Hamburgers, are we still loving it?

I started writing this reflection when the CEO of McDonald's, Mr. Don Thompson, was removed as a CEO after hardly even three years on the job. I am not able to judge if he did a good or a bad job during his period as a CEO however it is a fact that the revenue and profit did not increase as the shareholders were hoping for. Was that due to him, due to that the previous CEO had not responded and started to change the steering or was it due to a general change in society with an interest in healthier food and being prepared to spend more money on food that looks, taste and maybe even claims to be organic. I do not know. But I find less than three years to be too short for even being able to start to change things and especially in a giant like McDonald's. This piece was supposed to be about impatience but it was pulled into another direction during the writing so the title was changed simply to Hamburgers, are we still loving it?

Personally I have not been able to eat and enjoy hamburgers from McDonald's since around 2006. I do not know why but on the few occasions when I have joined other people going there then I have always felt bad from the smell of it before biting into it. My feeling was that it appeared artificial to me.

Back around 2007 I then started going to Burger King instead and I was able to eat their hamburger whopper and no cheese or bacon or whatever crap they wanted to offer as extra for maybe five additional years but today I am also not able to eat them. Somehow, when I see McDonald's or Burger King (unless I smell their kitchen ventilation unit) then I always want to go in to buy a burger, if I am hungry, even though I know that I will not like it. So now I have strictly told my wife that each time I want to go there she must stop me and tell me that I no longer like to eat hamburgers. For the last 1,5 years I have not eaten a single hamburger and if someone wants to go I simply do not join any longer.

With age the taste buds gets worse which should mean that one can eat more "crap" so I am perplexed over how uninterested I am in eating the mass produced hamburgers. I should scientifically love them more and more for each passing year, but I do not.

The question I ask myself is do other people feel the same like me?

If that is the case then it does not matter who is the CEO of McDonald's because then they must change the concept to keep moving forward. One store to house all is out. I do not want to sit and eat my cupcake and drink my coffee while smelling French fries and hamburgers. To change the concept new store names and brands are needed and definitely a new CEO to run that part.

Yum Brands is doing a better job by having several brands but in general it is my opinion that the food industry needs to take a look at retail. Check out H&M and Inditex. Keep growing by creating new brands that attracts new clients. If you are Vegan I am sure you will never enter into a McDonald's to buy a a Vegan burger even if it would be offered.

So my advice to you McDonald's and you Burger King would be to move with the times and start up new brands and stores that offer new food experiences, that attracts new customers and for heavens sake make sure not to brag about the new brands and that they have you guys as "mother" just do that silently in the annual reports for the investors.