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zeroonetwothree | on: I'm not convinced the AI bubble exists
McDonald’s is considered to have one of the biggest moats of any business. They have an extremely valuable brand, excellent locations, optimized supply chains, and so on.
gizajob | parent
Their moat is only for people who feel like eating a McDonald’s. That’s what the article is saying - when analysed they don’t actually have much of a moat because there are so many other options and competitors including cooking at home. Yet they still survive and look as if they have a moat. A moat for McDonald’s would be if their customers ate there every day or even every meal, and few people actually do that.
darkfloo | root | parent | next
McDonald has a giant moat: Consistency

I can pop into any McDonald across the world and be 99.9% sure that the meal will be clean and taste like what I except McDonald to taste.

I don’t love fast food but I’ve been to a lot of them, across a wide enough range of country , to say that every other fast food chain struggles hard with that.

gizajob | root | parent | next
Again that’s the point - the moat exists if you feel like a McDonald’s, because you know what you’re getting and they are pretty good at delivering on that. But if you’re hungry now and feel like a burger you’re probably not likely to walk 30 minutes across a city to go to a McDonald’s if you’re already standing outside a burger or pizza place that looks alright.
Fnoord | root | parent
You'd be surprised. Kids want McD's, not some random burger restaurant. They want the real thing. This value proposition exists with any restaurant with franchises though. It isn't specific to McD's. According to my wife (who fancies burgers), Burger King is way better anyway. I wouldn't know. For me, it is a scam. Since what they sell as cheddar isn't cheddar (it has nothing to do with that) but processed cheese.
gizajob | root | parent
Going back to my original point, kids don’t eat McDonald’s for every meal, or even 10% of their meals.
Fnoord | root | parent
If it is my son's birthday, he gets to choose. He'd pick either 'pizza from a box' (with which he means New York Pizza for kids) or McDonald's. If I'd pick up a meal from the local snackbar, from a Burger King, or bake my own fries and burger it wouldn't cut it for him. Would it cut it for me? For sure! Cause I like my fries tasting like potato without much salt, not the garbage they dare to serve at a McD's or Burger King. But not for him. It isn't about me; it is about the kid, my son in this case.

Furthermore, if we were on the go, the prolific yellow 'M' can be seen from afar, after which kids yell: 'I see McD's! Daddy can we eat at McD's today?' They want the real deal, and its standardized throughout the country (which has adapted McD's to local cuisine; example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50423291). So in short, the kids already saw the 'M' sign that day, they know it is around in the vicinity, and you won't get away going to some alternative however good, proper, healthy, or tasty it is: it isn't McD's!

Fnoord | root | parent
> except McDonald to taste.

'[…] expect […]'

I'm Dutch and lived near the German border. The first time eating at a German McD's was about 25 years ago, and it was an experience. Because they changed the mayonnaise to German customs. In Germany, mayonnaise is sour, not sweet and the specific McD's version (which normally is yellow, and contains, I don't know, pickles?) was rather different.

As such, your 99,9% is overrated since there's even lots of local flavours and customs, but yes it is generally good enough, and if you consider intra culture, you're flat out right.

ilovecake1984 | root | parent
Corals has no moat. The foo business is notoriously competitive with thin margins.

If that’s what Ai looks like they are in trouble.