essay on mcdonald's history

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How McDonald’s Beat Its Early Competition and Became an Icon of Fast Food

By: Christopher Klein

Updated: September 27, 2023 | Original: May 15, 2015

New Hampshire brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the very first McDonald's on April 15, 1955, in San Bernardino, California. Their tiny drive-in bore little resemblance to today’s ubiquitous “golden arches,” but it would eventually come to epitomize the fast-food industry, thanks to a pioneering system for food prep. 

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The first McDonald's started slow but caught on fast

The first McDonald's—located at the corner of 14th and North E Streets, just off Route 66—started out serving up barbecue slow-cooked for hours in a pit stocked with hickory chips imported from Arkansas. With no indoor seating and just a handful of stools at its exterior counters, the establishment employed female carhops to serve most customers who pulled into its parking lot. The brothers’ business quickly caught on. Sales soon topped $200,000 a year.

After World War II , drive-in competition in San Bernardino grew, and the McDonald brothers discovered something surprising about their barbecue restaurant: 80 percent of their sales came from hamburgers. “The more we hammered away at the barbecue business, the more hamburgers we sold,” said Richard McDonald, according to John F. Love’s book McDonald’s: Behind the Arches .

McDonald's grew thanks to its 'Speedee Service System'

The brothers closed their doors for three months and overhauled their business as a self-service restaurant where customers placed their orders at the windows. They fired their 20 carhops and ditched their silverware and plates for paper wrappings and cups so that they no longer needed a dishwasher. According to Love, they simplified their menu to just nine items—hamburgers, cheeseburgers, three soft drink flavors in one 12-ounce size, milk, coffee, potato chips and pie.

“Our whole concept was based on speed, lower prices and volume,” Richard McDonald said. Taking a cue from Henry Ford’s assembly-line production of automobiles, the McDonald brothers developed the “Speedee Service System” and mechanized the kitchen of their roadside burger shack. Each of its 12-person crew specialized in specific tasks, and much of the food was preassembled. This allowed McDonald’s to prepare its food quickly—and even ahead of time—when an order was placed. All hamburgers were served with ketchup, mustard, onions and two pickles, and any customers who wanted food prepared their way would have to wait. 

“You make a point of offering a choice and you’re dead,” Richard McDonald told The Chicago Tribune in 1985. “The speed’s gone.”

According to Love, the first customer at the newly reopened McDonald’s was a 9-year-old girl ordering a bag of hamburgers. The retooled restaurant struggled at first, though, and fired carhops heckled the brothers. Once McDonald’s replaced potato chips with french fries and introduced triple-thick milkshakes, however, the business began to take off with families and businessmen drawn by the cheap, 15-cent hamburgers and a low-cost menu.

McDonald's begins to franchise 

With labor costs slashed and revenue growing to $350,000 a year by the early 1950s, the McDonald brothers saw their profits double. They had already established a handful of franchises in California and Arizona by the time a milkshake mixer salesman named Ray Kroc visited San Bernardino in 1954. Kroc couldn’t understand why the McDonalds could possibly need eight of his Multi-Mixers, capable of making 48 milkshakes at once, for just one location until he set eyes on the operation.

Seeing the potential in the business, the salesman quickly became the buyer. Kroc bought the rights to franchise the brothers’ restaurants across the country, and in 1955 he opened his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The relationship between Kroc and the McDonald brothers quickly grew very contentious as the aggressive salesman and the conservative Yankees had different philosophies about how to run their business. Kroc chafed at the requirement that he receive a registered letter from the Mcdonald's to make any changes to the retail concept—something the brothers were reluctant to grant. “It was almost as though they were hoping I would fail,” Kroc wrote in his 1977 autobiography, Grinding It Out .

Ray Kroc becomes the owner of the company 

In 1961, Kroc purchased the company from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million. While the name of the chain may have been McDonald’s, the face of the restaurant quickly became Kroc’s. Plaques with his likeness were mounted on the walls of many franchises with a description of how “his vision, persistence and leadership have guided McDonald’s from one location in Des Plaines, Illinois to the world’s community restaurant.”

The brothers who lent their name to the business and pioneered the fast-food concept faded into the background. After selling the business, the founders kept their original San Bernardino restaurant, to the annoyance of Kroc, which they renamed “Big M,” with the golden arches on the marquee sharpened to form a giant letter “M.” To gain his revenge, Kroc opened a McDonald’s around the block that eventually drove the brothers out of business.

