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Essay / Fast Food Restaurant Success - 850
McDonald's (US) serves 27 million people every day, an increase of 1 million every year since 2003. Since 2002, McDonald's (US) has had 45 months consecutive increases in sales. In a recent column in Business Week, James Skinner, CEO of McDonald's, asserts: “We have learned. We have evolved. We think we've cracked the code in the United States. » What is the code? Americans like to eat all day long. Most outlets are open 18 hours a day. Others are 24/7. McDonald's basically wants you to gorge yourself from dawn until dusk. It seems many customers are only too happy to oblige. After all, McDonald's has children's play areas, McCafe and big screen TVs. So it's safe to say that this is a place that knows how to do business. Taco Bell is also a very successful place of business which is a unit of Yum Brands Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, which has made a name for itself by promoting its menu to Americans as something which comes straight from Mexico. But the dynamic is very different south of the border. Here, the company projects a more "American" fast-food image by adding fries – some topped with cheese, cream, ground meat and tomatoes – to the menu of its first store, opened in late September in the northern city of Monterrey. Taco Bell has taken pains to say that it's not trying to pass itself off as a Mexican tradition. "One look is enough to tell that Taco Bell is not a 'taqueria,'" the company said in a half-page newspaper ad. “It’s a new alternative to fast food that doesn’t pretend to be Mexican food.” It's still a mixed message for Mexicans like Marco Fragoso, a 39-year-old office worker sitting down for lunch at a traditional Mexico City taqueria, because the American chain uses traditional Mexican names for its burritos, gorditas and chalupas. I know it sounds good, that's because it is. Subway is also a company that many love and has had a lot of success in this particular niche market. The owner and founder says: “They embraced the idea of educating the convenience store environment about why branded fast food makes sense there – not Subway in particular, but fast food in general..