Brief introduction of McDonald's renaming Golden Arch
25th, I was amused by a piece of news today. Our familiar uncle McDonald's quietly changed the company name. The reporter just checked the national enterprise credit information publicity system and confirmed this matter. In the corporate information, McDonald's China Co., Ltd. was renamed as Golden Arch China Co., Ltd., and McDonald's also responded to the media that it had indeed changed its name. Netizens have ridiculed: Should KFC be renamed as "Kaifeng Cuisine"?
654381October 25th McDonald's China Co., Ltd. was officially renamed as Golden Arch China Co., Ltd. on 20 17, 12/October 25th, and its branches are being renamed one after another.
In this regard, McDonald's said: "This change is mainly at the licensing level, and the daily business will not be affected" and "McDonald's restaurant name, food safety standards, operating procedures, etc. Stay the same. "
McDonald's official Weibo responded: Yes! China Company changed its name to Golden Arch China Co., Ltd.? However, the name change is only at the license level. Wheat grains go to restaurants or find "McDonald's"!
According to industrial and commercial data, on August 24th this year, the investor name of McDonald's China Limited was changed from "McDonald's China Management Limited" to "Golden Arch China Management Limited". 101October 12, and the company name was also changed to "Golden Arch China Co., Ltd.".
Since August this year, McDonald's has quietly become the "golden arch", and McDonald's branches all over the country have changed their original names to "golden arch" one after another, but some branches such as Beijing McDonald's Food Co., Ltd. and Shanghai McDonald's Food Co., Ltd. have not changed their names.
Log in to the national enterprise credit information publicity system and enter "McDonald's". The first search result is Shanghai McDonald's Food Co., Ltd., and the second is Golden Arch China Co., Ltd., with the historical name "McDonald's China Co., Ltd.".
According to the information of Tianyan, the name change of June 10 and June 12 was completed. On August 24th, the name of the investor was also changed from McDonald's China Management Co., Ltd. to Golden Arch China Management Co., Ltd.
The reporter further inquired that Golden Arch China Co., Ltd. was established on February 7, 1993, which means that Golden Arch was registered under McDonald's as early as 1993.
The same legal representative also has Shenzhen Golden Arch Food Co., Ltd., Shanxi Golden Arch Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Golden Arch Co., Ltd., which were established in 1990, 20 14 and 1999 respectively. Among them, Shenzhen Company and 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 Golden Arch?
The first explanation: The Golden Arch of McDonald's has a famous nickname in the west-Golden Arch, which literally translates as "Golden Arch".
There is a book, The Oriental Golden Arch, which tells the story of McDonald's in Asia. The Golden Arch is of great significance to McDonald's, so I think the name of this China company is definitely not invented by local people, and it may be other meaning.
Thomas l. friedman's thomas l. friedman put forward the "golden arch theory of conflict prevention", which holds that no two countries with McDonald's stores will go to war with each other-this theory depicts the prospect of ending the Cold War based on "economic man"-human beings will replace their desire for war with Big Macs and French fries.
The second explanation is: Feng Shui theory.
But these are all guesses, and the real reason is because of capital.
After McDonald's became a Chinese-funded company in August this year, a series of name changes have taken place.
After McDonald's USA sold its shares to CITIC Carlyle, its operating company in China was renamed Golden Arch, which has no capital relationship with McDonald's and cannot be called McDonald's Company. However, Golden Arch is authorized to operate McDonald's restaurants in China and use the McDonald's trademark.
On August 8th, McDonald's NYSE: MCD announced that the strategic cooperation with CITIC 00267.HK, CITIC Capital and Carlyle Investment Group on McDonald's China business was officially completed.
The newly established McDonald's China will operate and manage McDonald's businesses in Chinese mainland and Hongkong, China, and accelerate its expansion. In five years, 2,000 stores will be opened, the coverage rate of third-and fourth-tier cities will increase 10%, and the new company has no listing plan for the time being.
At that time, insiders told the newspaper that the new name of the company had not been finalized, so they temporarily used the expression "New McDonald's China".
This strategic cooperation has been approved by the relevant regulatory authorities in China, and the delivery was officially completed on July 3, 20654381. The new company will become the largest franchise company of McDonald's outside the United States, operating and managing about 2,500 McDonald's restaurants in Chinese mainland and about 240 McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong.
After the acquisition, CITIC and CITIC Capital will hold 52% of the controlling stake in the new company, while Carlyle and McDonald's will hold 28% and 20% of the global shares. This year109,65438, the joint announcement of CITIC, Carlyle Investment Group and McDonald's showed that the highest purchase price at that time was $2.08 billion, and the total consideration was139.7 billion yuan. The purchase consideration will be partially settled in cash, and some new shares will be issued to McDonald's.
The board members of the new company will come from CITIC, CITIC Capital, Carlyle and McDonald's respectively. The existing management team of McDonald's remains unchanged. Zhang Yichen, Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital, became the chairman of the new company. Yang Xiangdong, Managing Director of Carlyle Investment Group and Chairman of Asia-Pacific Region, became the vice chairman of the board of directors of the new company. Zhang Jiayin, the former CEO of McDonald's China, continues to be the CEO of the new McDonald's China.
Does this name change have an impact on McDonald's brand? According to Li Jing, president of chongqing technology and business university Institute of Economics and a customer of Chongqing Mingjia, brand assets include McDonald's popularity and customers' trust in it. After years of operation, it has its connotation and value all over the world, and it is a huge intangible asset.
Regarding the cooperation between CITIC Group and McDonald's, Li Jing believes that the establishment of the new company is more of a strategic investment, which will mainly use its own resources and advantages to promote its development and innovation in capital operation and operation strategy.
Wan Yi, a senior brand management expert and general manager of Chongqing Wisdom Blackstone Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., believes that the company's name change is actually only a change in the capital side, which has little impact on the brand "McDonald's".
"In fact, KFC has also carried out asset restructuring, which has no impact on the brand. Perhaps its strategy in China has changed, and it will expand other businesses of the suite, but this is only a business change. " Wan said that foreign-funded enterprises have a very clear strategy for China brands, and generally will not change brands easily. For example, KFC has specially created a Chinese fast food brand "Oriental White" for the China market.
What does the golden arch mean?
McDonald's China responded to the reporter of National Business Daily that after McDonald's became a strategic partner with CITIC and Carlyle, the corporate name of McDonald's China headquarters was changed from 20 17 10 12 to "Golden Arch China Co., Ltd.". This change is mainly at the license plate level, and the daily business will not be affected. Relevant persons of McDonald's China also told reporters that the name change of the Golden Arch is indeed the M Logo like the Arch.
Careful netizens can easily find that the golden arch and McDonald's "M" logo are actually the same.
How did McDonald's get its name? "McDonald's" sounds like a personal name, but its founder is ray kroc ray kroc. Why do we eat "McDonald's" fast food instead of "klock" fast food? The fact is that although Crocker established the McDonald's empire, the brand "McDonald's" had existed before that. Klock, who was still a down-and-out salesman at that time, found business opportunities in this small-scale hamburger shop with the same name. After working with McDonald's brothers for a period of time, klock finally bought the whole business of McDonald's in 1960s, when McDonald's was already famous. In order to consolidate the existing business achievements, klock chose to keep this name.
According to a design insider, the Golden Arch is actually the first step for McDonald's to become a national fast food chain from local snacks. They opened their first franchise store in Phoenix, USA, and the appearance of the store adopted two huge golden conical paraboloid structures for the first time. In the 1960s, these two parabolic elements combined and became similar to the present M-shape. The golden arch is actually the earliest visual image of McDonald's.