The feedback: I still think you can work on focusing in the introduction. The first half feels a
bit disconnected. Like it’s still setting the reader up for a research paper on McDonalds. Later in
the paper, just be sure the establishment you compare the local McDonalds to falls under the
same category. I’m not sure if we can categorize McDonalds and Saladworks under the same
umbrella.
Evaluation of the McDonald’s, Morgantown, WV Branch
McDonald’s is one of the most successful fast food chain restaurants across the globe. The
company was established in 1940 and since its establishment; the company has been able to realize
enormous success in different aspects (Harrington, Ottenbacher & Fauser, 2017). During its
establishment, the founders rechristened their enterprise as a hamburger stand. However, they later
turned the enterprise into a franchise.
The company has its headquarters in Chicago.
Notwithstanding its humble beginning as a barbeque restaurant, McDonald's is currently the
world’s leading restaurant chain in terms of revenue (Harrington, Ottenbacher & Fauser, 2017). It
currently has branches in more than 100 countries. The company has a well-pronounced
organizational culture that one would experience at any given time. For instance, on any given
night, one would expect to find the company’s signature products, such as hamburgers, French
fries as well as cheeseburgers among other products. Besides, one would expect to see the new
products that have recently been added to its menu, which include salads, fruits, smoothies as well
as fish. Even though McDonald’s has its headquarters in Chicago, the company has restaurants
spread across the globe. As of 2018, the company had 37,855 restaurants spread across the world
(Statista, 2019). It is worth noting that the company is visible by its Golden Arches logo. One of
the signature McDonald’s signature restaurants is located at the 351 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive,
in Morgantown. However, it is important to note that McDonald’s restaurant is not the only one
located in the building. Instead, other companies have established restaurants in Suncrest Towne
Centre, which is described as premier destination for Morgantown’s shopping, dining and
wellness, among others (Suncrest Towne Centre, 2019). Some of the restaurants found in Suncrest
Towne Centre include Taziki's Mediterranean Café, Saladworks, Bartini Prime, Five Guys and
Bacon, bourbon, and beer. This paper seeks to evaluate this branch of McDonald’s (Suncrest
Towne Centre, 2019). Even though McDonald’s Morgantown, WV is characterized by limited
process flexibility as well as low product diversification, the restaurant compensates for it by
providing low prices and short service time and has a strong brand name.
Price is among the ways that the McDonald’s, Morgantown, WV Branch has differentiated
itself from other fast food restaurants located on the Suncrest Towne Centre. Possibly, the
company sells its products at lower prices in order to attract a large customer base. The strategy of
providing its products at lower prices has had several benefits to the company. For example, this
low pricing strategy is helping the company to win back clients from the rival fast-food restaurants
located in the building. This is evident when one enters the restaurant. This is so because the
restaurant is always full, probably because of the low cost of its products compared to other fast
food restaurants located in the building, including Saladworks, Bartini Prime, Five Guys and
Bacon, bourbon, and beer. The prices of the products offered by McDonald’s, Morgantown, WV
Branch range between $1 and $3. However, this varies from depending on the size of the product
that one has ordered. For example, the prices of a cheeseburger, sausage biscuit and sausage are
below One dollar. However, this will vary depending on the season. For instance, this price is
normally 1 dollar during the festive season. Other low-price products offered by the McDonald’s,
Morgantown, WV Branch include McGriddles and bacon McDouble, which are sold at $2. Finally,
Cheeseburger and sausage McMuffin with egg are sold at $3.
On the contrary, the prices offered by Saladworks are very high. The prices of most of the
products offered by Saladworks are above $7. It is only desserts and beverages at Saladworks that
cost below $2. However, none of these products cost below 1 dollar; this is unlike the case of
prices at the McDonald’s, Morgantown, WV Branch where the prices of most of the products are
all below $3. For example, beverages such as a bottle of Dasani Water cost $1.99, a bottle of soda
cost $1.99 while the bottle of Powerade Fruit Punch cost $1.99 (Fast Food Menu Prices, 2019).
Beverages cost as follows; Brownie cost $1.79, Chocolate Chip Cookie costs $1.79 while Oatmeal
Raisin Cookie costs $1.79. Chips cost $11.99 (Fast Food Menu Prices, 2019). Comparing the
prices at both McDonald’s and Saladworks, it is clear that the difference in price margin is hug,
notwithstanding the fact that the two restaurants are located at the same building. The differences
in prices imply that Saladworks is likely to serve premium clients while McDonald’s targets the
mass market. Arguably, Saladworks is using the premium pricing strategy while McDonald’s is
pursuing a low-pricing strategy. The low-pricing strategy pursued by McDonald’s has several
advantages. According to Porter (2008), low-pricing strategy leads to increased sales volume,
reduced production costs and the ability to reach a wider market audience. Considering the hard
economic times across the United States, it is highly likely that many people would prefer taking
their meals at the McDonald’s Morgantown, WV instead of Saladworks, whose prices are
relatively high. Also, due to the low prices of its products, McDonald’s is likely to experience high
sales across the year. On the contrary, Saladworks is likely to experience low sales during the low
economic times, including periods of recession.
