Pest Analysis of the Fast Food Industry

Pest Analysis Fast Food Retail Sector Introduction Political Factors McDonald’s food safety is of a very high-quality and is recognised as one of the best in the fast food retail sector. One of their main successes has been their training programme. They 1 train all of their staff before they begin work in one of their restaurants on all aspects of food quality, food safety and hygiene. This training, along with being made aware of the importance of cleanliness, continues throughout their employment. Another of their regulations they impose is in the food handling areas were staff must wear special aprons and hats to maintain hygiene, and also have to abide a strict washing procedure which is monitored on a day-to-day basis. Due to the private sector of business being so competitive, businesses have to keep their overheads to a minimum in order to provide reasonable prices, and still make a profit. Large companies could raise the cost of their menu slightly in order to keep profits up but cost down. Smaller take-away businesses, such as local takeaways, have lower profit margins and therefore may have raise their prices significantly to keep staff employed and may consequently lose customers to their lower priced competitors. Another political aspect that has affected the fast food retail sector comes from international pressure groups. Environmental organizations, such as Friends of the Earth International, have proven their influence in the political systems across the world. 2 Many of the smaller fast food businesses do not have the problem of the major fast food outlets, as they do not hold as much public interest. Economical Factors 3 Socio-Cultural Factors As the smaller businesses in the fast food sector are once again not in the public eye as much as the big chains, many have not altered their menus as much. Many have lost business since the healthy living trend began, but most stick with the theory of ‘what you see is what you get’. In

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