The original McDonald’s was torn down in the 1970s and later replaced by a nondescript building that housed the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. In 1998, it became the headquarters of a regional fast-food chain, Juan Pollo Chicken, which operates a small unofficial museum with McDonald’s artifacts inside.

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The Story of How McDonald’s First Got Its Start

From the orange groves of California, two brothers sought a fortune selling burgers

Lisa Napoli

Before southern California’s glorious, golden landscape was etched with eight-lane superhighways and tangles of concrete flyovers choreographing a continuous vehicular ballet; before families became enchanted with the thrill and convenience of popping TV dinners into the oven; before preservatives and GMOs allowed food in mass quantities to be processed, preserved and transported in refrigerated trucks and served up in disposable packaging at fast-food franchises for quick consumption on the go to harried, hungry travelers, there were oranges. Millions of oranges, fragrantly punctuating thousands of acres.

In this plentiful agricultural bounty at the dawn of the automotive age, visions of dollar signs danced in entrepreneurs’ heads. They erected giant facsimiles of the brightly colored orbs, cheerful and whimsical and visible from a distance to motorists as they bumped and bumbled their way down the open road. Inside these stands, they pressed fresh, thirst-quenching juice, a nickel a glass, to revive the overheated motorist. (For this was before air-conditioning in cars, too.)

Squeezing citrus was hardly the aspiration of two brothers named McDonald from frosty Manchester, New Hampshire. They’d watched as their father had been kicked to the curb after 42 years of employment at the G. P. Crafts shoe factory, told he was too old to be of use any more. Just like that, his working days were done. The indignity of his dismissal impressed upon his children the urgency of taking control of their own futures in order to avoid such a fate. Older brother Maurice, known as Mac, trekked west first, followed by Dick, seven years his junior, in 1926, two among the first crop of speculators to blaze the trail millions more would tread in the decades to come. Their hope was to find fame, or at least unearth fortune, in the burgeoning industry of moving pictures and to become millionaires by the time they turned 50.

Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away

Ray Kroc was peddling franchises around the country for a fledgling hamburger stand in the 1950s—McDonald’s, it was called—when he entered a St. Paul supper club and encountered a beautiful young piano player who would change his life forever.

To pay the rent, the brothers wound up sweating for a paycheck at Columbia Movie Studios, hauling sets and working lights during back-breaking shifts on silent film sets. Their $25-a-week salaries were hardly enough to allow them to live like kings and certainly not enough to guarantee their futures.

Unable to work their way into the more alluring behind-the-scenes ranks of the business like producing and directing, Dick and Mac scrimped and saved in order to partake in another, less glamorous part of the industry: screening them. In 1930, they purchased a theater 20 miles east of Los Angeles, in the center of a quaint, growing orange-belt burg called Glendora. Newsreels and double features turned a trip to the cinema into an all-day affair. To dissuade patrons from toting their own food to the movies, the brothers installed a snack bar in the lobby. It seemed a sure bet.

The 750-seat Mission theater was situated just down the block from City Hall, on the tree-lined thoroughfare of Foothill Boulevard. The brothers recast the venue with an optimistic new name. But the Beacon faltered during those lean years of the Depression, and the brothers were perennially behind on their bills. They even buried some silver in the backyard as a hedge against bank closures. The only person who seemed to be making any money was the proprietor of a root beer stand named Wiley’s. And so, after seven years in business, Dick and Mac sold the theater in 1937 and shifted industries from entertainment to food service.

In the next town over, Monrovia, on a decade-old thoroughfare called Route 66, they crafted some borrowed lumber into an octagonal open-air food stand and cut a deal with Sunkist to buy fallen fruit, 20 dozen oranges for a quarter . What they christened the “Airdrome” derived its name from its proximity to the Foothill Flying Field , which fancied itself “America’s Friendliest Airport.” This air traffic drew all manner of gawkers. Since the field’s sandy acreage was enlisted, on occasion, for film shoots, there was always a chance of catching a glimpse of stars like Laurel or Hardy. Fortified by spectacle, satisfied day-trippers would then sidle over to the Airdrome to sate more basic needs, their thirst and hunger, with a fresh orange drink and a hot dog. This venture was so successful that the brothers were able to import their parents from New Hampshire and open two more stands.