Another factor that seems to be giving McDonald’s Morgantown, WV branch a
competitive edge over the competitor restaurants located at the Suncrest Towne Center is short
service time. I am always amazed by the speed of service every time I visit McDonald’s. For
example, for all the times I have visited the McDonald’s, there is no single time I had to wait for
my service for more than a single minute. This is very different from what I have experienced
whenever I visit other restaurants located in the same building. For example, for the few times I
have visited the Taziki's Mediterranean Café and bourbon, I had to wait for more than 4 minutes
to receive my order. As a result of the fast service time, I have now become a very loyal client at
the McDonald’s. Also, its immediate competitor, Saladworks, is facing a great challenge matching
McDonald’s short time service. Due to the short time, the company has been receiving enormous
drive-thru orders.
However, regardless of these factors that give McDonald’s Morgantown, WV a
competitive edge over its competitors, the company has a weakness that is affecting its
competitiveness in the fast food industry. The main weakness of the McDonald’s Morgantown,
WV, that affects its competitiveness is low product diversification. McDonald’s is only dealing
with burgers and flies. This is contrary to McDonald’s competitors, mainly Saladworks, which
offers a wide range of products. For instance, Saladworks product range includes Panini, salads,
wraps, beverages and desserts. Comparing McDonald’s and Saladworks, it is clear that the range
of products offered by Saladworks is large compared to McDonald’s product range.
As evident from the above literature, McDonald’s is an epitome of success in diverse ways.
Though established as a single restaurant, the company has grown to become the largest fast-food
restaurant chain in the world. One of the signature McDonald’s signature restaurants is located at
the 351 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, in Morgantown. This restaurant faces severe competition
from several other restaurants that are located in the same building. Some of the restaurants found
in Suncrest Towne Centre include Taziki's Mediterranean Café, Saladworks, Bartini Prime, Five
Guys and bourbon. This restaurant has realized enormous success due to various strengths. Some
of the strengths that have given it a competitive edge include short service time, low cost of its
products and the strong brand name of the parent organization, McDonald’s. However, the
restaurant has various weaknesses that affect its competitiveness and that reduce its competitive
advantage. For example, the restaurant is characterized by limited process flexibility as well as
low product diversification. The low product diversification has limited the restaurant’s customer
base. Because of the limited range of products, the restaurant serves only a limited number of
customers. If this continues for a long period, the restaurant will lose in terms of sales because of
serving just a limited number of clients. In order for the company to continue being the restaurant
of choice in the location, it should consider expanding its product range to include several products,
such as Panini, salads, wraps, beverages and desserts. As a result, the restaurant would be able to
attract a large number of clients.
The feedback: want to continue to push you toward writing for a specific audience. Consider your
reader to be someone in the field. This is important in your introduction. You define supplements
and what they do, how often they're used, etc. but someone in the field would already have that
foundational information. I don't think it's necessary to include. Keep that in mind throughout the
rest of the paper as well.
As for your thesis and the discussion that extends to your results/discussion section, I worry you're
already arguing for something that has already been proven. Remember, you aren't simply reporting
facts, you're taking those facts and those different perspectives and using them to say something new
and underrepresentedd about the topic at hand. Rather than saying the paper will show the negative
effects, say how you are combining certain established ideas to say something new.
Your literature review section is looking good. I would, however, like to see some more direct quotes
and stronger transitions at times. For example, on pg. 2 you transition to the Nierenberg source by
saying she has also shown interest in supplements. But as a topic sentence that doesn't really say
much about what the paragraph is about. Be specific there as you branch off from the previous idea.
I'm impressed that you conducted your own small study of supplement users. That's a great
contribution. I was confused about the citation on the bottom of pg. 3. What's being cited there? Isn't
that your information? I think I might be a bit confused.
While I liked how you conducted your own study, it might have hurt your results/discussion section.
It seems you're really just discussing how your study confirms what others have already said. I'd like
to see you incorporating a new perspective based on a synthesis of ideas there. Let me know if you
have trouble with that. I may be able to provide further suggestions.
The Effective use of Dietary Supplements
Just like plants and other animals, people suffer from diverse nutrient-deficiency health
conditions. Managing these ailments is costly to both individuals as well as governments.
However, in order to cut down on the prevalence and the cost of management of these ailments,
scientists in the field of human health have come up with diverse ways of preventing as well as
treating nutrient-deficiency conditions. One of the most common methods used for the
prevention of the different nutrient-deficiency conditions is the use of dietary supplements.
