McDonald's might not be the king of fast food for much longer.
McDonald's recently had decreased profits. New ideas and millennials just ruin everything, don't they?
It's hard to think of a name more synonymous with the word "empire" than McDonald's.
Even Emperor Palpatine from "Star Wars" would be jealous of their reach and global brand recognition. McDonald's happily sits on the throne as the undisputed king of fast food and one of the world's biggest and most successful businesses.
America's favorite road-trip bathroom. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
As of last year, McDonald's had 35,000 locations worldwide and operated in 119 countries. To put that in perspective, Burger King, McDonald's biggest competitor, has 13,000 locations in 79 countries. The sun truly never sets on the McDonald's empire.
However, like all empires, McDonald's reign will one day come to an end. In fact, although they still serve around 68 million customers a day, McDonald's is beginning to slip from their place at the top.
The Wall Street Journal shows how McDonald's sales are becoming more limp than a reheated french fry.
Since last July, McDonald's has seen some declines in sales.
That's right: As of last July, McDonald's showed 12 straight months of same-store decline. That represents the company's first full-year fall in 13 years, and although they've shown a small improvement this year (a 0.9% increase in domestic sales in the third quarter), you can be pretty sure they're not lovin' it.
So what exactly is going on here?
Well, on the business side, McDonald's has had a few mishaps. In Asia, where McDonald's earns nearly 25% of its revenues, health scares have had a harsh effect on the company's sales. Reports of contaminated beef and chicken in China caused sales to fall sharply over the summer. In Japan, sales were affected by a woman who reported finding a tooth in her french fries.
Yeah, you read that right. A tooth.
But McDonald's is also having trouble here in the homeland, and that's where the story gets interesting.
It's well known in the economics world that competition is what keeps American businesses strong. Having one or more rivals keeps a company creative, efficient, and forward-thinking. Every Coke needs its Pepsi, every Apple needs its Microsoft, and every Bernat Yarns needs its Lion Brand Yarn Company. (Just don't bring that frizzy Lion Brand twine around me.)
Anyway, I digress. For decades, McDonald's hasn't had much in the way of competition. Even other fast food restaurants have struggled to present a true threat to Mickey D's despite carving out massive markets of their own.
One reason for the cracks in the McDonald's empire may be their new competition.
The growth of middle-ground, casual fast-food dining options such as Chipotle, Five Guys, Smashburger, and Sweetgreen have offered customers their first real opportunity to walk away from McDonald's and never look back.
No one even knows what barbacoa is. Photo by Ben Popken/Flickr.
Plus, a new generation of eaters has started to demand different things from their fast-food experiences.
They're trading in their Big Macs for Smashburgers, and their Chicken Wraps for Chipotle burritos. They want customization, they want healthy and sustainable ingredients, and they want guacamole, dammit!
Research shows this: Millennials and younger eaters in America are asking for a lot more than special sauce. They want to eat fresh ingredients, and they want to customize. Just like McDonald's, a restaurant like Five Guys satisfies that primal American need for a burger and fries. But in contrast, Five Guys does it with ingredients that are apparently fresh and never frozen.
In fact, millennials think about food so differently that it's started to affect major processed food brands at the grocery store. Young shoppers are buying more fresh meat, produce, and dairy products. This has caused brands like General Mills, who produce mainly packaged food, to slip in sales as well.
McDonald's has tried to combat these changes in their own ways.
They've offered digital touch-screen kiosks in some stores that allow you to completely customize your burger.
I bet this thing will still forget your extra pickles. Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images.
They're offering all-day breakfast. They just announced $1 mozzarella sticks.
And they've made a few company-wide changes to become healthier, like abandoning margarine for butter and no longer selling chicken and beef raised with growth hormones.
For the record, McDonald's has tried in the past to appear more healthy, and they've had...
Photo by Reg Natarajan/Flickr.
...let's just say...
Photo by theimpulsivebuy/Flickr.
..."varying levels of success."
Unfortunately, McDonald's image is still hopelessly tied to unhealthy food. Despite their efforts to change their reputation, people who care about fresh food probably don't think they'll find it between a pair of sesame seed buns.
So, the next time someone makes fun of you for ordering your vegan, gluten-free, chia-seed kale shake, just smile to yourself.
Your healthy choices really could crumble an empire.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."