Mcdonald\'s Food Is an Icon of Culture.

McDonald's

Food is an icon of culture. For marketers, this has many ramifications. Food can be sold to overseas communities simply for its comfort value -- the familiarity of the food reconnects the diner with the culture. Despite this, it is relatively easy to sell foreign food in most countries. Whether people have an innate curiosity or for some other reason, people often like to explore food. McDonald's is an example of a company that has been able to translate its menu around the world with relatively few difficulties. The company has habit of tailoring its menu for local tastes in order to gain traction in foreign markets. At times, this requires significant adjustments, such as in India (Petrun, 2009).

When the company moved into the UK market, it did not need to make many adjustments to the menu. There is a high degree of cultural similarity between the U.S. And the UK, so McDonalds was able to make the transition relatively easily. Firms expanding overseas often face cultural barriers that they need to overcome. Hard as it is to believe today, curry was a tough sell in Britain in prior to the 1960s but slowly became a dominant cuisine in the country (Bistro, 2011).

As the result of being able to easily adapt to the British palate, McDonald's has been able to grow rapidly in the country and become a major success. An estimated 320,000 people at eat McDonald's in Britain every day, and the company is growing at its fastest rate in Britain since the 1980s (Metro, 2011). This growth trajectory has been ongoing, as the company saw sales in the UK rise 11% in 2009, allowing the company to create 5000 new jobs in the country. British growth in that year was significantly higher that in any other region, indicating that during the economic downturn the popularity of McDonald's among Britons skyrocketed (Hall, 2009). This growth continues unabated, with the company recording its 20th consecutive quarter of growth in the first quarter of 2011 (Daily Record, 2011). The company has been almost as successful in Europe, and profits from the continent were instrumental in boosting the company's earnings last quarter (BBC, 2011).

The company has been able to successfully adapt its operations to the British taste. While it did not initiate a Sunday roast or start spreading Marmite on its buns, it did provide burgers at a cheap price at a point in time when Britons were migrating towards fattier foods in general. McDonald's did not feel the need to stop selling its burgers and fries in favour of Yorkshire pudding and the proof is in the pudding. They have become successful, and although everybody knows McDonald's is American nobody genuinely views the company as an affront to British cuisine.

According to the McDonald's UK website, the company does make a number of overtures to the British food trend of supporting British agriculture. The company uses local produce as much as possible, including British and Irish beef, local pork, chicken and eggs, and the company uses British bakers and other local producers as well. This fits in with the British trend of local eating, something that has been a part of British food culture since it was enforced on the country during the War.