Recently, it was revealed that the well-known McDonald’s changed its name to the Golden Arches. What happened? Why did McDonald’s change its name to the Golden Arches? What does the Golden Arches mean? The following is what I shared about McDonald’s changing its name to the Golden Arches. Let’s take a look at the whole story.
Introduction to the story of McDonald’s changing its name to Golden Arches
On the 25th, I was amused by a message today. The Ronald McDonald we are familiar with quietly changed the name of the company. The reporter has just checked the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and confirmed this matter. In the corporate information, McDonald's China Co., Ltd. was renamed Golden Arches China Co., Ltd. McDonald's also responded to the media saying that it had indeed changed its name. Netizens have ridiculed: Should KFC be renamed "Kaifeng Cuisine"?
On October 25, McDonald's China Co., Ltd. officially changed its name to Golden Arches China Co., Ltd. on October 12, 2017. Its branches in various locations The company is also changing its name one after another.
In this regard, McDonald's said: "This change is mainly at the license level, daily business will not be affected in any way" and "McDonald's restaurant names, food safety standards, operating procedures, etc. remain unchanged."
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Industrial and commercial information data shows that on August 24 this year, the investor name of McDonald’s China Co., Ltd. was changed from “McDonald’s China Management Co., Ltd.” to “Golden Arches China Management Co., Ltd.” On October 12, the company name was also changed to "Golden Arches China Co., Ltd."
Since August this year, McDonald's has quietly begun to change its name to "Golden Arches". McDonald's branches in various regions across the country have also successively replaced "McDonald's" in their original names with "Golden Arches", but there are also some in Beijing. Branches such as McDonald's Food Co., Ltd. and Shanghai McDonald's Food Co., Ltd. have not yet changed their names.
Log in to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and enter "McDonald's". The first place in the search results is Shanghai McDonald's Food Co., Ltd., and the second place is Golden Arches China Co., Ltd., whose historical name reads "McDonald's China Co., Ltd."
According to Tianyancha information, the name change was completed on October 12. On August 24, the investor’s name was also changed from McDonald’s China Management Co., Ltd. to Golden Arches China Management Co., Ltd.
After further inquiry, the reporter found that Golden Arches China Co., Ltd. was established on December 7, 1993, which also means that Golden Arches was registered under McDonald's as early as 1993.
Under the same legal representative’s name, there are also Shenzhen Golden Archmen Food Co., Ltd., Shanxi Golden Archmen Co., Ltd., Sichuan Golden Archmen Co., Ltd., etc., which were established in 1990, 2014, and 1999 respectively. Among them, the Shenzhen company and the Sichuan company have the historical names of McDonald's Restaurant Shenzhen Co., Ltd. and Sichuan McDonald's Restaurant Food Co., Ltd. respectively.
Why did McDonald’s change its name to the Golden Arches?
The first explanation: McDonald’s golden arch-shaped logo has a famous nickname in the West - Golden Arch, which literally translates to "Golden Arches" .
There is a book Golden Arches East that tells the story of McDonald’s in Asia. The Golden Arches are of great significance to McDonald’s, so I think this Chinese company name is definitely not thought up by local people. Maybe Maybe it has some other meaning.
Thomas Friedman proposed the "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention" and believed that any two countries with McDonald's stores would not go to war with each other - this The theory paints a vision for a world that ends the Cold War based on "economic man"—human beings who will replace their desire for war with Big Macs and french fries.
The second explanation is: Feng Shui theory.
However, these are all speculations. The real reason is capital.
The series of changes in the name change occurred after McDonald's became Chinese-owned in August this year.
After McDonald’s USA sold its shares to CITIC Carlyle, the operating company in China was renamed Golden Arches. This Golden Arches has no capital relationship with McDonald’s, so it cannot be called McDonald’s Corporation; however, Golden Arches is authorized Operate McDonald's restaurants in China and use the McDonald's trademark.
On August 8, McDonald's NYSE: MCD announced the formal completion of strategic cooperation with CITIC Limited 00267.HK, CITIC Capital and Carlyle Group for McDonald's China business.
The newly established McDonald's China will operate and manage McDonald's business in mainland China and Hong Kong, China, accelerate expansion, open 2,000 more stores within 5 years, increase coverage in third- and fourth-tier cities by 10%, and the new company will temporarily There are no plans to go public.
