McDonald’s Faces “Millennial” Challenge Essay

McDonalds has been around for nearly 60 years and is accustomed to dominating the fast food industry. However, McDonalds is losing that dominance to the more(prenominal) modern fast-casual eaterys such as Chipotle and Panera Bread. People of ages 22-37, also known as millennials, atomic number 18 a major reason for the decrease of McDonalds success because they reckon to prefer the healthier and more modern option.Fast-casual restaurants big selling point is the freshness and healthiness of the food they provide. While it may be slightly more expensive than the jazz group-meal choices at McDonalds, millennials seem to care more about the quality and freshness of their food over paying bottom dollar. Take a fast-casual restaurant like Chipotle, for example. Their claim-to-fame is that they use the freshest meat available and allow the customer to see the food they are getting before they order and eat it. Another popular characteristic of Chipotle is that there is no set menu. T here is a list of ingredients which you can pick and choose from on the contrary, McDonalds has an extensive menu of pre-selected combo choices which doesnt allow for much personalization from the customer. Because of this wide variety of options at fast-casual restaurants, McDonalds is beginning to lose many of its millennial customers.Not only is McDonalds losing customers in the United States, but they are also experiencing a sales and customer decline globally. One recent crisis in China involved the selling expire meats to customers. McDonalds reported a sales decrease of 7.3% in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and African regions. Recently, McDonalds has admitted to having and overly large menu which resulted in slow divine service times to customers.In conclusion, McDonalds will want to make some necessary changes if they wish to regain the coveted business of millennials. First, they could have less preset combos and allow the customer to pick which stuff they would like to pair up. The more power that is in the customers hands, the happier that customer will be because they are getting exactly what they want.Another thing that needs to happen is to become healthier and more modern. Recently, McDonalds has incorporated wraps into their menu which is a good start. Fast-casual restaurants are appealing to most millennials because they have the healthier/fresher foods. In order for this fast food chain to survive and thrive once again, they will need to make the changes necessary to get them there.