McDonald’s and Coke's Marriage Might Need a Refresher
6/25/202619 min
For 70 years, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have teamed up as fast food juggernauts. WSJ’s Heather Haddon and Laura Cooper explore how changing consumer tastes and increasing competition are challenging their iconic brand partnership. Imani Moise hosts.
Further Listening:
- McDonald’s Wants To Offer Quality And Value. Can It Do Both?
- 'It Came out of Nowhere': The Rise of Dr Pepper
- KFC Got Fried in the Chicken Wars. Can It Come Back?
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRyan Knutson· Host0:00
Hey, it's Ryan. Our colleague, Imani Moise, is here to guest host today's episode. Here it is.
Imani Moise· Host0:06
McDonald's and Coca-Cola are two of the world's most recognizable brands, and their success has been in part due to their more than 70-year collaboration. It all began in an Illinois parking lot in 1955.
Heather Haddon· Guest0:25
[upbeat music] So Waddy Pratt was a salesman at Coca-Cola, and he was looking to develop new business for the company, and he met with a new franchise restaurant CEO named Ray Kroc.
Imani Moise· Host0:40
Our colleague, Heather Haddon, covers restaurants.
Heather Haddon· Guest0:43
And he found Ray Kroc outside of a restaurant he had just opened in the Chicago suburbs, and they struck up a friendship and a business relationship that would span for decades and decades.
Imani Moise· Host0:56
McDonald's was basically a startup back then. This was the first location east of the Mississippi, but Kroc had plans to go bigger.
Heather Haddon· Guest1:06
One thing Ray Kroc was really known for is uniformity and consistency in his restaurants, so he wanted to pick suppliers that could scale as much as his ambitions for the company. So he was seeing this very small restaurant chain that he had just embarked on as one day operating restaurants all over the country.