At that time, company insiders told The Paper that the company’s new name had not yet been finalized, so the expression “New McDonald’s China” was temporarily used.
This strategic cooperation has been approved by relevant Chinese regulatory agencies and was officially completed on July 31, 2017. The new company will become McDonald's largest franchisee outside the United States, operating and managing approximately 2,500 McDonald's restaurants in mainland China and approximately 240 McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong.
After the acquisition is completed, CITIC Limited and CITIC Capital will hold ***52% of the controlling stake in the new company, while Carlyle and McDonald's Global will hold 28% and 20% of the equity respectively. On January 9 this year, a joint announcement by CITIC Limited, Carlyle Group and McDonald's showed that the acquisition price at that time was a maximum of US$2.08 billion, or a total consideration of approximately RMB 13.97 billion. The acquisition consideration would be partly in cash and partly issued to McDonald's. Settlement of new shares of the new company.
The board members of the new company will come from CITIC Limited, CITIC Capital, Carlyle and McDonald's. McDonald's existing management team remains unchanged. Zhang Yichen, chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital, will serve as chairman of the board of directors of the new company. Yang Xiangdong, managing director of Carlyle Group and chairman of the Asia Pacific region, will serve as vice chairman of the new company's board of directors. Former McDonald’s China CEO Zhang Jiayin continues to serve as the new McDonald’s China CEO.
Does this name change have an impact on the "McDonald's" brand? According to Li Jing, dean of the School of Economics of Chongqing Technology and Business University and "Chongqing" client "Mingjia", brand equity includes McDonald's popularity. , customers' trust in it, after many years of operation, has its connotation and value on a global scale, and is a great intangible asset.
As for the cooperation between CITIC Group and McDonald's, Li Jing believes that the establishment of a new company is more of a strategic investment, mainly in terms of capital operation and operational strategies, using its own resources and advantages to promote its development and Innovation.
Wan Quandong, a senior brand management expert and general manager of Chongqing Smart Blackstone Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., also believes that the company's name change is actually just a change in the capital side and will not have much impact on the "McDonald's" brand.
“In fact, KFC has also undergone asset restructuring, which has no impact on the brand. Maybe its strategy in China has changed and it will expand to other businesses, but this is just a change in business.” Wanquan Dongze said that foreign-funded enterprises have very clear strategies for Chinese brands and generally do not change brands easily. For example, KFC once specially created a Chinese fast food brand "Dongfang Jibai" for the Chinese market.
What does the Golden Arches mean?
McDonald's China responded to a reporter from the "Daily Economic News" that after McDonald's became strategic partners with CITIC and Carlyle, due to business development needs, Since October 12, 2017, the corporate name of McDonald's China headquarters has been changed to "Golden Arches China Co., Ltd.". This change is mainly at the license level and daily business will not be affected in any way. Relevant people from McDonald's China also told reporters that the renamed Golden Arches are indeed the M Logo-like arches.
Careful netizens can easily discover that the Golden Arches and McDonald’s “M” logo are actually consistent.
Where did the name McDonald's come from? "McDonald's" sounds like a personal name, but its founder is called Ray Kroc. Why do we eat "McDonald's" fast food instead of What about "Cloak" fast food? The fact is that although it was Kroc that single-handedly established today's McDonald's empire, the "McDonald's" brand already existed before that. - A pair of brothers surnamed "McDonald" ran this small-scale hamburger restaurant with the same name. Kroc, who was still a down-and-out salesman at the time, discovered the business opportunity. After working in partnership with the McDonald brothers for a while, Kroc finally opened the business in the last century. In the 1960s, he bought the entire business of "McDonald's". At that time, McDonald's was already somewhat famous. In order to consolidate the existing business results, Kroc chose to retain the name.
A design industry insider said that in fact, the Golden Arches are the first step for McDonald's to transform from a local fast food to a national chain of fast food restaurants. They opened their first franchise store in Phoenix, USA. For the first time, the appearance adopted two large golden pointed parabolic structures. In the 1960s, these two parabolic elements were combined together to form a shape similar to the current M. The golden arches are actually the earliest visual image of McDonald’s.