Dietary supplements help at complementing the diet. Some dietary supplements not only contain
nutrient compounds but also contain substances that have been found to be essential to life.
However, there is increasing use of supplements among athletes and other people involved in the
extensive workout. Nonetheless, even though dietary supplements are supposed to be used as
compliment nutrition and not as the main nutrition, some people, especially those who work out
take supplements as their main foods (Gahche et al. 1-8). This is termed as abuse of dietary
supplements and has severe health consequences. This paper will show the negative effects of
abuse of supplements by providing facts on how taking a large number of supplements will
negatively affect the human body. Members of the Planet fitness and Flex fitness gyms in
Morgantown, WV, will be interviewed on the negative health effects of taking a large number of
supplements. Finally, this research paper will show the contribution of supplements in causing
nutrition deficiency to the people who take them excessively.
Because of the important role that dietary supplements play in human health, several
scholars have shown unmatched interest in researching and writing on supplements. Dickinson et
al. are among the scholars who have shown unmatched interest in dietary supplements. According
to Dickinson et al. (176-182), dietary supplements have numerous benefits to the body; however,
they are likely to have severe adverse effects if abused. As per to Dickinson et al. (176-182),
supplements help in providing individuals with extra nutrients when their diet lacks some nutrients,
or certain health conditions trigger a nutrient deficiency. Such health conditions include chronic
diarrhoea, cancer and diabetes. For example, Chamomile, which is one of the most common
dietary supplements, helps in improving sleep patterns, soothing a sore throat, relieving
constipation, relieving nausea, reducing menstrual cramps, and stimulating the appetite. Also, this
supplement acts as an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, as well as antiviral (Dickinson et al. 176182). Nonetheless, excessive use of supplements can cause drowsiness and excessive vomiting.
Besides, excessive use of chamomile can trigger allergic reactions among individuals who are
allergic to related plants.
Cari Nierenberg is another scholar who has shown great interest in dietary supplements.
According to Nierenberg (1), regardless of their numerous benefits, excessive intake of vitamins
and minerals has several adverse effects on human health. For example, she holds that excessive
intake of vitamins and minerals lead to difficulty in sleeping or concentrating and nerve related
problems, including numbness and feeling more irritable. Also, according to Nierenberg (2),
people, especially adults who regularly take excess vitamin D, are likely to suffer from serious
heart problems. Likewise, regardless of the benefits of Zinc to the brain, taking too much zinc can
lead to diarrhoea, stomach cramps as well as nausea. In the same note, excessive intake of selenium
can cause fatigue as well as mild nerve damage (Nierenberg 2).
Clare Collins has also shown that huge intake of supplements; especially folic acid
supplements can have to jeopardize health effect. This was established during a study that aimed
at examining the benefits of vitamin and vitamin supplements for deterrence of all-cause mortality,
stroke and heart disease (Collins 1). The study found that a high intake of folic acid supplements
increases the risk of prostate cancer. Even though the researchers found some benefits of folic acid
supplements, the researchers established several adverse effects of folic acid supplementation. For
example, the study found that for patients taking statin medication in order to lower blood
cholesterol and extend the release of vitamin B3, increased intake of folic acid supplements
increased their risk of early deaths by 10 per cent. Furthermore, the study showed that taking
supplements is very different compared to eating whole foods. As per Clare Collins, most of health
problems and complications resulting from nutrients intakes are fundamentally always because of
taking supplements, rather than eating foods (Collins 1) This is so because when one concentrates
on a certain vitamin, nutrient or mineral supplement, they miss out on other phytonutrients majorly
found in plant foods that have substantial contribution to overall health. Clare Collins argues that
the increasing number of deaths among people taking different types of supplements is a wakeup
call for strict regulations on the use of supplements. She advises people not to replace whole foods
with supplements since whole foods are rich in diverse nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
To determine the effects of excessive use of supplements, the members of both Planet
fitness and Flex fitness gyms in Morgantown, WV were interviewed. Ten members of each of the
gyms were selected to make the sample. Therefore, the study had 20 members of Planet fitness
and Flex fitness gyms in Morgantown, WV. The main qualification to be part of the sample
population was having used dietary supplements. I selected them randomly. This sampling method
was selected because it gives every member of the study population an equal chance of being part
of the sample (Cai et al., 281-301.).
The interview questions were; For how long have you been using dietary supplements? Have
you at any time replaced whole food with Supplements? Are there instances where you have taken
an excess of dietary supplements? What were the side effects of excessive use of the supplements?
