ACH: Kill or Cripple McDonald's

A McDonalds serial killer? Think Beltway snipers big time and all over the US. An added bonus could be that he/she only targets those who go large with their meal.
Kind of two birds one stone, McDonalds goes down and so does the weight problem!:p

FUN FACT: If you type "McMurder" into google, the first result is a site that charts the number of homicides committed at McDonald's restaurants.
 
FUN FACT: If you type "McMurder" into google, the first result is a site that charts the number of homicides committed at McDonald's restaurants.

Not fun. Not when you recall the massacre at a McDonalds that was so bad the authorities had to bulldoze the franchise to the ground so that 2nd Amendment nuts couldn't use it as a shrine.:mad:
 
OOC: in this TL does Virginia remain a DMZ of sorts? There's I think one Krystal near the TN border and no White Castles that I know of.

In Virginia, I know we have a few Krystals in rural areas and, at least here in Richmond, in the "ghetto".

As far as White Castle, nothing outside of the frozen food isle, though some friends and I have talked about franchising one.

I like the Virginia DMZ idea. :) Maybe Roy Rogers is the dominant alternate hamburger chain in Virginia?

There are Krystals in Richmond? I know they are in South Carolina and Tennessee. Nashville, nearly 20 years ago is where I encountered a Krystals and a White Castle just a couple of blocks apart. There are no Krystals here in the Charlotte, NC, area.

thekingsguard, if you did open a White Castle franchise, would it be in Richmond?
 
It seems to me that McDonalds has been able to rebrand and remarket their concept to adapt to changing social trends and tastes - better than most of the other early fast burger chains. Frankly, I suspect that it will continue to do this successfully in most parts of the world. Also, its vast geographic spread makes it less likely to die, since menus are adapted to local tastes and an outbreak of tainted kangaroo burger grease in one place may not impact another.

Regarding Howard Johnsons, they are sorely missed. A true inexpensive sit-down restaurant on turnpike and highway rest stops with a nice variety of food and ice cream. And the fried clams were to die for.

I remember HoJo's for their ice cream, and usertron has brought back memories of their hot dogs for me. There aren't that many inexpensive sit-down restaurants left on the highways. Waffle House has upped their prices; did they get "discovered"? Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans, IHOP, what else? I do like Bob Evans.

Living in OK in the 70's and 80's, there were HoJo's on the interstates. Including one that was built over I-44, north of Tulsa. The same restaurant could serve both sides of the highway. McDonald's moved in after Howard Johnson's left. A fast food place there didn't feel the same for me.
 
Speaking of this thread's other topic, Howard Johnson's, what about the possibility of HoJo's coming back? They're down to one restaurant, so really, expanding to two or three would be a major expansion. What about becoming a chain in their local area or even a regional chain?

This kind of topic is something I've been thinking about for awhile. Businesses that bounce back from near-extinction. It doesn't happen often. For me, it doesn't have to be a business going back to what they were. It could be a once well known business that comes back as a smaller but stable brand. I think, but am not sure, that the Roy Rogers restaurants are an example of that.
 
Speaking of this thread's other topic, Howard Johnson's, what about the possibility of HoJo's coming back? They're down to one restaurant, so really, expanding to two or three would be a major expansion. What about becoming a chain in their local area or even a regional chain?

This kind of topic is something I've been thinking about for awhile. Businesses that bounce back from near-extinction. It doesn't happen often. For me, it doesn't have to be a business going back to what they were. It could be a once well known business that comes back as a smaller but stable brand. I think, but am not sure, that the Roy Rogers restaurants are an example of that.

The problem is too many people living equate the name Howard Johnsons with bad food and worse service. The best solution MIGHT be to sell off the name, but who would want it?

And getting the rights to an "old name" can have its problems too. IIRC, a small mid-sized Midwestern passenger airline just starting up got the idea of buying the name "Pan-Am", in the hopes of drawing more attention and more customers.

But they'd scarcely opened their doors for business when the ramparts were stormed by greedy lawyers holding warrants and seizure orders demanding "re-dress/compensation" for all of the old debts of the long since defunct Pan-Am corporation. In the end, the poor little company went bankrupt under an avalanche of spurious lawsuits, the original claimants got nothing, and whatever $$$ that was left went to the lawyers. NOT the best day for the reputation of the legal profession, and a screaming example of the need for tort reform. Which for the record I myself oppose. But in the case of examples like this...:(

This is why you will never see anyone offer $$$ for the rights to the names of W.T.Grant's, TWA, Braniff's, People Express, and Chicken Delight. (1)

1) Actually, I THINK there may have been a brief attempt to use the name TWA, but don't hold me to that.:eek:
 
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Read an article on CNN today about McDonald's dying. It listed changing consumer tastes a burdensome menu too much focus on the one dollar menu and minimum wage as the biggest culprits.

So let's go with that.

In the 90's several heart attacks by famous celebrities and finally the Clintons themselves starts a health food craze. McDonalds is blamed for the pain of America. It tries to adapt but then in the early 2000s several chains pop up which promote healthy eating. In this TL 9/11 does not occur and the Democratic super majority happens decades earlier. So, a nationwide minimum wage law gets pushed to $15 an hour. On top of that, McDonalds executes an extremely poor corporate strategy of telling its franchises to go heavily into debt to upgrade and at the same time promoting cheap $1 dollar or even 0.50 cent deals instead of products with enough margin. Then the 2008 recession hits and some McDonalds are not only empty but overtaken by Burger King which in this TL has adopted the Big Mac gluten free and heart safe edition with a bit of clever marketing and endorsement by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Overnight, McDonalds attendance drops to near nothing. The surviving ones find it impossible to service their debt between 2008 and 2010 with a much more severe recession.

McDonalds, slain.
 
There are Krystals in Richmond? I know they are in South Carolina and Tennessee. Nashville, nearly 20 years ago is where I encountered a Krystals and a White Castle just a couple of blocks apart. There are no Krystals here in the Charlotte, NC, area.

There is one in the Richmond Northside, in one of the rougher parts of town I believe. We have a number of Bullets locations though.

thekingsguard, if you did open a White Castle franchise, would it be in Richmond?

Yessir, so long as I could find a few other willing investors, even have a few possible locations in mind. There's certainly opportunity given I don't think there is a single White Castle in the entire state.
 
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