing coming from supporters and listeners.

We recorded on March 18th and quickly edited the episode before asking the KmikeyM shareholders for a ten episode order. The proposal passed with 74% support!