"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...

>
> It seems a little ironic to me that McDonalds would insist on perfect
potatoes where
> their food is so far from perfects. I realize that they sell billions of
burgers, but
> mass appeal, especially with their special appeal to children and teens
does nothing
> to enhance my view of their products. I will take those roughly chopped
fries from a
> chip truck over the golden arches fries any day.

Actually, their food DOES come very much closer to
"perfect" *for what it is supposed to be* than any of
their competitors. Note, however, that in this context,
"perfect" doesn't at ALL have to equate to "good" in terms
of taste, nutrition, etc..

I had the good fortune to be sitting next to a McDonald's exec
on a trans-Pacific flight once; he was on his way to Australia
and New Zealand to work out some deals with meat suppliers
their for their Asian operations. Learned a lot about what
Micky D's is all about, and you can basically sum it up in
one word: consistency. McDonald's never is going to make the
absolute best hamburger or whatever in the world, but
they know that and that isn't really what they're shooting for.
The point is to make a product that the public will buy, and
then to make sure that that product is absolutely the same no
matter what McDonald's you happen to walk into. And at
least in my experience, in THAT sense they're the best in
the world. No matter where I am - and I get around quite
a bit on business - if I HAVE to go for "fast food," either
due to a time crunch or just because I have no "known good"
local options, I am likely to go to McD's. I never expect
to have a "great" burger or whatever there, but I am always
absolutely certain that whatever I DO get will be exactly the
same in, say, Taipei as it is in Denver. And I can tell you from
(bad) experience that a lot of their American-type competition
in those same locations can't say the same thing.

In that light, their demanding that their suppliers provide
potatoes (or whatever) to some pretty tight specifications
is very understandable.

Bob M.
>
>