Great article in the Wall Street Journal about Mc Donalds delivering on scooters. It might make sense for them to do this in areas like New York or Florida especially in beach towns where parking is almost impossible at local hot spots.
The truth is if KFC offered delivery on South Beach Florida I'm positive many people would use the service. There's already several scooter delivery companies that will pick up anything from any restaurant on Miami Beach for $15. Maybe there's room for smaller companies to offer a similar service?
From the article: Mr. Fenton says delivery sales have been posting double-digit growth every year in every country where it's offered. In Egypt, where McDonald's first started offering delivery in 1994, more than 30% of total sales come from delivery. And delivery accounts for nearly 12% of McDonald's sales in Singapore. For KFC, delivery accounts for a third of sales in Egypt and nearly half in Kuwait.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204397704577074982151549316.html
http://online.wsj.com/video/for-food-delivery-china-calls-mcdonald/E1FE8F13-7572-4F98-B627-4180414542D8.html
When Americans are too busy or lazy to cook, they often place an order with their favorite Chinese restaurant. So who do people in China call when they want food delivered? Increasingly, McDonald's and KFC.
Delivery is becoming an important part of the growth strategy at McDonald's Corp. and Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC chain in parts of the world where cities are too crowded and real estate costs too high to justify building drive-throughs.
In cities like Beijing, Seoul and Cairo, armies of motorbike delivery drivers outfitted in colorful uniforms and bearing food in specially designed boxes strapped to their backs make their way through bustling traffic to deliver Big Macs and buckets of chicken wings.
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Getty Images
A McDonald's moped in Cairo, Egypt, where delivery is a third of sales.
McDonald's Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa division, which accounts for more than a fifth of the company's revenue and showed same-store sales growth of 8.1% in November, is planning to add delivery service to many of the new restaurants it builds.
Already, 1,500 restaurants out of the division's 8,800 in 15 countries offer delivery, and it plans to build more than 650 new restaurants next year, with up to 250 of those in China alone.
Yum Brands, which says its Pizza Hut unit was the first Western chain to offer delivery in China, decided in 2008 to test whether chicken would prove as popular a delivery item. Now, KFC offers delivery in more than half its 3,500 restaurants in China, and Yum Chief Financial Officer Rick Carucci estimates delivery will be available in more than 2,000 new KFC restaurants in China over the next decade. The chicken chain also offers delivery in other Asian countries, the Middle East, Central America and Mexico.
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How McDonald's Hit the Spot
As the largest fast-food chain in China, KFC is relying on delivery to help broaden the reach of its brand even more. KFC is opening about 450 new restaurants in China per year, half of which Mr. Carucci says will offer delivery.
At McDonald's, "we've used the slogan, 'If you can't come to us, we'll come to you,'" says Tim Fenton, president for the chain's Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa division.
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Associated Press
Only in rare cases does McDonald's deliver food in the U.S. Above, a McDonald's at the train station in Shenyang in northern China's Liaoning province.
Sun Yu, who works for a media company in Beijing, says he orders from McDonald's or KFC two or three times per month because it's "more convenient than going to the restaurant, especially in bad weather."
"We usually can get the food within 15 minutes after I order, much more quickly than a lot of Chinese food restaurants."
Mr. Fenton says delivery sales have been posting double-digit growth every year in every country where it's offered. In Egypt, where McDonald's first started offering delivery in 1994, more than 30% of total sales come from delivery. And delivery accounts for nearly 12% of McDonald's sales in Singapore. For KFC, delivery accounts for a third of sales in Egypt and nearly half in Kuwait.
Food delivery is commonplace in many Asian and Middle Eastern cities, from independent restaurants and local chains to hotels.
"In Egypt, you could call the Marriott hotel and have a steak delivered to you," Mr. Fenton says.
Still, it's not a model either company plans to export to Western markets. McDonald's derives about two-thirds of its sales in the U.S. from drive -through customers. Only in rare cases does McDonald's deliver food in the U.S., such as with 10 restaurants in Manhattan.
For McDonald's, equipping its restaurants in Asia and the Middle East to handle delivery involves having an area to assemble orders, which are then placed in battery-powered induction heating boxes with vents to keep humidity out so that French fries remain hot without getting soggy.
Cold items are placed in insulated containers with ice packs and both fit onto the back of yellow and red McDonald's branded motorbikes or electric scooters. Drivers wear yellow and red McDonald's uniforms and aim to deliver the food within 30 minutes.
In some countries, such as China, customers pay a flat fee of seven yuan, or just over $1, for delivery.
In others, people pay a fee equal to 15% to 20% of their order price. KFC, whose drivers ride red motorbikes equipped with similar heated boxes, charges a flat fee for delivery.
Ivy Hu, who works at an advertising agency in Beijing and recently ordered several McFlurry desserts to share with colleagues, doesn't mind paying the delivery fee because it saves her from having to wait in line at the restaurant.
"You know, I can't be bothered to walk even five minutes away, to the KFC near our office, and McDonald's is a little farther," says Ms. Hu, 40.
The majority of McDonald's delivery orders are still phoned in, but the company has started offering Web-based ordering in Singapore and Turkey.
"We'd love to evolve to more Web ordering because it spares the cost of the call center. That's really the big future for us," Mr. Fenton says.
Online orders now account for about 40% of the delivery orders for both Pizza Hut and KFC in China.
"We'll probably stop building call centers as more people buy online," Yum's Mr. Carucci says, adding that people tend to order more food online because they don't feel as rushed as they do when they order by phone.
—Kersten Zhang
contributed to this article.
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