Day 258 - 07 Jun 96 - Page 30


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, Mr. Fairgrieve?
     3        A.  I think the figure that Mr. Preston was referring to
     4        was a figure of 93 per cent, and it is a figure that is
     5        kind of separate to the, is not really relevant to the,
     6        analysis we have been talking about, and it relates to
     7        'ever visited' penetration.  It means during the life of
     8        the person have they visited McDonald's at some point.  The
     9        reason why it is relevant for us to know is that, as I have
    10        said previously, mainly due to life stages people tend to
    11        drop out of McDonald's usage at certain life stages -- or
    12        certain levels of McDonald's usage -- so across the
    13        population who eat out over time 93 per cent of the
    14        population have visited McDonald's at some point during
    15        their life, and that is a figure that we collect regularly
    16        on AF2.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Right.  The other thing which I think
    19        -- (to Miss Steel) You can come back in a moment.  Better
    20        that I ask than anyone else in the light of the conflict we
    21        have had.  For how long of the time you have been working
    22        with McDonald's has it been of some relevance to have an
    23        idea of what proportion of the population use McDonald's?
    24        A.  It has been--
    25
    26   Q.   In any given year?
    27        A.  It has been very relevant and necessary for us as a
    28        business to know that.
    29
    30   Q.   What sort of ball park figure has been in your mind for
    31        that user over the years?
    32        A.  Can you just clarify the question again?
    33
    34   Q.   What proportion of the population, the 56.6 million as it
    35        is now, will go into McDonald's this year, 1996, or would
    36        have gone into a McDonald's in 1990 -- by 'going to',
    37        I include pulling up in the car and ordering a meal as
    38        well.  I do not want you to give me an exact percentage but
    39        in sort of tenths, quarters, thirds, whatever?
    40        A.  It is difficult to give a direct answer on that
    41        question because the indicators that we use within the
    42        business are slightly different.  So the indicators that we
    43        would use on an on-going basis are, firstly, our share of
    44        the burgerhouse market, as the market within which we
    45        operate, which is currently round about 70 per cent.
    46        Secondly, going into the slightly wider universe, I think
    47        it is something like 13 to 15 per cent of the quick service
    48        restaurant market, and finally something like 8 per cent of
    49        the total eating out market.  Those are one set of criteria
    50        we use on-going. 
    51 
    52        The rest of the criteria that we use come from AF2, and the 
    53        number that we would look at on-going is last four weeks
    54        penetration.  I think McDonald's last 4 week penetration in
    55        the UK on-going is round about 50 per cent of informal
    56        eating out.  Those are the indicators we consider valuable
    57        and use on a fairly regular basis.  That is what we need to
    58        know in our business.
    59
    60   Q.   So you cannot begin to give any reliable figure of what

Prev Next Index