McDonald's: Evolution of the Food Industry
History
McDonald's has had a global impact on the food industry. McDonald's developed a revolutionary idea known today as fast-food. This impact began in 1930 when Maurice and Richard McDonald left New Hampshire seeking to make a fortune in Hollywood, started up a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino. Unlike so many other food-service operations at the time, McDonald's came up with new ideas that turned the usual slow paced dinner into a finely tuned engine.
McDonald's offered only a nine-item menu with burgers, French fries, shakes, and pies. They also eliminated seating, and used paper and plastic utensils instead of glass and porcelain. Like Henry Fords assembly line, McDonald's incorporated this idea into their food service, letting them serve hamburgers in less then sixty seconds. The menu was extensively cheaper then competitors which due to the above changes.
Although the McDonald's business was doing well, it wasn't until 1954 when Ray Kroc saw the operation that it started to develop into the McDonald's of today. Ray Kroc was a fifty-two year old milk-shake machine salesman at the time and decided to check out McDonalds due to their odd order of eight milk shake mixers for one restaurant. Most of Kroc's customers purchased only one milk shake mixer, and a max of two. Kroc was curious to see what kind of operation needed the capacity to churn so many milk shakes. What Kroc saw that day in 1954 when he pulled up to McDonald's was like nothing he had ever seen. Kroc is quoted as saying "This had to be the most amazing merchandising operation I'd ever seen." Although the McDonald brothers were content with their restaurant, Kroc saw the future and where this idea ...
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...'s now knows how important cleanliness is to customers in deciding where to eat.
Another interesting look into the future of McDonalds is the ability to bring your laptop into the restaurant and surf the internet while you eat. This new technology brought by McDonald's is in hope of attracting new customers and building customer loyalty. The target of this move is aimed at the younger generation, and the business person on the go. McDonald's has already built a few of these innovative restaurants in early 2003.
McDonald's has also opened a few of the innovative restaurants called McCafe. These new café type shops will not resemble that of any other normal McDonalds. The customers will get to choose from premium coffees, muffins, pastries, bagels, and McMuffins. McDonalds believes that the McCafe will do well because of the popularity of McDonald's breakfast.
A lot of people think that Ray Kroc created McDonalds. I will tell you that this is not true; he started out as a milkshake mixer salesman. One day he got a huge order for eight milkshake mixers from a small restaurant in California, he was really curious why they needed so much. He went to investigate and found Dick and Mac McDonald with their small business. According to www.mcdonalds.com they said “Ray Kroc told the McDonalds brothers that they should spread their business all over the U.S., in 19...
Also in 1961, Kroc opened Hamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant, in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. By 1963, McDonald’s was selling a million hamburgers a day. The company went public in 1965. In 1967 the opened their first international restaurant in Canada. In 1971, McDonald’s restaurants opened in Europe and Australia.
As a company, McDonald’s was first introduced in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. This was the very first McDonald’s restaurant, which all started in San Bernardino, California in 1954 when Ray Kroc approached the McDonald brothers with a business proposition to start a new company. In 1965 McDonald’s went public and was later, in 1985 added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (www.mcdonalds.com) The company has gone through quite a few changes with its changing CEO’s over the years, but the company seems to be on track with CEO Jim Skinner, named in 2004. Skinner was named the new CEO just in time to clean up after McDonald’s first ever quarterly loss. He succeeded by showing that McDonald’s revenue had climbed 11% during 2006 and net profits had climbed 36%. (Dess, Case 40 Pg. 1)
Everyone has heard of McDonald’s, but where did this familiar name come from? When people think of American food, it is not uncommon for two golden arches to appear in their minds. This story began with two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald who owned and ran a small restaurant in San Bernardino, California during the 1940s. In 1954 a man named Ray Kroc came across these two brothers while selling multi-mixers and was impressed with the business they were running. The menu was compact, listing options for only a few burgers, fries and beverages, but the restaurant was effective in its operation. Ray Kroc pitched the idea of spreading McDonald’s restaurants across the United States and in 1955 he founded the McDonald’s Corporation. By 1960 he bought the exclusive rights to the name. Kroc was able to expand substantially on this small business so that by 1958 McDonald’s sold its 100 millionth hamburger. (“McDonald’s.com”)
The menu at McDonald's typically consists of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, drinks, shakes, and a recent influx of healthier alternatives. McDonald's also is widely known for their breakfast menu, which consists of sandwiches, pancakes, French toast, hash browns, and breakfast drinks. Since McDonald's appeals to such a wide audience, it must constantly re-evaluate its menu depending on feedback and market research. McDonald's expends considerable resources to update its menu and introduce new products in order to be more in tune with its target audience (The Times 100).