The brothers briefly entertained the dream of a new establishment they’d call the “Dimer,” where every menu item cost ten cents, but rejected the idea as too Depression-era. The future, they were certain, involved appealing to drivers. Soon, they believed, the work week would shrink to under four days, leaving Americans with abundant leisure time in which to tool around in their cars—and stop to eat. They dismantled their stand and ventured farther east, to the growing desert city of San Bernandino, or San Berdoo as locals called it, a long-established trading hub 60 miles outside of Los Angeles. Their optimism about the future buoyed them through rejections from bank after bank, until they finally managed to talk their way into a $5,000 loan from a lender wowed by the location they’d chosen in downtown San Berdoo at E Street and 14th. The only collateral the brothers possessed besides their dreams was their tired old octagonal juice stand, which they had spent $200 on a mover to slice in half and move to its new home. This time, the entrepreneurs plastered their surname on their reincarnated establishment, followed by the featured menu item: “McDonald’s Barbeque.”

Like other roadside restaurants of its day, McDonald’s Barbeque offered food delivered direct to the customer’s car via a fleet of attractive young women called carhops, so named because of their practice of jumping up on the auto’s running board to claim a patron as their own. Ever thrifty, Dick and Mac outfitted these ladies in usherette uniforms recycled from the Beacon, embellishing the already theatrical flourish of service to your window.

McDonald’s survived the challenging depravity of the war years, when creature comforts and pleasures were duly rationed. The declaration of armistice allowed the curtain to rise on an era of playful abandon, which suddenly swept over the most banal aspects of life. Americans had been banking both their money and their desire for fun, and now they were making up for lost time. Henry Ford’s production lines began turning out cars after the wartime halt, vehicles priced for the average consumer. By 1950, 40 million cars jammed the roads. Taxes collected on fuel sales allowed the construction of wide new thoroughfares offering access to large swaths of America and new possibilities for adventures. All this meant a need for expanded services: gas stations and restaurants and motels. The journey became as critical as the destination. Eating meals outside the home became not just socially acceptable but a sign of carefree affluence. Eating a meal delivered directly to the window of your beloved new vehicle punctuated the feeling car ownership allowed.

Roads that had once been thick with orange groves were now dotted with quick-serve restaurants. While once a mound of ground beef was considered to be a tasteless and suspect blob of glop, suddenly the hamburger was de rigueur. But to the consternation of the family-minded, food wasn’t all that could be had at these stands. Drive-ins became minefields of unsavory behavior, filled with loitering teenagers who smoked and blasted the jukebox and engaged in sexual shenanigans in the parking lot with the hired help. Staff seemed to churn through a revolving door; employees would quit or no-show, regularly leaving their employers in the lurch.

None of this served to diminish sales. A steady flow of customers kept a cast of 20 carhops hopping and the parking lot, with room for 125 vehicles, brimmed to capacity, the go-to place in town for the younger set. In the face of this success, in 1948, Dick and Mac made the bold, perhaps foolish, decision to step back and reassess, closing their doors for a hiatus. Dick and Mac asked themselves how they could prepare hamburgers, fries and shakes as efficiently as possible. How, they wondered, could they streamline operations for maximum profit? How could they distinguish themselves from the other drive-ins? How could they speed up service?

In their quest for answers, they drew inspiration from East Coasters named Levitt. This enterprising family applied Ford’s Model T–like assembly-line logic to building homes on New York’s Long Island,  where housing was needed in abundance to fill the rapidly expanding suburbs. The McDonald brothers’ goal was to mimic this prefab mentality in the preparation and serving of food: “Levittown on a bun.”

To begin with, the brothers analyzed their business receipts to identify the best sellers, and slashed their menu from twenty-five items to the nine most popular items, nixing the pricey and labor-intensive barbeque. Dick deviously posed as a freelance writer and ventured into Los Angeles to sleuth out trade secrets from the candy industry. In a hand-operated confectioner’s cone used to form peppermint patties, he found inspiration. Dick enlisted a mechanically minded friend to fashion an automatic condiment dispenser that doled out a precise squirt of ketchup or mustard at the push of a button. A mechanized press allowed for the quick formation of beef into patties. To keep up with demand for milk shakes, Dick and Mac purchased eight state-of-the-art blenders called Multimixers, which allowed them to churn out frothy drinks—five at a time per machine. Surplus could be stored in the fridge, ready for the asking. Crucially, in the brothers’ new business model, the customer was not allowed to request substitutions. Offering choice, the brothers said, dashed the speed.

To execute the next phase of their makeover, they retreated, in the dark of night, to the tennis court behind their home. Using thick chunks of red chalk to plot the action, they choreographed an assembly line of food preparation and delivery, where workers could most efficiently grill the meats (40 patties in 110 seconds), fry the fries (900 servings an hour), and dispatch an entire meal to a hungry customer in just 20 seconds. After they’d called it quits, a rare desert rainstorm struck, washing away the marks they’d charted out. Nonplussed, the next day the stoic brothers plotted it out all over again.

