Mcdonald's Thailand Imposes One-Hour Time Limit For Customers

[gaucho]

This happens in Britain too - it's quite common to walk into a McDonald's or Burger King before 9am and see at least one sales team holding a meeting there, having bought no food or drink at all. I'd throw them out.

right on ....its just plain XXXXXX rood .....at the end of the day ALL businesses r entitled to cover costs ...im sure that this is only aimed at busy times ...... but it is heartbreaking seeing paying customers leave because they cant get a seat ..and really annoying if u r the customer looking for a seat ... Edited December 20, 2012 by metisdead

[metisdead]

A post was removed yesterday in which a poster was attempting to turn this topic into a conspiracy theory between different fast food outlets. Thai Visa is not the place to vent your conspiracies.

[baboon]

how would they regulate this policy?

i guess its just a SIGN they put arond the shop. some of the more polite guests will honour it.

I doubt staff will bully people out of the shop.

For 21 Baht an hour, who could blame them? Plus, there is the additional risk of getting their head kicked in for causing some little toe-rag `loss of face.`

[Nisa]

The reality is that McDonalds, as confirmed by Forbes and the Wallstrreet journal and numerous other reputable source including McDonalds and Starbucks (not fast food) -- has indeed been trying to compete with Starbucks --- no conspiracy theory here just simple fact that any person is capable of verifying.

McDonalds has added WiFi, better seating (including sofas) and magazines to some locations in what has been a successful attempt to gain marketshare from Starbucks in this area. However, it seems apparent McDonald is finding out there is a cost to pay in lost food sales when you offer such free services along with cheap coffee. Coffee shops that sell coffee at inflated prices encourage to some extent their places to be used for meetings and work and in fact it is a model that some book stores have also taken. McDonalds is just finding out you can't have it both ways in terms of wanting to be a cheap and fast place for food while also attracting today's coffee house drinkers that tend to spend considerable time online or bs-ing while sipping their expensive drink.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Nisa

[Payboy]

Mcdonald's Thailand Imposes One-Hour Time Limit For Customers

Why don't they just reduce the size of their happy meals?

[YipYipYa123]

The reality is that McDonalds, as confirmed by Forbes and the Wallstrreet journal and numerous other reputable source including McDonalds and Starbucks (not fast food) -- has indeed been trying to compete with Starbucks --- no conspiracy theory here just simple fact that any person is capable of verifying.

McDonalds has added WiFi, better seating (including sofas) and magazines to some locations in what has been a successful attempt to gain marketshare from Starbucks in this area. However, it seems apparent McDonald is finding out there is a cost to pay in lost food sales when you offer such free services along with cheap coffee. Coffee shops that sell coffee at inflated prices encourage to some extent their places to be used for meetings and work and in fact it is a model that some book stores have also taken. McDonalds is just finding out you can't have it both ways in terms of wanting to be a cheap and fast place for food while also attracting today's coffee house drinkers that tend to spend considerable time online or bs-ing while sipping their expensive drink.

there should be a wall dividing the starbucks copied "mcCafe " area with the leather couches ,expensive premium drinks and comfortable surrounds to prevent people from buying a 20thb item from the main counter and carryin it into the "luxury area "

[Nisa]

Mcdonald's Thailand Imposes One-Hour Time Limit For Customers

Why don't they just reduce the size of their happy meals?

Interesting you say that. Maybe it is just me but I no longer see too many kids (Happy Meal age) in McDonalds. I still see them around my condo with happy meals either their parents picked up while out or delivered but your mentioning this makes me realize the times I've needed to walk around looking for seats, I didn't see too many little kids. I really recall this too because my wife and I often interact with little kids and their parents in settings like this and I can only recall being near a family with kids once in the past few years but it is not like we regularly eat there. I also have to say that I have always been able to find a table to eat but it seems almost every time it is a concern and one of us orders while the other scopes out tables waiting for a real fast food eater to finish their last bite and get on their way, usually taking their soda with them and leaving their dirty tray on table.

[Semper]

The way I see it in Thailand, no Thai will ever tell another Thai of higher social standing what to do... unless in uniform.

As it's not possible to be of much lower social status than a Mcdonalds empoyee, it's doomed to fail.

Are you saying that school kids have any social status?

[Nisa]

The reality is that McDonalds, as confirmed by Forbes and the Wallstrreet journal and numerous other reputable source including McDonalds and Starbucks (not fast food) -- has indeed been trying to compete with Starbucks --- no conspiracy theory here just simple fact that any person is capable of verifying.

