Case Study #1 “McDonald’s Seniors Restaurant”

Jessica Janiga
Marketing Management 375
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:00-8:50
 “McDonald’s Seniors Restaurant”

Situational Analysis:

Quinn McMahon is a manager of one of the many McDonalds restaurants. McMahon’s

restaurant is located in a town that is highly populated with senior citizens. The senior citizens
were initially attracted to McMahon’s McDonalds by a monthly breakfast special that is only
available to customers who are fifty-five and older. The meal cost $1.99, and the coffee refills
are free. It is an offer the senior citizens cannot pass up.

On every fourth Monday, McMahon’s McDonalds is filled with 100 to 150 senior citizens. During
the monthly special the patrons started spending an abnormally long time at this McDonalds
restaurant. It is not unusual for the senior citizens to come for breakfast and stay until three
o’clock in the afternoon. Typically, McDonalds are known to be a fast food restaurant where
customers come, get their food, eat, and leave. Often times customers do not even eat at the
restaurant and take their food to go.

As time went on, the senior citizens started to show up on a daily basis. It is not abnormal for
these patrons to stay anywhere from one to four hours. McMahon’s McDonalds is now filled
with approximately 100 senior citizens each morning; they come to hang out and catch up over
a cup of coffee.

The senior citizens are never a burden on the McDonald’s staff or to any of the other customers.
In fact, they are some of the most respectful customers who come into McMahon’s McDonalds.
They always clean up after themselves, and are very friendly to all of the other customers. The
staff knows the patrons by their first names, and considers them to be their friends. The
employees will often spend their own personal time visiting these patrons if they become
hospitalized.

Quinn is debating a new revenue source that would involve dealing even more with the senior
citizens. Her store typically has slow hours between 9 and 11 a.m. McMahon is thinking about
offering bingo to the senior citizens during these hours. McMohan ‘s plan is to charge each
customer who would like to participate in bingo a five dollar fee. This fee would cover all games
played during the slow morning hours. Quinn’s goals in introducing these bingo mornings are to:
generate some extra revenue and provide work to two underutilized employees. The winners
would receive coupons that amount to two-thirds of the bingo receipts, and would only be good
for use at her McDonalds.

Problem/Conflict/Options:

McMahon’s McDonalds could face a number of problems due to the large crowd of senior
citizens that come in to her restaurant. If the number continues to grow, the restaurant could
become crowded, and could have the potential to reach “maximum occupancy”. McMahon’s
profit could begin to suffer due to turning away new customers. The image of being a crowded
restaurant can also have an effect on the sales of this McDonalds. By having an appearance of
being a crowded restaurant, customers may start to feel that they will no longer be able to
receive fast service. However, this crowded appearance could work as a positive image and
influence other customers to come to her restaurant. Having the image of being busy can
portray good service and excellent customer care. Another downfall of letting the senior citizens
stay for hours to mingle is that McMahon’s McDonalds may start to be viewed as an “old
persons” restaurant. By having this perception her restaurant may start to drive away another
important group in their target market; the younger customers.

There are three possible solutions to the situation McMahon is faced with.

1. Quinn could choose to encourage the senior citizens to come to her restaurant by hosting
bingo during the slow morning hours.
2. Quinn could choose to ignore the situation completely, and just go on running her
restaurant the way she is use to.
3. Quinn could discourage the senior citizens from spending so much time at her restaurant by
taking away the monthly senior citizen special.

Solution:

The solution that is best for McMahon’s McDonalds is to leave the situation as is. Quinn should
continue to offer the monthly special that the senior citizens have become accustom to.
However, she should do nothing more to satisfy the senior citizens, nor should she take anything
away from them.

Justification for Solution:

By choosing to do nothing about the current situation, Quinn will be doing what is in the best
interest for her company. If McMahon was to implement her bingo plan she would be spending
too much time focusing on just a part of her target market. McDonalds are typically known to
have a large target market ranging from teenagers to senior citizens. By making the senior
citizens her focal point, her company would be susceptible to being known as an “old persons”
restaurant and becoming overcrowded. Because the senior citizens are such a pleasant crowd, I
do not see a reason to discourage them from coming to the restaurant. If Quinn was to take
away from the senior citizens, it is quite possible that her company would lose money due to
unhappy customers.

By keeping things the way they are, McMahon will continue to satisfy her large group of senior
citizens, and will also be able to provide wonderful service to the rest of her customers. The
company will not lose any profits from this decision, and will still have the opportunity to grow.
Happy customers are a main ingredient in gaining new customers.