This hamburger dance allowed Dick and Mac to address the costly issue of personnel. The alluring carhops were swiftly marched out of the picture: Customers would have to get out of their cars and—gasp—walk to the window to order. And while they were there, they could gaze inside the “fishbowl,” and marvel at the meticulous, efficient kitchen where their food was being prepared. The new staff was to be all male, outfitted in tidy, conservative paper hats and white uniforms which imbued them with an air of surgical cleanliness and precision. Women employees, the brothers believed, presented an unnecessary distraction.

The pièce de résistance of the reincarnated operation was the price list. Factoring in the lower labor costs, the brothers could now charge crucial pennies less than the competition. Fifteen cents for a burger, ten cents for a bag of fries, and twenty cents for a creamy, triple-thick milk shake. Dick and Mac were counting on the math of their reduced operational costs, plus a high volume of sales, to add up to a handsome profit.

Customers roundly despised it. Some drove into the lot, only to peel off when no carhop appeared. Others lamented the loss of the old, longer menu and the inability to customize. The brothers took to having employees park in front of the restaurant, so the place didn’t look so dead. All to no avail. The facelift was a disaster.

Four months in, a miraculous turnaround occurred, for no particular reason. Cabbies came, then construction workers, then kids, and, soon, lines of hungry customers began to crowd the counter, and the presence of those customers attracted others. Sales were so brisk the brothers commissioned a painting of a rising thermometer in the front window, a neat visual to boast the sales. When the number reached a million, Dick said, the painter would add an explosion to the top. Profits soon soared to a bounteous $100,000 a year, which allowed them to partake in their own personal automotive fantasy, upgrading to the newest Cadillacs on the market—three of them, including one for Mac’s wife. (Dick had yet to marry.)

Hamburger seekers, it seemed, were indeed willing to trade choice for speed and price. The quality of the food wasn’t the main draw. The exception, perhaps, was the brothers’ fries, the paragon of crispy freshness. Mac had become a wizard of the spud, applying principles of chemistry and perfecting a recipe through painstaking trial and error. The magic step involved drying Idaho russets in the desert air to break down the sugar content, a crucial if time-consuming step. Patience was as virtuous as precision: Improperly blanching, or in any way trying to hasten the process, was sure to yield greasy, limp potatoes, the sort fried up by the competition. It was the one arena in McDonald’s recast formula in which slow and deliberate were essential and allowable ingredients.

Aside from the long lines, the brothers had another indication that they had a hit on their hands. Would-be imitators arrived to study the operational ballet on display behind the store’s glass windows. When these copycats pressed for details on what they couldn’t see, Dick and Mac cheerily shared trade secrets. Eventually, it dawned on them that they could put a price tag on their formula and pocket some extra cash. In 1952, a few months after their shortening provider, Primex, ran a piece in the trade journal American Restaurant lauding the prolific French fry operation at McDonald’s, the brothers took out an advertisement themselves. They promised readers “The Most Important Sixty Seconds in Your Entire Life.”

At the ad’s centerpiece was a picture of their unique hexagonal building, glowing. Their “revolutionary development in the restaurant industry” was now available for sale to interested parties. A cover story echoed the hype, trumpeting McDonald’s sales of “one million hamburgers and 160 tons of French fries a year” and revealing a whopping gross annual take of $277,000. That cinched it. For aspiring hamburger barons, San Berdoo became Oz.

The more honest in the bunch plunked down a $950 franchise fee for the formula, instead of just paying a visit and stealing the idea. First in line was an oil executive from Phoenix named Neil Fox whose family considered him nuts for jumping into this déclassé hamburger racket. Dick and Mac thought Fox was nuts, too—for wanting to use their name on the stand he intended to build, and not his own. The word “McDonald’s” meant nothing outside San Bernardino, they said. Fox explained to the brothers that he thought their name “lucky.”

Besides the name, for his money Fox got an operating manual, a counterman on loan for a week to show him the ropes, and, capping off the brothers’ reimagination of the drive-in, a hot-off-the-press architectural blueprint from which to build a specially designed red-and-white tiled restaurant—suitably eye-catching and accommodating of the sacred automobile. Dick, the younger and more marketing savvy of the pair, was insistent about his vision: He imagined a pair of parabolas hoisting up the structure. A growing backlash against the scourge of billboards lining new roads was forcing designers to fashion the structures themselves as signs. Bold, even wild, designs were sweeping the roads, becoming standard markers for roadside joints and restaurants, the better to grab the eye of motorists and punctuate the landscape with soaring roofs, boomerangs, and starbursts shooting kaleidoscopes of colors.

One prospective architect balked and tried to talk the brothers out of the idea of arches; another complained about being told what to do and suggested the arches were so harebrained that Dick must have cooked them up during a nightmare. At last, in Stanley Meston, the McDonald brothers found an accomplice. Meston sketched out a 12-by-16-foot red-and-white-tiled workspace, easily approachable by and visible to customers. As instructed, he attached neon-trimmed golden arches to this structure, rising from the side of the building like rainbows, which made the building look as if it were ready for lift-off. The building itself now functioned as a sign—all the better to catch the roving eye of motorists.

Hundreds of inquiries streamed in. The dairy supplier Carnation was eager to swoop McDonald’s and its winning formula into its corporate fold. Hoping to encourage sales of ice cream, the company’s brass tendered an offer to replicate McDonald’s nationwide. The brothers considered the alliance and ultimately refused; they were happy with the status quo and disinclined to have their enterprise and their personal lives enveloped by a large bureaucracy. The extra work hardly seemed worth the potential payoff. “More places, more problems,” lamented Mac. “We are going to be on the road all the time, in motels, looking for locations, finding managers.” It was easier just to sell the manual and blueprints and to pocket the $950 fee.

One day, among the steady stream of curious looky-loos on E Street was a compact, well-dressed, hard-up 52-year-old salesman from Chicago, on the hunt for a lucky break. His name was Ray Kroc.

From RAY & JOAN: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away by Lisa Napoli, published on November 15, 2016 by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2016 by Lisa Napoli.

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Who Invented McDonald’s? The Story Behind the Fast Food Empire

McDonald’s, the global fast-food powerhouse, was invented by Richard and Maurice McDonald, two enterprising brothers from California and it has been instrumental in popularizing the fast-food culture, making quick-service meals a ubiquitous part of modern life.

Table of Contents

Who Invented McDonald’s?

The invention of McDonald’s, the American fast-food restaurant, is attributed to the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald . The brothers founded the first McDonald’s in the city of San Bernardino, California, setting the stage for what would grow into an iconic global chain. From these humble beginnings, McDonald’s would become synonymous with burgers, fries, and quick-service meals that appeal to millions worldwide.

McDonald’s Background

The McDonald brothers initially entered the restaurant business with a drive-in that served a broad menu. However, their vision was to create something revolutionary – a streamlined operation that centered around “Speedee Service” – a system that dramatically cut down service time and simplified food preparation. The epitome of this was their success in 1948 when the first McDonald’s restaurant introduced a limited menu with a focus on a few items like hamburgers , French fries , and soft drinks.

This system was more than just quick; it was a phenomenon. Each station in the kitchen had a specific role, whether it was grilling burgers or bagging fries.

McDonald’s History

The rich history of McDonald’s started with the first drive-in established in 1940, but the major developments that set the foundation of McDonald’s as we know it occurred in 1948. After noticing that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the McDonald brothers redesigned their business into a self-service restaurant without carhops. They focused on a small set of menu items.

Their inventive concept reshaped the food service industry, and the brand’s destiny was forever changed in 1954 when Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, stumbled upon this thriving operation and saw its potential. He joined forces with the McDonald brothers as a franchise agent, later creating McDonald’s Corporation and starting a prolific phase of franchising that would drive the company’s national and international expansion.

When Was McDonald’s Founded?

McDonald’s was founded on the 15th of April, 1955, by Ray Kroc with the first franchised restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. However, the initial McDonald’s restaurant by the two brothers dates back to May 15, 1940. Ray Kroc often gets credit for founding McDonald’s due to his crucial role in its franchising and massive expansion, but the McDonald brothers conceived and opened the first McDonald’s ever.

How Old is McDonald’s?

As of 2024, counting from the opening day of the McDonald brothers’ first restaurant, McDonald’s has served customers for an impressive 84 years. From its inception, McDonald’s has evolved, adapted, and expanded to become a fast-food giant that boasts locations in over 100 countries worldwide.

Where Did McDonald’s Start?

McDonald’s started in the warm and bustling city of San Bernardino, California , where the original restaurant stood as a testament to ingenuity and the American entrepreneurial spirit.

McDonald’s Brothers

Richard and Maurice McDonald, the dedicated and forward-thinking McDonald brothers, ventured from their New Hampshire roots to the land of opportunity in California. Their initial success in the movie theater business was short-lived, pushing them to find another venture. They eventually stumbled upon the idea of opening a restaurant, which would unknowingly grow into a defining symbol of American culture.

The dedication of the McDonald brothers to detail and efficiency in their California restaurant led to a food preparation system that maximized speed and consistency. This attention to detail, both in systematizing the kitchen operation and maintaining food quality, attracted crowds and caught the eye of Ray Kroc, who would lead the business to universal fame.

McDonald’s Owner

The original owners of McDonald’s were, of course, the McDonald brothers themselves. It wasn’t until Ray Kroc entered the frame in 1954 that the modern era of McDonald’s truly began. After becoming a franchise agent and opening his own McDonald’s restaurant in Illinois, Kroc eventually purchased the company from the brothers in 1961.

First McDonald’s Location

The first McDonald’s location was the simple corner hamburger stand in San Bernardino, cradled in the Californian sun, which would see its transformation into the birthplace of a fast-food revolution. Here at 1398 North E Street and West 14th Street, a legacy began with what would become known as the first McDonald’s restaurant.

First McDonald’s Ever

The first McDonald’s was opened in 1940 by the two brothers, whose dream was to offer a quick, affordable, and enjoyable meal to the residents of California. They conceptualized a limited and focused menu, selling their now-famous hamburgers, fries, and shakes that would become staples of McDonald’s restaurants everywhere. This establishment, the prototype of future McDonald’s, would inspire a proliferation of restaurants nationwide and worldwide.

What Happened to the McDonald’s Brothers?

The McDonald brothers’ journey took a sharp turn. When Ray Kroc offered to expand their concept, they began as partners. In 1961, the brothers agreed to sell their rights to Kroc for $2.7 million, after which they retreated out of the spotlight and watched as Kroc led the chain they founded to international fame and success. The terms of their agreement barred them from using their own name in further business ventures, losing their connection with the brand.

Who Owns McDonald’s Now?

Today, McDonald’s is owned by a collective of shareholders, as McDonald’s Corporation is a publicly traded company founded on Wall Street. Each shareholder owns a fraction of the company, and it continues to operate under the leadership defined by the company’s board and executive officers.

From its headquarters in Chicago, the McDonald’s Corporation guides the global operations and strategic planning that sustains the legacy of Richard and Maurice McDonald and the entrepreneurial spirit of Ray Kroc.

How Did Ray Kroc Take Over McDonald’s?

Ray Kroc orchestrated the takeover of McDonald’s through a series of methodical steps, starting out as a franchise agent for the McDonald brothers and subsequently opening his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois, in April 1955. His unmatched vision for the brand’s potential led to rapid franchising and consolidation.

By leveraging his rights as a franchise agent and employing a zealous approach to expansion, Ray Kroc took control of the brand, paving the way for its global hegemony. His alignment with the McDonald brothers eventually led to an outright purchase, granting him full ownership.

Following the acquisition, Kroc’s McDonald’s Corporation began to fine-tune, standardize, and aggressively market the McDonald’s concept.

Who Bought the Original McDonald’s?

The original McDonald’s was bought by Ray Kroc from the McDonald brothers in the historic deal of 1961. Kroc, who initially laid eyes on the first McDonald’s while selling milkshake machines, eventually bought out the brothers for a sum that would ensure his control over the brand’s future and seal his place in the annals of American business history.

Transforming an Industry

Ray Kroc’s visionary impact goes beyond just McDonald’s; he transformed an entire industry. The franchise model he leveraged allowed for rapid, standardized expansion, and the centralization of purchasing empowered consistent quality across all locations.

Ray Kroc’s focus on the “three-legged stool” philosophy, which emphasized the partnership between the franchisor, franchisees, and suppliers, cultivated a strong business model that empowered growth.

His relentless drive for a national menu, standardized operations, and the eventual introduction of revolutionary menu items like the Big Mac and the breakfast menu initiated a legacy that McDonald’s continues to build upon.

Beyond the innovations in franchising and marketing, Kroc understood the importance of brand identity, community engagement (marked by initiatives like the Ronald McDonald House), and responding to shifting consumer demands, such as the breakfast menu or the first Ronald McDonald House. The imprint of Ray Kroc’s tenure is seen in every facet of the company—from each McDonald’s restaurant to its global strategy.