The Time that the gym members had used dietary supplements were, 25% of the
interviewees said that they had used supplements for less than one year, 45% had used the
supplements for a period of between 2 and 5 years while 30% of the interviewees had used the
dietary supplements for above five years. Also, the result for the question Have you at any time
replaced whole food with dietary supplements? Was 65 percent of all the interviewees have at
one time replaced whole food with dietary supplements. The result for this question (is there
instances where you have taken an excess of dietary supplements?) was showing that 75 percent
of the members of the sample have, at one point take an excess of dietary supplements.
All the interviewees reported different side effects after using different supplements. The
side effects reported by the interviewees were associated with Calcium carbonate, Magnesium
citrate, Vitamin D, Vitamin E—and omega-3s, Vitamin B complex and Zinc supplements. The
interviewees who had taken excess calcium carbonate supplements complained about constipation.
On the other hand, all the interviewees who had taken excess magnesium citrate supplements
complained excess diarrhoea that lasted for as long as they used the magnesium citrate
supplements. In the same note, the interviewees who had taken an excess of Vitamin D
supplements complained of having developed kidney stones while those who had taken excess
Vitamin B complex complained of having developed excessive anxiety. Furthermore, people who
had taken an excess of Vitamin E—and omega-3s supplements complained of having suffered
from blood thinning. Finally, interviewees, who had taken an excess of zinc supplements
complained of feeling nausea.
The results of the study showed that a large number of people who are active in working
out have a habit of frequently taking dietary supplements. Majority of these people have been
taking supplements for more than two years. This is in line with Bailey et al. work, which shows
that more than 52 percent of Americans are frequent users of different types of supplements (Bailey
et al., 355-361). Also, the study was consistent with other studies that have shown that most people
who work out have a habit of replacing whole foods with Supplements. Moreover, the research
also showed that most of the people who work out are font of taking an excess of dietary
supplements. These results are consistent with other works that have shown that there is an
increasing case of abuse of supplements (Biggs et al., 385-393).
The study also proved that excessive use of supplements has negative effects on the human
body. Nevertheless, the study showed that the negative effects of excessive use of supplements on
the body would vary from one supplement to another. For example, the study showed that
excessive intake of vitamin D supplements affected the kidney in different ways. For example, the
excessive consumption of Vitamin D supplements leads to the development of kidney stones. In
the same note, the study showed that excessive intake of Vitamin E and omega-3s supplements
has an immense negative impact on the body. For example, the study established that excessive
intake of Vitamin E and omega-3s has a negative effect on the blood. Specifically, the study found
that the excessive intake of Vitamin E and omega-3s leads to blood thinning.
The presence of a blood thinning among the individual who takes an excess of Vitamin E
and omega-3s supplements shows that supplements cause nutrition deficiency to the people who
take them excessively. Studies show that blood thinning is as a result of protein C deficiency
(Lanotte et al., 13289-13294). Therefore, since blood thinning was found to be more rampant
among individuals who take an excess of Vitamin E and omega-3s, it can be concluded that excess
intake of this supplement leads to protein C deficiency. Therefore, it is evident that supplements
cause nutrition deficiency to the people who take them excessively.
This study has proven that regardless of their benefits, abuse of supplements has
catastrophic effects on the human body. The study has also proved that supplements cause nutrition
deficiency to the people who take them excessively. For example, according to the study, excess
intake of Vitamin E and omega-3s supplements leads to protein C deficiency. Considering the
negative impact of supplements, people should be advised to stop or avoid replacing whole foods
with supplements. Future research on supplements should focus on how the different types of
nutrition deficiency induced by excessive intake of supplements can be reduced.
The sources need to be summarized
Bailey, Regan L., et al. "Why US adults use dietary supplements." JAMA internal medicine
173.5 (2013): 355-361.
Biggs, Jessica M., et al. "Abuse and misuse of selected dietary supplements among adolescents:
A look at poison center data." The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and
Therapeutics 22.6 (2017): 385-393.
Cai, Song, et al. "Empirical likelihood confidence intervals under imputation for missing survey
data from stratified simple random sampling." Canadian Journal of Statistics 47.2 (2019):
281-301.
Collins, Clare. "New Vitamin Supplement Study Finds They May Do More Harm Than Good".
The Conversation, 2018, https://theconversation.com/new-vitamin-supplement-studyfinds-they-may-do-more-harm-than-good-97246.
Dickinson, Annette, et al. "Consumer usage and reasons for using dietary supplements: report of
a series of surveys." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 33.2 (2014): 176-182.
Gahche, Jaime, et al. "Dietary supplement use among US adults has increased since NHANES
III (1988-1994)." NCHS data brief 61 (2011): 1-8.
Lanotte, Luca, et al. "Red cells’ dynamic morphologies govern blood shear thinning under
microcirculatory flow conditions." Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 113.47 (2016): 13289-13294.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment