Coalition of Franchisee Associations

May 13, 2020

Sounds Generous! Is It?

McDonald’s is investing about $200M to boost marketing - Restaurant Business

McDonald's is giving franchisees $210 million to rebuild sales - Business Insider
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Far too little from a $129 billion company that pays out billions in stock dividends and share buybacks. And who else gagged when Erlinger said that some distressed operators would have to downsize(sell stores)? "No operator left behind"? Hardly. You lie Joe.

Anonymous said...

Abatement equals more debt. More debt equals less equity.

Richard Adams said...

It's hard to believe that this company that has spent the last five years reducing the number of franchisees in the USA and flushing out the smaller Owner/Operators is now going to do a 180 and start helping everyone, no matter how politically correct.
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Anonymous said...

“ Anytime there's uncertainty and there's high anxiety, I think that's going to raise the level of discussion and emotion that goes into the dialogue that exists within the system," Tovar said”

Who in the world is this guy, never heard of him.

I recognize his attitude, speaking of “Operators” as if they are children who get emotional at times and must be pacified and the company as the rational, forward looking adult in the room.

If we’ve learned anything from this whole ordeal we have learned one simple truth. That truth is that McD’s employees only make things more difficult and complicated and they are an impediment to progress. They know nothing of leadership or of running our restaurants and the simple truth is that they are not needed.

The NOA has proven without a doubt that existing O/O’s can run this organization better, be more responsive, responsible, we know and love the customers we have, we know what is important and what isn’t and we know how to properly react to and handle any situation that comes along in the future- from operations to finance to marketing to PR to people to product to distribution, our side is far more knowledgeable, experienced, seasoned and we do it better.

While they were hiding we were working.
While they were meeting we had a plan of action.
While they were building a 59 page guide we were already doing it.
When they were telling us we may not open yet some already were- and more compliant than they asked for.

The company is going to have to learn that they approve Owner Operators for a reason and if they don’t trust our judgment, as an individual or as a group they must own this and deal with it, perhaps devise a better system for approval. They don’t trust us or our judgement and this says far more about them than it does us and that’s why they are grooming our kids to be compliant first.

I believe that I see light and it isn’t in the eyes of the current CEO, those eyes are dark and are incapable of seeing us as equals, they don’t see any value in or use for Owner Operators, in fact those eyes fear us. The light emerged when the NOA was born and it gets brighter and clearer every day.

The day will come where the light is as bright as a clear sunny day and this system which is largely guided by experienced, knowledgeable and intelligent Owner-Operators will be run by them, with “partner” support.

Years ago Owner/Operators were treated with appropriate respect and admiration. Company employees respected and admired Owner/Operators, hell- most wanted to be one. There was mutual respect from the CEO to the Regional Manager to the Owner and field service was knowledgeable at operations and served all concerned, to the point of deference to and were even intimidated by Owner/Operators. This deference devolved into resentment as the quality of the individual and the character of the field consultant or field service manager deteriorated over the years. Incompetent field service became emboldened when rewarded for their incompetence by a seat at the table, the power to contribute to franchising decisions and as incompetent people do, they made stupid decisions.

They have thinned their herd and they have cut off their supply of quality field service personnel, to get a job and move up in the few McOpCo restaurants that are left one is only required to speak passable English and fog a mirror held against their mouth. They need us more than ever into the future and the only thing keeping this from working well is the arrogance of a few.

If the NOA had run this from start to finish it would be the model for the future. If the company would have simply gotten out of the way from day one things would look quite different today.

It is happening right now, as the NOA grows bigger and stronger and more relevant change is inevitable. A good sign of victory will be the reemergence of humility, the absence of arrogance and that Owner-Operators are supported, respected and this petulant condescending tone is gone.

Richard Adams said...

Is this a corporate contribution or just a rearrangement of OPNAD and Co-Op budgets?
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