McDonalds has added WiFi, better seating (including sofas) and magazines to some locations in what has been a successful attempt to gain marketshare from Starbucks in this area. However, it seems apparent McDonald is finding out there is a cost to pay in lost food sales when you offer such free services along with cheap coffee. Coffee shops that sell coffee at inflated prices encourage to some extent their places to be used for meetings and work and in fact it is a model that some book stores have also taken. McDonalds is just finding out you can't have it both ways in terms of wanting to be a cheap and fast place for food while also attracting today's coffee house drinkers that tend to spend considerable time online or bs-ing while sipping their expensive drink.

there should be a wall dividing the starbucks copied "mcCafe " area with the leather couches ,expensive premium drinks and comfortable surrounds to prevent people from buying a 20thb item from the main counter and carryin it into the "luxury area "

You know, I think they may have tried this but it is an invisible wall. Not in a McDonald now but if I recall correctly they do have the standard hard seats and tables but then they have an area that has like the cushion seats with lower more trendy tables. They also actually have a separate counter to by the coffee drinks. But obviously an invisible wall is not the answer and they really should do a better job of physically separating the two entities. Kind of funny too ... it seems that most, if not all, of them operate as if they are separate companies when it comes to ordering and paying. It is insane but if you want to order food and one of their coffee drinks, you need to do it at the two different counters. I am just shocked that the computers are not set up to allow alert the coffee staff to make a coffee drink the same as it does the food staff. I also don't recall if this is just a Thai thing or if it is the way it works at McDonald / McCafe back home too.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Nisa

[theblether]

The answer is simple.....McD's should hire a table concierge for the busy periods. They allocate the tables based upon need, and they hurry the loiterers out of the door.

People will soon suss they can't get away with hanging around anymore.

[uptheos]

Who the heck wants to hang out in a lousy terrible place like McD . One hour he he I would not spend five minutes in this crappy lousy food joint

.... and you felt the need to come an internet forum and share that thought with the world ??

Yeah! Think of all the disillusioned people in Somalia, DRC and Equatorial Guinea.

[p_brownstone]

Why thai student don't go home after school? They don't have AC at home and they go to shopping center and spend time there

In many cases I would guess both Parents are working so there is no-one home.

Patrick

Edited December 20, 2012 by p_brownstone

[transam]

Why thai student don't go home after school? They don't have AC at home and they go to shopping center and spend time there

In many cases I would guess both Parents are working so there is no-one home.

Patrick

Noooooooooooooooo, fun and aircon.

[cup-O-coffee]

Why anyone would want to spend more time in the stale chip fat atmosphere than it takes to wolf down a double McDisgusting burger with cholesterol and diabetes, I simply can't say.

For the same reason they would want to spend more time out in the back pasture, grazing on dandelions with you. As long as there is air-conditioning and WiFi and TV and tumble tot toys and a coffee shop that emphasizes slowly sipping a steaming hot latte, then the people who simply want to eat (or in your case, graze on dandelions) will be left with no place to sit comfortably and do what they came to do: eat lard and other animal by-products and large amounts of salt HAhaaaa! My arteries are cracking just thinking about that double Big Mac. MMMmmm!

[cup-O-coffee]

But seriously! I think this is a good sign of the times, which, if MD's took advantage of could reel in some serious profit. I did some research on the percentage of people who are using android devices and it is showing that in a few years there will be more users on the go than those who actually use laptops or desktops.

So, why not sell the old MD's and re-open with more space and that caters to android users on the go who occasionally need a place to sit down and get more serious about their iPad or iPhone and enjoy a nice meal or drink?

At the moment, they could be viewed as cheap charlies, but if one changed their way of thinking, those cheap charlies could also mean big profit in the long run if handled wisely in the marketing sense. It is easier to keep a customer than to win one back.

What we have here now is a growing demographic of android users overflowing and infringing onto the "old way of thinking" that fast food restaurants are only for people who want to eat. Now people want to eat and play with their android devices or to keep their children occupied. I think a lot of bar owners could pick up on this and generate more customer visits if they played the free wifi angle and turned their bar into a drinking, eating, wifi Internet access point. Simply issue the password to every ordering customer and daily (or whenever) cut the wifi connection and change the password and fire it up again.

I think that growing amount of customers equipped with android devices are going to be much like families with children used to be. Focus on the former and you will attract the profits. I mentioned before that if you cut the wifi, they'll buzz off somewhere else, but is that a good thing? Are you sending away a demographic that others will reap?

Why not stock up on iPads and let customers who purchase a certain amount of goods use those iPads free gratis? Just don't forget to collect them before they leave, LOL.

[DickFarang]

They should change their business model to internet shops where you can also buy Mc Disgusting’s.

[thaigold]

I can recall Au Bon Pain at Paragon swamped by Chula girls hogging the tables with one purchased beverage and school paper spread every where. Since the the restaurant has remodeled with one entrance to the table area and polite signs in Thai advising them not to bring in food and drink from other places. It appears to have worked.

In my neighborhood (Soi Rangnam) the college kids come in; order a coffee and then go to sleep in the comfortable chairs. Unbelievable. In the "greatest nation on earth" (where I come from) they would be unceremoniously kicked out.