McDonald's is planning to capitalize on the public's willingness to pay $4 for a cup of coffee by hiring baristas and dropping espresso machines in 14,000 of their fast-food outlets. Meanwhile, Starbucks, with business lagging, is fighting back with an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy, by offering heated breakfast sandwiches and adding drive-thru windows to some of their locations.
The McDonald's Corporation is the largest chain of fast food restaurants in the world. It is franchised in over 119 countries and serves an average of 68 million customers daily. The company started in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald in the United States. They reorganized their business as a hamburger stand in 1948. In 1955, Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent. He purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its global-wide growth (McDonald’s 2014).
Have you ever wondered how the business empire of McDonalds was started? With over ninety nine billion served, it was started in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. It was started off as just a Bar-B-Q that served just twenty items. Its first mascot was named “Speedee” They eventually realized that by setting up their kitchen like an assembly line that they could be much more productive and get their food done faster, with every employee doing a specified job; the restaurants production rate became much higher. A milkshake machine vendor came into their small restaurant one day, his name was Ray Kroc. He saw how much potential the restaurant has, so he bought it out and opened one of the first franchises. Within the first year of Ray Kroc buying it, there were one hundred and two locations all around the world. McDonalds currently is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world and currently has served over sixty four million customers through one of their thirty two thousand sites. It has almost become a way of life for America. Though, McDonalds started off as a small business between two brothers, it grew into one of the largest restaurant franchises in the world and greatly affects our society and how we eat our food.
When society thinks about the local McDonald’s, they probably do not think “innovation’. That is because everyone has become accustomed to the many novelties that McDonald’s has introduced over the years. Some people do not even know that McDonalds was the leader in innovation being the first major international fast food restaurant, with the first drive-through window. What many people do not realize is that McDonald’s continues to drive innovation in fast food. Some times the innovation is well advertised, but other times they are designed so that customers will never even notice (Ritzer, 2004).
...dvertising. They took a new approach towards advertising. Instead of advertising on network TV they focused on outdoor advertising. They made the single largest purchase in the history of advertising when it purchased 20,000 billboards to reach consumers on the road and within minutes of a purchase decision. McDonalds used the concept of market fragmentation, which is the identification of smaller and smaller market segments. They not only expanded their variety of burgers, but also test-marketed fish-and-chips, fried chicken, pizza, and carryout groceries. Bibliography Fundamentals of Marketing (10th Edition) by William J. Stenton, Michael. J. Etzel, Bruce. J. Walker. (Pages: 41-42, 48, 56, 104, 115, 116, 130, 169, 171, 243, 265, 299, 458) http://www.mcdonalds.com/corporate/index.html http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/dalston/714/myribbon.htm#intro
McDonalds also uses diversification in its global marketing. McDonalds recognizes that different countries have different values, customs, and tastes. Therefore, McDonalds satisfies these diverse global tastes by diversifying the menu according to each country’s unique preferences. This added diversification tactic, allows McDonalds to stay competitive in a global market. Examples of McDonalds globally diversified menu would be that McDonalds offers an exclusive beefless menu to its customers who live in India. This is because eating beef in India is sacrilegious. To meet the tastes of customers in India, McDonalds created new offerings such as the “Pizza McPuff” and the “McVeggie.” McDonalds considers the cultural tastes in every country it opens its doors
McDonald’s was the first company to try to export America’s fast food and changes in eating habits to other nations. McDonald’s has over
In today’s market, McDonalds faces numerous challenges such as fierce competition, a more health conscious customer, and the continual need for improved customer satisfaction and menu. McDonalds needs to go through some changes in order to remain ahead in the fast-food industry.
At the time, Ray Kroc was selling multi-mixer machines for milkshakes and McDonald’s had already purchased eight of his machines. Wondering why this restaurant was using eight of his machines, he decided to visit the restaurant and was really taken back by how efficient the restaurant was being operated. Being a businessman himself, Krock eagerly spoke with the McDonald brothers about expanding their operations towards Chicago and the east coast where Kroc was from. Reluctant at first, the brothers eventually agreed to let Kroc handle all operations of franchising and in return Ray Kroc would give the McDonald brothers half of the sales. Kroc had a bigger vision of expanding all over the states, and becoming the number one fast-food chain in America. He wanted to perfect the production side of the operation and offer the same consistency in the food that McDonald 's offers anywhere in the states. In 1955 Kroc opened McDonald’s System, Inc. Now Kroc was able to not only run his own restaurant but also find other franchisees and expand the business even
Product is fairly similar to competitors – the McDonalds menu is quite similar to many of its competitors such as Burger King and Wendy’s. This forces McDonald 's to have to lower its prices in order to continue to be competitive.