From its McDonald’s restaurant beginnings to Ray Kroc’s expansion and the broader McDonald’s Corp reign, the chain has seen a journey marked by extraordinary growth, cultural milestones, and global recognition.

Are You Loving It?

In the end, the story of McDonald’s serves up far more than a menu of quick bites; it’s a testament to how a simple idea can sizzle into a global sensation.

The McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, didn’t just flip burgers—they flipped the script on dining, steering us into an era where fast, affordable food comes with a side of cultural impact.

References:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429495090-11/mcdonald-power-children-ronald-mcdonald-ray-kroc-joe-kincheloe

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1978.0102_392.x

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4633308

https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/45/1/60/57660/The-Origins-of-McDonald-s-Golden-Arches

http://www.dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/17453

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McDonald's: a brief history in 15 facts

By 1958 McDonald’s had sold 100m hamburgers - now the burger chain has 36,258 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries

• The first McDonald’s restaurant was run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. In 1954 Ray Kroc visited the restaurant and was so impressed by their efficiency of their operation that he pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants across the US.
• By 1958 McDonald’s had sold 100m hamburgers.
• Kroc once said of his four business goals: “If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.”
• 69 million customers are served every day
• There are now 36,258 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries, of which 29,544 are franchised
• Some 350 McDonald’s restaurants have been closed down so far this year - mostly in the US and China
• 32% of revenue comes from the US
• 40% of revenue comes from Europe - mostly from the UK, France, Russia and Germany
• 23% of revenue comes from Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa
• US sales slipped by 2.1% to $27.4bn (£17bn) in 2014
• The number of customer visits declined more than 4% in the US last year
• McDonald’s has 420,000 employees
• More than 80,000 people have graduated from McDonald’s “Hamburger Universty” training centre on the outskirts of Chicago
• Previous McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson was paid $9m last year
• McDonald’s will pay $9.90 an hour to its 90,000 workers from July after months of protest over poverty wages paid by fast food chains . The current average hourly wage is $9.01
• Food & drink industry

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Here’s How McDonald’s Became the King of Burgers

I t is in no way surprising that McDonald’s recent troubles have drawn so much media attention. It’s not just because it’s a huge company, it’s because it is one of a small handful of corporations that are closely associated with the idea America itself, part of our national identity. And that has been the case for most of McDonald’s 75-year history.

There are many reasons for this, but the chief one might have been expressed best by the quotation TIME chose to open its September 17, 1973 cover story on McDonald’s: “The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they nourish themselves.” The quote came from The Physiology of Taste , written in 1826 by Jean Brillat-Savarin.

The cover story was titled “The Burger That Conquered the Country.” At the time—and for decades thereafter—nobody could seriously argue the title’s point. McDonald’s has faced stiff competition all along, from Burger King, from Wendy’s, from Taco Bell, and from any number of other fast-food chains. But none of those competitors ever came close to McDonald’s, especially in terms of image. McDonald’s—even now, when it faces some of its greatest challenges ever—is America’s burger joint.

In the 1973 article (in which McDonald’s main product is rather quaintly referred to as a “ham burger”—two words), TIME declared that if Brillat-Savarin’s quote was correct, “America’s destiny manifestly depends to no small degree on the ham burgers, French fries and milkshakes served beneath the golden arches of McDonald’s.”

Though it would grow much, much larger in the years ahead, McDonald’s was by 1973 a fully realized entity. It employed 130,000 employees in nine countries, and operated 2,500 outlets in the United States. And although Time declared that it “gone from a uniquely American to a truly global operation,” its image remained fully American, as it still does 42 years later—for better and, in some respects, worse.

Our destiny since then has manifested itself largely in our waistlines, a concern that in 1973 was just starting to creep into the national dialogue. The company most often cited by health-conscious critics of our food economy is, of course, McDonald’s. Our economic destiny meanwhile has in recent years manifested itself in the form of a growing wealth gap, with low-wage retail jobs taking the place of vanishing, high-wage manufacturing jobs. The company most-often cited in discussions of this problem (along with Wal-Mart) is, again, McDonald’s.

In the past few years, these trends have hit critical mass, to McDonald’s detriment. Consumer tastes for quick meals remained static for decades. Now they’re changing. Largely motivated by health concerns, but also by the desire for higher-quality eats, diners are increasingly opting for “fast-casual” outlets like Chipotle and Panera Bread. In response, McDonald’s is grasping for solutions that might not exist.

