Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
Alpha8472
Posts: 3929
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by Alpha8472 »

McDonald's and Subway are closing locations at Walmart stores. Restaurant relations with Walmart have failed. Restaurants realize that indoor dining is unappealing to people due to the pandemic. The numbers show that drive thru dining is where the money is to be made. Indoor dining is a money loser now. The Walmart location do not have drive thru's and the sales are dismal compared to drive thru locations. McDonald's is closing 325 restaurants in 2021. The majority are low sales restaurants inside of Walmart. Over the past 30 years McDonald's peaked at 1,000 locations inside of Walmart. There will only be a fraction of that left now.

Walmart is now attempting to "bring in new and exciting brands" such as Domino's pizza and Taco Bell.

However, Domino's is not a dining oriented restaurant. Operating a tiny Domino's and then having delivery drivers try to find parking in a crowded Walmart parking lot and deliver pizzas in 30 minutes is not going to be easy. No Domino's franchisee would want to be trapped in a crowded Walmart store. Why buy an expensive Domino's Pizza when you can buy a cheap frozen pizza that probably tastes the same?

There is a DeLuca's Pizza inside of a Walmart in San Leandro, Calfornia. That place does not sell many pizzas. It shares the space with a Subway which also does not do much business especially since indoor dining has been closed for over a year even though local laws allows indoor dining now.

Taco Bell also does most of their business at the drive thru. I do not see why they would want to open up restaurants inside of Walmart. The busy times at Taco Bell are late at night at the drive thru when the bars are closing.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1004
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by buckguy »

Basically, this is just Walmart going public about something that's been going on for years.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by Super S »

Subway has many locations without drive-thrus. They actually are set up well for take-out orders. But I do agree about Taco Bell doing most business in the later hours. I have seen some pretty long drive-thru lines there late at night. Many Walmarts have moved away from 24 hour operations, and are not set up to add drive-thru restuarants easily. Taco Bell is not a good fit.

In Kmart's last years in my area they removed most of their restaurants. Target has even revamped their restaurants, in some cases moving toward Starbucks only, with mixed results.

People once spent more time shopping and would sometimes take a break at in-store restaurants, but as people have transitioned to online shopping, they aren't spending as much time in stores as they once did...they want to get in and out quickly and if anything might grab a to-go order.

Some Walmart locations do have busy restaurants (in normal times anyway), particularly those that are located next to major highways/freeways which have large parking lots. But aside from that, many do not seem very busy.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by storewanderer »

The McDonald's in the Wal Mart in Carson City, NV on Market Street closed suddenly on March 31 and was gutted out almost immediately thereafter. I was surprised it stayed open as long as it did, there was never much activity there.

I'm not sure how great of a fit Subway is for Wal Mart given they have a deli in the store with sandwiches, etc. as it is granted they are pre-made and not custom made.

In Reno there are currently 2 Wal Mart locations with Dunkin present inside. We will see how long those last.

In Carson City there is a Wal Mart with a Nathan's/Little Caesars Express combo unit. This place- it is run by a single unit operator who owns the location. I really did not expect this place to make it when it opened about 5 years ago (the McDonalds in the space closed way back then) but I have to hand it to them- they've made it. They have had to run some promotions and come down on pricing for certain items but they seem to have done what they need to do to generate enough traffic to keep it going. First time I've seen a Nathan's location not in some kind of a captive location (like an airport or something).
pseudo3d
Posts: 3851
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 10th, 2021, 4:15 am However, Domino's is not a dining oriented restaurant. Operating a tiny Domino's and then having delivery drivers try to find parking in a crowded Walmart parking lot and deliver pizzas in 30 minutes is not going to be easy. No Domino's franchisee would want to be trapped in a crowded Walmart store. Why buy an expensive Domino's Pizza when you can buy a cheap frozen pizza that probably tastes the same?
Domino's tastes marginally better than frozen pizzas, but partly because it tends to be cooked at a higher temperature than home (and Domino's stuff isn't frozen when it goes in the oven).

But yes, your other points are valid. Domino's has created a number of sit-down areas in their stores but those have been closed since COVID-19 and I doubt that there's any rush to bring it back as they were never known for sit-down lobbies. The driver model is not going to work, as it basically requires parking to be close by and franchisees (and drivers) are judged on how fast they clock out on the pizza and get out of the "store geofence" (a radius extending out from the store). The only way it might work is if the restaurant was located in the back of the store so drivers can leave out onto the same side street trucks use. However, most if not all the Walmart Supercenters built after the mid-1990s have the restaurant in the front.

