McDonald’s Corp., Oak Brook, IL, last week named its first-ever exec VP-chief operations officer for McDonald’s USA, a significant change to the executive ranks since Jim Cantalupo replaced Jack Greenberg as CEO in December. Ralph Alvarez takes the COO post to upgrade U.S. restaurant operations; he had been president of McDonald’s USA’s central division, overseeing 4,300 restaurants. Poor service and quality have contributed to McD’s sales slump.
At the same time, Big Mac is reportedly planning a February powwow to fix marketing that has fallen flat with consumers and failed to drive store traffic. New ads, promos and menu tweaks are expected.
Meanwhile, this week McDonald’s breaks a four-week Happy Meal promo featuring Ohio Art Co.’s Betty Spaghetty — a doll with interchangeable body parts, popular with girls aged four to 12. Happy Meals will have four seven-inch versions of Betty and friends; similar Happy Meals did well in McDonald’s European restaurants in 2001 and last year.
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