Facing strong competition, chains regard-less of the size, have to be creative.
Among the key players in the industry, there are differ-ences in the strategies that they espouse.
The quick-service restaurant industry has tradition-ally expanded by multi unit franchising with operators concentrating on a single concept.
For example, McDonald's has grown to its current size and market share by focusing on a core brand.
In the late 1990s, as part of its strat-egy to cater to the trend toward the middle ground between limited service fast food and full table service, or fast casual dining, McDonald's had diversified through a variety of investments in fast casual concepts,including the acquisition of Boston Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Donatos Pizza, and an initial 33% stake in the British quality sand-wich chain Pret A Manger.
However, the turn of the century saw McDonald's reformulating its strategy once again to ensure greater corporate focus on its namesake brand.
The company divested some partner brands such as Donatos Pizza.
Other brands like Boston Market will continue to develop independently, without significant resource investment by McDonald's
This way, the company grows substantially in sales simply by focusing on the basics of quality,service,cleanliness, and value,as it was before (Cunnenn 2004)