Meanwhile, it's not particularly quick with their current model. A Subway sandwich or a McDonald's burger can quickly be prepared, and while the small pizzas can feed one easily, it's not particularly fast, and takes the same amount of time (~10 minutes) to prepare and cook as a large one. Keeping some pizzas on a warming area can solve that but the quality quickly deteriorates.
BillyGr
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1579
Joined: October 5th, 2010, 7:33 pm
Been thanked: 58 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by BillyGr »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 10th, 2021, 4:15 am However, Domino's is not a dining oriented restaurant. Operating a tiny Domino's and then having delivery drivers try to find parking in a crowded Walmart parking lot and deliver pizzas in 30 minutes is not going to be easy. No Domino's franchisee would want to be trapped in a crowded Walmart store. Why buy an expensive Domino's Pizza when you can buy a cheap frozen pizza that probably tastes the same?
pseudo3d wrote: April 11th, 2021, 6:01 am The driver model is not going to work, as it basically requires parking to be close by and franchisees (and drivers) are judged on how fast they clock out on the pizza and get out of the "store geofence" (a radius extending out from the store). The only way it might work is if the restaurant was located in the back of the store so drivers can leave out onto the same side street trucks use. However, most if not all the Walmart Supercenters built after the mid-1990s have the restaurant in the front.

Meanwhile, it's not particularly quick with their current model. A Subway sandwich or a McDonald's burger can quickly be prepared, and while the small pizzas can feed one easily, it's not particularly fast, and takes the same amount of time (~10 minutes) to prepare and cook as a large one. Keeping some pizzas on a warming area can solve that but the quality quickly deteriorates.
Well, if someone was going to move into a Walmart, couldn't they easily solve the parking issue by working that into their lease (a small number of reserved spots near the building - maybe on a side or whatever out of the main customer parking, for their drivers)?

Perhaps the issue of the time it takes could also be done with some type of setup where you order a pizza when entering to shop and give a time you want it ready (so they cook it appropriately to that time, leaving less sitting and waiting).

As to the other thoughts, we actually had a Taco Bell (with KFC Combo) in a local store when they first opened here (mid 1990's, a "regular" Walmart). They had a somewhat smaller menu than either would have at their own location, and it probably worked OK for a while since neither brand was otherwise available in the area. It did close eventually (turning into their own grill before they moved to a new Super location) and the Taco Bell wound up across the street in a combo with LJS (which still exists, even though they are no longer co-owned).

Subway or similar may work OK as well - I can't think of any Subway in this area that has drive thru (though there may be some in parts of the area I don't get to). They may also get an advantage that people prefer to go "inside" so they can see the sandwich being made (since it's more customized than many places with no set toppings for anything) and make choices based on what looks good that day?
babs
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 762
Joined: December 20th, 2016, 3:08 pm
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 64 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by babs »

I continue to think some type.of Coffee Shop, perhaps a resurrection of Seattle's Best, Dunkin or Tim Hortons might be the best fit. Or launch their own along the lines of Costco's food court. But I think Walmart just wants the rent payments and really could care less what goes in there.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: April 11th, 2021, 10:27 am I continue to think some type.of Coffee Shop, perhaps a resurrection of Seattle's Best, Dunkin or Tim Hortons might be the best fit. Or launch their own along the lines of Costco's food court. But I think Walmart just wants the rent payments and really could care less what goes in there.
Dunkin is already there. Reno, NV Wal Mart on 7th Street. And under construction in Reno, NV Wal Mart on Damonte Ranch Parkway (may be open by now).

One filled a former McDonalds, the other filled a former Radio Grill then Blimpie then Burger King.

We will see how it goes.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/dunkin-reno
pseudo3d
Posts: 3851
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by pseudo3d »

babs wrote: April 11th, 2021, 10:27 am I continue to think some type.of Coffee Shop, perhaps a resurrection of Seattle's Best, Dunkin or Tim Hortons might be the best fit. Or launch their own along the lines of Costco's food court. But I think Walmart just wants the rent payments and really could care less what goes in there.
They used to have their own in-house concept, Radio Grill, but they discontinued that years ago. A coffeeshop takes up less space than the current restaurant spaces, but given that I haven't heard much from Walmart's pilot test of their in-house coffeeshop kiosks, LiftOff (and Yelp reviews have it as closed, not sure if it was COVID related or not), I'm guessing that LiftOff "exploded in mid-flight".

The grocery stores figured out a long time ago that their in-house concepts work better, whether sandwich bars or pizza counters. Walmart replacing empty Subway restaurants with expanded delis could work (in theory) but they still have a reputation as dirty, smelly stores to contend with.
BillyGr
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1579
Joined: October 5th, 2010, 7:33 pm
Been thanked: 58 times
Status: Offline

Re: Walmart Stores Losing McDonald's & Add Domino's Pizza & Taco Bell

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: April 11th, 2021, 11:59 am Dunkin is already there. Reno, NV Wal Mart on 7th Street. And under construction in Reno, NV Wal Mart on Damonte Ranch Parkway (may be open by now).

One filled a former McDonalds, the other filled a former Radio Grill then Blimpie then Burger King.

We will see how it goes.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/dunkin-reno
We have one in this area where Dunkin closed sometime during this and is currently empty. Of course, this is an area in NY where there are two other Dunkin locations on the same road (one only a long block away) and probably another 5+ within a 10 mile radius - not that that stopped a Walmart in another town in the same county from having the in-store McDonalds years back when there was a long time freestanding one only a couple buildings away on the same side of the street.
Post Reply