Coalition of Franchisee Associations

June 15, 2016

That's The Chicago Way

McDonald’s Return to Chicago Defies City’s Financial Troubles - Bloomberg
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's no doubt that the business ethics of McDonald's Corporation are rooted in Chicago's organized crime culture. Only a city like Chicago would have a mayor like Ron Emanual. Only a Chicago based McDonald's would treat its franchisees like sharecroppers.

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry (not really) for the OPNAD and NLC Operators who will RISK THEIR LIVES traveling to and within the City of Chicago, Americas SEWER

Anonymous said...

Maybe OPNAD and the NLC should avoid going to mcd headquarters. It would help them be more independent and to think for themselves. They should find a nice golf resort and meet there regularly. Someplace central like Kansas City or Dallas. There would be far less corporate manipulation.

Richard Adams said...

That's a great idea and make one day "Operator Only". But McDonald's management will never allow it.

Anonymous said...

Employees better apply for their concealed gun permits asap. Oh, that's right, there is no 2nd amendment in the windy city.

Anonymous said...

Everything MCD does should be about money. Ignoring profit in recent years to become politically correct was not only stupid it peopled the corporation with high paid incompetents with no regard for experienced leadership. The cost of that cannot be calculated. I'm not well enough informed about this move to comment. However, Easterbrook has told Wall Street that he will cut five hundred million dollars in cost by 2018. If he thinks he can do that and if he does, it will be the biggest criticism of previous CEO's and long term leadership and legacy employee's, plus the Board of Directors that has ever been made and it will be justified. Five hundred million dollars is a lot of money even for MCD. If he can do that we should all be buying stock. $200.00 per share could happen. Admittedly, all of these changes are uncomfortable for those of us who have been around for thirty years or more. I'm right there with you. But, the world has changed and is continuing to change. MCD can sit back and react to it or MCD can act to take full advantage of it. What are the changes seen by Easterbrook that are driving these actions? I don't know for sure but examples he gave of Amazon and Uber were good ones. Having leadership with deep experience in MCD with clear vision of the future is priceless at this point. Change requires adjustment by everyone.

Operators will need to adjust but be smart about it. I remember the day that the cost of a MCD restaurant doubled. At the Worldwide convention in Las Vegas we were told that we would be required to completely rebuild the entire system. It became commonplace to buy an existing store for $400,000.00 and then rebuild it for another million. I had just opened two new stores at a cost of between $275,000.00 to $320,000.00. Now a new store will cost near $2,400,000.00 with minimum rent of eleven per cent. Now, there is change for you. We thought that was really big change but that is nothing to what is coming. However, the company will need to adjust more than the operators. Employee's that survive need to be smarter, willing to get out of their comfort zone and be more productive. MCD has become bloated with useless employee's. Some are long term employee's that have that have just hung on and allowed to do so. Their idea of MCD is what we were in the 60's. The result of that is that we have seen competitors go into trading areas and become dominate all because we did not anticipate the changing customer demands. Having no knowledge of the company may be positive in that this new leadership will not feel bound to traditional thinking that has become obsolete.

Having little regard of us owners is not as bad as it sounds. We operators have become less aggressive, less involved, less respected. We all know that is true. The three legged stool was absolutely great but nothing lasts forever. MCD has changed a lot and will continue to change. Mistakes were made and mistakes will continue to be made. MCD is a for profit corporation. Its all about making money. Making money for the corporation, the operators, suppliers and others. Nothing else. Kroc set up MCD to make money. He never talked about or wanted to be an instrument of social change. He would hire anyone that was competent. Yes, he wanted to be an excellent corporate citizen and he had a social conscience, ever hear of RMHC? He demanded that operators become involved in their communities because it was good for business. It was about money, plain and simple. When I hear that top management thinks it can save a half a billion dollars over the next thirty months I'm all for it. If that becomes true I have no sympathy or compassion for those that created that irresponsible mess.