This year, Happy Meal, one of McDonald's signature products, is in its 40th year. Over the past 40 years, Happy Paradise Meal has brought joy to countless families around the world, and its matching free toys are loved by "friends big and small".
On October 18, McDonald's China announced a major upgrade of the Happy Paradise Meal from a three-piece set to a four-piece set, and increased the selection and proportion of vegetables and fruits to provide a richer and more balanced meal in response to the 40th anniversary of the birth of happy paradise meals. In addition, McDonald's China also announced that it has joined forces with Walt Disney Company to open a partnership from 2019 to 2025, launching a Disney movie-themed happy meal every year to bring more surprises and joy to children.
"In 1990, Happy Meal came to Chinese mainland with the first McDonald's restaurant. In 2018, we sold more than 27 million Happy Meals, including over 16 million servings of milk and over 5.7 million servings of fruits and vegetables. Today, great health has become a national strategy, and children are the future of the country. In keeping with our ongoing commitment to the well-being of children, today we are announcing a major upgrade to the three aspects of nutrition, responsibility and joy. Zhang Jiayin, CEO of McDonald's China, said.
Upgrade your menu in response to the Healthy China Strategy
It is understood that the new Happy Paradise Meal refers to the "McDonald's Global Children's Nutrition Standards", and combined with the dietary nutritional needs of Chinese children, it has been upgraded from a three-piece set to a four-piece set, including a staple food (optional meat protein source: fish, cattle, chicken), a snack (optional mini fries, corn cup), a vegetable and fruit (optional apple slices, fresh vegetable cup, corn cup) and a drink (optional pure milk, water, 100% apple juice).
"At present, the national seafood intake is not enough, so we have specially increased the fish meat in the design of the menu. In addition, now we provide a 4-piece set, which can ensure that each set of happy meals has a fruit and vegetable in it, ensuring a balanced diet. Zhang Jiayin said.
In recent years, McDonald's China has made a number of health-related adjustments, including product salt reduction, the introduction of Coke Zero, the abandonment of palm oil, and the design of a 500-calorie menu to meet the growing health needs of Chinese consumers.
According to the data, from 2010 to 2018, McDonald's China reduced salt by adjusting the salt content of related products, such as: hamburger bread (about 10% reduction), ketchup (about 10% reduction) and French fries (about 20%) by adjusting the salt content of related products. Beginning in 2017, McDonald's restaurants gradually stopped using palm oil and switching to sunflower canola oil, significantly reducing saturated fatty acids by more than two-thirds.
Ding Gangqiang, director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" is a development strategy formulated by the National Health Commission, and a series of initiatives launched by McDonald's have accumulated experience for exploring and developing nutrition and health knowledge. "We look forward to more catering companies taking active actions to jointly promote the construction of a healthy China." Ding Gangqiang said.
The 21st century economic reporter noted that in terms of pricing, the price of the set menu after the upgrade of the Happy Paradise meal was about 2 yuan. In this regard, Zhang Jiayin said that each happy paradise meal is now a four-piece set plus free toys, the cost has increased significantly, and the current pricing strategy is "half half", half of the company bears, and half of the consumer pays.
"Children under the age of 9 account for about 7% of the entire population, we hope to talk to the families of children aged 3 to 9, educate children how to eat and develop habits, we pay more attention to the responsibility of the brand, and the sales driven by it (Happy Meal) are not the most important thing we feel." Zhang Jiayin stressed that the goal of Happy Meal has not been profit.
One of the hallmarks of Happy Meal, or its attraction, is the accompanying toys. Therefore, the latest seven-year global partnership with Disney is another focus of McDonald's targeting the children's family market. According to the cooperation agreement, starting this year, the two sides will select the favorite movie characters of Chinese children for the design of happy meal toys, and the first round of cooperation toys will be the first to enter McDonald's stores nationwide from November 13.
"McDonald's customers have children in more than 20 percent of the households, and through our partnership with Disney we will further expand the children's and family market." Zhang Jiayin revealed that McDonald's China is communicating with the Disney China team to further explore other possibilities besides toy IP cooperation.
Accelerate the opening of stores and consolidate the market for children's families
The reporter noted that whether it is the upgrade of Happy Paradise Meal or the new cooperation with Disney, it is mainly aimed at family consumers with children, which is also one of the core customer groups of McDonald's China.
However, with the upgrading of consumption and the rise of personalized demand, a large number of parent-child-themed restaurants have emerged in China in recent years, and even hotels have increased the marketing and promotion of children's family groups, launched many products suitable for family gatherings, and brought a certain diversion to McDonald's.
Zhang Jiayin, who joined McDonald's in 2000, was first responsible for the promotion of the family market, and over the years she has witnessed the changes in chinese household consumption. "There have been many changes in family life in China, for example, parents in first- and second-tier cities are busier, we see more elderly people with children in restaurants, and we see more young parents coming on weekends, so we have launched services such as food delivery to the table and mobile phone ordering to adapt to the changes in the busy life of first- and second-tier families."
It is reported that at present, 60% of McDonald's stores have been upgraded to "future restaurants" and can provide food delivery services. In addition, McDonald's China has also upgraded the software and hardware facilities of the children's playground, adding a series of elements such as digital projection that modern children like. Zhang Jiayin said that in the future, the company will also explore more suitable forms of gatherings at McDonald's, "In addition to traditional birthday parties, there may be more holidays, such as Children's Day, Mother's Day and Mother's Day to launch related theme meal services." ”
The children's market has always been an important position of Western-style fast food, McDonald's, KFC and other Western-style fast food brands have entered China for nearly 30 years, they initially faced child consumers have grown into the mainstream consumer group of the current catering market, how to make the brand power continue in the new generation of parents, is a new topic of McDonald's, KFC and other foreign fast food giants.
Zhang Jiayin said that the proportion of family business in McDonald's Business in China has not changed much over the years, and has been relatively stable, "but our denominator has been getting bigger." Overall, the home business is worth the long-term investment for the company. ”
In July 2017, McDonald's entered into a strategic partnership with CITIC Holdings, CITIC Capital and Carlyle to jointly operate and manage McDonald's operations in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. McDonald's China immediately released its first "five-year plan" to accelerate development: "By the end of 2022, the number of McDonald's restaurants in Chinese mainland will increase from 2,500 to 4,500, during which the turnover will maintain double-digit growth." ”
As of September this year, there were more than 3,200 McDonald's restaurants in Chinese mainland, with more than 170,000 employees. "With 423 restaurants opened last year and two and a half months to go before the end of the year, the final number of stores should be the same as last year or a little more." Zhang Jiayin revealed that half of the more than 400 new restaurants opened this year are opened in third- and fourth-tier cities.
For the recent hot discussion of artificial meat, Zhang Jiayin said that it is still under study, "Is it valuable to promote artificial meat?" Now McDonald's will test in Canada first, and we will look at the test results to consider. ”
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