Day 2 - McDonald's & AB-Inbev

 

Monday, May 18, 2009

After a nice breakfast at the Irish
College, we boarded our bus and headed to Brussels to meet with executives of
McDonalds Belgium. Kristel Muls gave us an overview of the McDonalds operations
in Belgium and some ways they differ from the US. She also covered promotional
campaigns, store renovations, and how the stores are striving to become more
environmentally friendly. Some of the examples included Belgium stores adding
gyms instead of a ‘playplace” and adding carrots to happy meals. It was
interesting to hear that Belgians also place high importance on locally grown
products. Often consumers believe that many of the products sold come from
America, while nearly all of the products come from within Belgium. Also
joining in on the discussion was Mr. Miranda with the Quality Assurance
department. He was able to give details about how their supply chain works and
new sustainability campaigns the company is looking into.

After the presentation, we were able to experience a Belgian McDonald’s first hand in Waterloo. It was
interesting to see the many similarities between American and Belgian
McDonald’s. A few differences included a self-service kiosk, beer on the menu,
and several different regional items offered. We enjoyed our lunch and the
chicken bacon onion sandwiches (a newly introduced Belgian item).

From Waterloo, we headed back to Leuven’s AB-Inbev headquarters. AB-Inbev is the largest brewer in the world.
Dating back to the fourteenth century, the company started expanding in 1987
and has acquired many more companies since. This stop allowed us time to hear
Chris Burghardt, VP of corporate affairs, talk about the recent 
acquisition of Anheuser Busch. 
They see the importance in maintaining local brands and sticking with
original recipes.

The plant tour gave us a great chance to better understand how the brewing process works. We saw the process
from the raw ingredients to the final product.  They fill 80,000 cans and 50,000 bottles per hour.
Afterwards, we were able to sample two of their most popular varieties in the
company’s bar.

We then had a reception with local college students and professors from the Katholieke University. This gave us a
great chance to network and learn more about the culture we are living in and
teach them about ours. The reception was hosted by Gonda Huybens and Piet Sercu.

 

Posted by Jami Davis, Charlene Desutter, Luke Sullivan, Adam Bane