History of McDonald’s – The Roots of Fast-Food Regime: Case Study

The world’s second-largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s. The Case Study of Grab Burger & Chill out, our preferred and favorite destination ever.

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McDonald’s Case Study: The Roots of Fast-Food Regime

History of McDonald’s. Looking at the world’s second-largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s. You might know McDonald’s as that fast food chain that sells hamburgers and fries, but it goes way deeper than that.

Only a few words sound as Irish as McDonald’s label. It is a fascinating name: the portion of “mac” says son, while Donald derives from a Gaelic name meaning “King of the World.” The two ‘world-rulers’ that we’re interested in are Richard and Maurice McDonald, two brothers from New Hampshire.

History of McDonald’s

History of McDonald’s. They moved to California in the 1920s, when they began a film theatre and a hot dog stand, however when the Economic Crisis rolled around, they finally went bankrupt. Their first big success came in 1940, when they opened a barbecue joint in San Bernardino.

The McDonald’s barbecue seems to be no dissimilar, and while it still made a profit, the brothers realized they could do so much considerably better. They discovered that much of their profits came from only three products: hamburgers, French fries and coke, and after eight years of running, the brothers planned to undergo a dramatic shift.

They eliminated almost all of the menu to concentrate on the best selling, and then renovated the whole kitchen around that one. The brewing process began looking like such a production line, that helped the brothers to complete customer requests in very little as 30 seconds. They discarded the idea of a walk-up window and avoided utilizing kitchen utensils and dishes altogether, swapping these with plastic paper wrapping.

Their restaurant had become a phenomenon in an instant, attracting attention from around the nation. This man, Ray Kroc, was among the persons they encouraged. He was a natural-born hustler, who at the age of 15 had lied his way into serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver during WW-1. Interestingly enough, he served alongside Walt Disney in France, but they didn’t really keep in touch after the war. Ray had employed hundreds of occupations, like most people in the post war era: jazz pianist, radio DJ, paper cup salesman, you name it.

In the early 1950s, He was travelling cross-country trying to sell expensive milkshake machines, but he wasn’t really doing a good job at it. One day in 1954, though, he received an order of eight of them, and it was from none except the McDonald brothers. He fell in love with their restaurant once Ray found his way to San Bernardino, and initially offered to franchise it. By that point the McDonald brothers had already opened over 20 franchise locations, but none of them were doing as well as the original restaurant: The lack of oversight made maintaining quality impossible.

The brothers decided to give Ray a shot. He also personally selected the right franchisees and operated the projects like that of a military exercise. Ray established 100 McDonald’s restaurants over the timeframe of just 6 years, whereas the McDonald brothers essentially managed ones own joint. Ray finally got irritated of them: they would reap 0.5 percent of all revenues by doing nothing thus preventing Ray’s ideas for developing the brand.

Ray came up with a clever idea to strip them off. He will indeed purchase the land on which all the long term restaurants will be established, and then lease that to his franchisees. This manner, Ray was able to maintain much of the company’s revenue, abandoning the McDonald brothers vacant handed. The brothers were not very pleased with that, of course, and there was nothing they could do, and they eventually planned to give their franchise to Ray for $2.7 million in 1961.

With both the brothers out from the way, Ray jumped upon its compressor, carrying out almost all the improvements he needed, including logo and making a mascot. He even extended the menu, introducing Filet-O-Fish in 1965 and Big Mac in 1968. That same year, Ray marked the launching of the store #1000 and introduced the new version of the golden arches logo.

Expansion of Mcdonald’s

History of McDonald’s. Throughout the next decades McDonald’s would keep expanding, and not just in the US. With the emergence of the Egg McMuffin in 1972, they popularized quick food for breakfast. They also added things such as Chicken McNuggets and the Happy Meal, that would ultimately make them the biggest distribution company of toys in the globe.

By 1988, they reached 10,000 franchises, and while Ray had been no longer alive, the business continued to expand without him. Owing to the famous Hamburger University, the McDonald’s chain have one of the most skilled workers in the fast food business. This helped them to remain a step ahead of rivals like Burger King and Wendy’s. Although since, McDonald’s has managed to extend their offerings to most of what we recognize today.

In 2006, the franchise underwent its first major redesign since the 1970s, adopting the so-called “Forever Young” design, which features dining zones with comfortable sofas and armchairs. Interestingly enough, today McDonald’s isn’t the world’s’ largest restaurant chain: That title goes to Subway, who have almost 45 thousand locations compared to 37 thousand for McDonald’s.

The company itself owns only 15% of them, the rest being franchised out. The corporation’s restaurants accounted for 2/3rd of its income, but that isn’t the entire narrative. In reality, it costs way more to run your own restaurant than it does to sit back and collect rent. In 2014, for example, the outlets owned by the corporation produced $18.2 billion, but McDonald’s had to hold just 2.9 billion. On the other hand, instead of the $9.2 billion originating from franchisees, the organization held $7.6, a remarkable 80%. But even though McDonald’s appears to be selling burgers, they’re really enjoying Monopoly either.


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