Member-only story
Buy One Get One Free: When McDonald’s Campaign Unraveled On a Grand Scale
Lessons in poor planning, management and leadership.
Long before personal fitness and exercises really became a thing in the United Kingdom, fast food was the dominant power on Britain’s high street.
Back then in the 1990s, there wasn’t a week where there wasn’t an opening of a McDonald’s branch in and around London; old publicans were closing at an unprecedented rate and given how liquid the fast food giants were, they made the strategic decision in buying up great numbers of derelict buildings and converting them to burger restaurants. Burger King, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken never stood a chance in those heady days.
Using my neighbourhood as a microcosm, there was a McDonald’s restaurant within a two mile radius of another in places like Stanmore, Edgware, Colindale, Kingsbury, Neasden, Cricklewood, Wembley Park, Wembley Central, Harlesden and Brent Park. Business was really booming and several jobs were created within the host communities for hourly and salaried employment.
And I, like many others, were huge beneficiaries of the booming economy as I made enough to pay my way through university without taking a cent in student loans. Mind you tuition fees back then were only a thousand pounds.