Coalition of Franchisee Associations

February 27, 2023

CEO Lip Service on Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7036075731784785920/

Chris Kempczinski 

 (He/Him)

"Small businesses have the power to transform lives and communities – and McDonald’s franchisees epitomize that statement. Our franchisees not only provide delicious food to customers each day, they are relied upon by the communities in which they serve. We know that when franchisors and franchisees succeed, communities succeed. Local suppliers succeed. Families succeed. Our economy succeeds. If franchise businesses were to go away, so too would opportunities for wealth generation for tens of thousands of underrepresented entrepreneurs, millions of jobs, and billions in GDP. I recently spoke to a group of franchisees at the International Franchise Association about why we are so passionate about the economic multiplier effect of franchising, and I’d encourage you to read my perspective. #IFA2023"

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trust me, I’m not the biggest fan of @MCD SLT. However, this article imo is helping the franchise business model. It’s under attack and I’m not sure how to beat it. Other than spending large sums of money to lobby against these terrible bills. It seemingly is the ONLY Commonality we have with @mcd at this point.

Let Chris k get his franchising “swagger-on” and help save America…. One letter. One text (mayor of Chicago) at a time.

Anonymous said...

Is he saying he needs us NOW????? How ironic after he got rid of so many good operators and company people!

Richard Adams said...

I'm afraid too few franchisees have really thought through the "joint-employer" issue. If the franchisor has "deep pocket" liability for everything that happens in a franchised business then it's no longer a franchise, it's a company store.

For McDonald's Owners, it gives new meaning to the complaint,
"They treat me like a McOpCo manager".
.

Anonymous said...

The IFA is NOT a franchisee friendly group. They are a group of franchisors mostly, who try to manipulate opinion to suit their liking. They recently came out in strong opposition to the proposed Arizona franchisee friendly bill AB2404. Mcd oposes it too because it reinforces franchisee rights.

Anonymous said...

He really thinks he is the smartest guy in the world... NOT!

Anonymous said...

Who would really, if they understood what it takes financially and commitment wise , risk everything to sign up for a McD store franchise? Especially with the draconian new franchising rules.

Richard Adams said...

"The IFA is NOT a franchisee-friendly group." ... Correct!

The IFA is 60 years old and yet they only allowed franchisees to join about 20 years ago. Before that actual franchisees were treated like scum. They will always come down on the side of the franchisors, especially the large franchisors who pay the bills. They can't be ignored, but for franchisees, they can't really be trusted.
.

Anonymous said...

I was at that Chris K speech at IFA. He says that he spoke to a group of "franchisees". There were 4200 people registered and less than 200 were franchisees if I had to guess. The rest are franchisors and suppliers.

There is nothing wrong with this. Every group is entitled to, and should, form a trade association to protect and advance their interests. It's fine for IFA to be a franchisor lobby. It advocates for franchisees when their interests align with those of franchisors. IFA is, to be fair, an enormously effective group and is vets for franchising. Just don't expect it to get behind any franchisee rights legislation.

Richard Adams said...

Thanks for the report. Yes, the IFA is effective and they've done a great job of changing their image from that of an association of big franchisors to that of a hub of small business owners. But, we know who pulls the strings.

The purpose of Chris K's speech was twofold:

* Since he's kept McDonald's shareholders reasonably content his Achilles heel is his relationship with McDonald's franchisees. His speech was meant to make it appear that he understands franchising and the business he's in. In the future, when there's more public discussion about the welfare of McDonald's franchisees, the accidental CEO can just have his PR people send the media a copy of this speech.

* It's very important that the most prominent franchise company on the planet works to raise awareness about the threat of joint-employer rulings and legislation. Both franchisees and franchisors are in danger. Of course, from the corporate viewpoint, all they have to lose is their jobs. Franchisees would lose their businesses or at least the equity in their business.

Anonymous said...

Richard said: "It's very important that the most prominent franchise company on the planet works to raise awareness about the threat of joint-employer rulings and legislation. Both franchisees and franchisors are in danger. Of course, from the corporate viewpoint, all they have to lose is their jobs. Franchisees would lose their businesses or at least the equity in their business."

Completely correct!

At this speech Chris K went out of his way to mention several small franchise owners of different brands and one of MCD.
No mention of his strife with his own owners, though. I use the word owners. He probably would not.