Diversity in the Fast Food Industry

In 2008, the fast food industry generated a net income of $157.2 billion in the United States, serving countless American’s on an every day basis. Consumers routinely stop in for a quick meal or go through a drive-thru, oftentimes more than once a day. Considering that the fast food industry deals with all types of people, ages, and races, it is a perfect model to observe diversity initiatives. Further, there are countless types of fast food chains, in all parts of the nation –as well as the world- making it ideal for such observations. So, given the subject, which company most successful in addressing diversity, and likewise, which company is the worst?

It comes at no surprise that the leader in diversity for the fast food industry is none other than McDonald’s. McDonald’s is the national, and global, leader in total sales, and is one of the most recognizable companies in the world. McDonald’s possesses an astounding 25% of corporate officers as minorities. Further, 24% of all McDonald’s corporate officers are women. Recently, McDonald’s has increased their spending on minorities and women, given that more than 40% of McDonald’s U.S. franchise operators are women and minorities. (Alleyne, 2008)

The McDonald’s website has a list of numerous awards won by the company, including “Top 50 Companies Where Women Want to Work”, “Top Places for Minorities to Work”, “Top 10 Diversity Champions”, and many more awards given by nationally recognized publications. In the mid 1970’s, McDonald’s CEO Fred Turner developed the initial diversity framework, and in 1980 hired the first official head of diversity –the first position of its kind in the fast food industry. Glancing over the McDonald’s website in the diversity section de...

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...unt of information, but also the highest volume of information available. Along with videos and links to outside websites, McDonald’s diversity section of the website was impeccable. Denny’s, however, was vary bare and did not go into detail, although it was easy to find and provided a couple of outside links. McDonald’s succeeds because you truly get a feel they are trying to be the most diverse company, while Denny’s just promotes diversity for the sake of business norms.

Works Cited:

1.) Alleyne, Sonia. (2008). The 40 Best Companies for Diversity. Black Enterprise, Retrieved from http://www.aramark.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=500

2.) http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/csr/report/employment_experience/inclusion_and_diversity.html?DCSext.destination=http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/csr/report/employment_experience/inclusion_and_diversity.html