[reenatinnakor]

It won't work. It's like the pathetic recording and film industry's stance on piracy....just because I can't download your movie or album doesn't mean I'm going to buy it. I'll just happily do without it and pay for stuff that I do want. In this instant I'll just go to KFC or sit somewhere else for an hour.

McDonalds make billions of profit regardless of students sitting with a coke for an hour. Eventually over the course of their life they would have spent more on McDonalds than any other fast food joint. In Hong Kong I see people sleep in the 24 hours Mcdonalds with their heads placed on their folded arms on the table! They don't care because they are making so much money already. Kicking those people off the tables after an hour doesnt mean they will be filled again. It's just bad publicity for McDonalds.

[arthurwait]

I wish them the best of luck with enforcing that...

This, but I wish they would when all the seats are taken up by school and college kids who haven't actually bought anything.

[renrut salohcin]

The main loiterers seem to be groups of students. I don't know, but when I was studying or preparing school papers many, many years ago, I did so in a quiet environment where I actually could concentrate on my tasks, but certainly not in a noisy fast food joint with lots of distractions. Perhaps that is why I hold today a reasonable lucrative job, why my English (as a foreign language) is proficient enough, and why I still can do simple arithmetics in my head without the need for a pocket calculator.

Well you have been very priviliged.

I'm not condoning students occupying tables for long periods, but some of them are trying to do what you were able to do, study. Many of these student's homes are little more than one-roomed shacks with the rest of the family there and the television blaring away constantly, a situation in which it is impossible to study effectively. Ask yourself what you would do in that situation.

[Jayroo]

Sod you - almost makes you want to try to hang out in a McD like that... mind you, i can understand as last time i was in MBK, there was nowhere to sit.

what about the ones that use Mcdonalds as a waiting room, or resting area without even purchasing food, they're the ones that annoy me the most.

[Jayroo]

The two McD's we go to quite regularly always seem to have a lot of students hanging out using the free wi-fi and sharing one Coke while my family goes through 400 or 500 bahts worth of burgers and fries. Just get rid of the wi-fi and they'll buzz off somewhere else. I think that is what this is all about.

Why should they get rid of the WiFi? what about customers that pay for food and want to use the WiFi like me? should we eat elsewhere too?

[transam]

Blimey it must be near half a century ago that us scooter mods would fill up the Wimpy hamburger joints, a regular hangout, but Stavros would keep an eye on who wasn't buying and sort them out.

[transam]

The two McD's we go to quite regularly always seem to have a lot of students hanging out using the free wi-fi and sharing one Coke while my family goes through 400 or 500 bahts worth of burgers and fries. Just get rid of the wi-fi and they'll buzz off somewhere else. I think that is what this is all about.

Why should they get rid of the WiFi? what about customers that pay for food and want to use the WiFi like me? should we eat elsewhere too?

How long does it take to eat a burger etc ? Not long, soooo eat and move on, so others can eat and move on.

[Jayroo]

The two McD's we go to quite regularly always seem to have a lot of students hanging out using the free wi-fi and sharing one Coke while my family goes through 400 or 500 bahts worth of burgers and fries. Just get rid of the wi-fi and they'll buzz off somewhere else. I think that is what this is all about.

Why should they get rid of the WiFi? what about customers that pay for food and want to use the WiFi like me? should we eat elsewhere too?

How long does it take to eat a burger etc ? Not long, soooo eat and move on, so others can eat and move on.

I assure you I am not one of the perpetrators, anyhow as stated many times in this thread, this rule is not aimed at the ones that come in to eat, it is aimed at the ones that DON'T buy food and just linger around, understand now?

Edited December 21, 2012 by Jayroo

[transam]

The two McD's we go to quite regularly always seem to have a lot of students hanging out using the free wi-fi and sharing one Coke while my family goes through 400 or 500 bahts worth of burgers and fries. Just get rid of the wi-fi and they'll buzz off somewhere else. I think that is what this is all about.

Why should they get rid of the WiFi? what about customers that pay for food and want to use the WiFi like me? should we eat elsewhere too?

How long does it take to eat a burger etc ? Not long, soooo eat and move on, so others can eat and move on.

I assure you I am not one of the perpetrators, anyhow as stated many times in this thread, this rule is not aimed at the ones that come in to eat, it is aimed at the ones that DON'T buy food and just linger around, understand now?

Plus the ones that buy a coke and then sit there all day.

[FarangKenStine]

This will go the way of the new taxi rules stating that no passenger fares can be refused

[Scott]

A host of off-topic comments and replies have been deleted.

Stick to the topic, please.

[Mosha]

One hour limit. Well it is fast food.

[Payboy]

Can I stay an extra hour if I pay 20 Baht for the supersize option?