THE success of the Golden Arches rests on three easy, sturdy foundations: a menu of reliably first rate grub, at a good value, shored up by catchy advertising and marketing. Ever because it went public in 1965, McDonald’s has executed finest each time it caught to this authentic blueprint. When a number of of those pillars crumbles, the fast-food fortress seems shaky. 1 / 4 of a century in the past this led to a near-collapse. Overly fast enlargement within the variety of shops and, on the similar time, of merchandise on provide made it more durable for burger-flippers to maintain up, hurting reliability. A value struggle with Burger King turned downright indecent. And the adverts had been stale, too. The outcome was acid reflux disorder for buyers. Between late 1999 and early 2003 the corporate shed two-thirds of its market worth.