MORE These Are the States With the Most McDonald’s

At the same time, the company is facing pressure on the labor front. In 1973, most of its employees were teenagers working as burger flippers and “window girls.” Now, most of it workers are adults, many of them trying to support families. Last month, the company said it was raising wages and increasing benefits , though that applies only to employees of company-owned outlets, not to franchisees, meaning that most McDonald’s workers aren’t affected.

Officially, McDonald’s traces its history only back to 1955 , when businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent. But the first McDonald’s (“McDonald’s Barbecue Restaurant”) actually opened on May 15, 1940, in San Bernardino, Calif. Kroc, impressed by the company’s production-line methods, purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers in 1961, and set about turning it into a burger leviathan.

The 17 Most Influential Burgers of All Time

The chain now includes about 30,000 outlets (14,000 in the United States) in 119 countries and employs about 1.7 million people.

By 1987, TIME was declaring “McDonald’s as a corporation looks more and more like a case study in how to concentrate on providing one service exceedingly well.” Despite all the grief it was taking from critics of its fatty, salt-laden fare and its monolithic corporate image, the company was still largely beloved. “McDonald’s has become such a pervasive reference point in American life that many consumers think of the company as a public institution—one that is often more reliable than the post office or the phone company,” wrote Stephen Koepp.

The company’s growth continued more or less unabated until after the 2008 recession, when the restaurant industry as a whole was hit hard—fast food included. As recently as 2005, TIME was describing fast food as a “quintessentially American dining experience” and a “perfect expression of those bedrock values of efficiency, thriftiness and speed.” Total spending on fast food had quadrupled in the preceding decade.

But even then, fast-food chains—McDonald’s definitely included—saw the writing on the wall, and were working to change their images. Consumers still wanted to dine out, but they were looking for a more pleasant experience, and healthier food. Stores were redesigned, menus were upgraded. Then the recession hit.

“ Fallen Arches ,” read a headline in Fortune magazine last November. “Can McDonald’s Get Its Mojo Back?” The company “has risen to the top of the fast-food chain by being comfortably, familiarly, iconically ‘mass market’ and so ubiquitous as to be the Platonic ideal of ‘convenient,'” wrote Fortune ‘s Beth Kowitt. “Neither of these selling points, however, is as high as it was even a decade ago on Americans’ list of dining priorities. A growing segment of restaurant goers are choosing ‘fresh and healthy’ over ‘fast and convenient,’ and McDonald’s is having trouble convincing consumers that it’s both. Or even can be both.”

MORE This Is Why Shake Shack Will Never Be McDonald’s

So much for “providing one service exceedingly well.” If people don’t want that one service, what’s a company to do? McDonald’s is still looking for answers, from making burgers more customizable to adding various new menu items (and subtracting others) to launching attention-getting promotional campaigns with varying degrees of success.

Kale, of all things, provides a nice microcosm for McDonald’s challenges. Several months back, the company made fun of the trendy, often-mocked “superfood” in TV advertisements. Over a camera close-up of the lettuce on a Big Mac, the narrator intoned: “This will never be kale.” Earlier this month, McDonald’s started test-marketing a breakfast bowl consisting of turkey sausage, egg whites, and … kale.

It seems that McDonald’s still hasn’t decided which one service it wants to provide exceedingly well. But America will likely be watching.

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McDonald's Sample Essay

Introduction 

McDonald’s Corporation is undoubtedly the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world. Currently, the restaurant chain has established its presence in over 115 countries. Furthermore, it serves a wide variety of customers estimated around 70 million every year. Despite numerous economic challenges, McDonald’s has always remained firm in the fast food industry, annually registering impressive results. With its headquarters in the Oak Brook, Illinois United States, McDonald’s operates numerous successful restaurant chains under its brand name (Porter, 1998). The corporation’s success in the ever-challenging fast food industry can be attributed to the fact that McDonald’s has a formidable strategic plan and an outstanding management team (McDonald’s Corporation, 2001). This essay focuses on McDonald’s and looks at some of the factors that have enabled the company to become a household name.  Over the decades, managers at McDonald's have continued to succeed, as a result of two factors which one will discuss in this essay. The first factor that one will discuss is the proper planning factor, and the second is the organization factor. These two factors are very important in any organization or business that aims to succeed in the market today.

Planning is the most important to any industry, and McDonald’s is not an exception. Planning is important because without planning, a company can end up in serious chaos. Planning is, therefore, the function of management, whereby the objectives of the firm are set, and the course of action aimed at the achievement of these goals is determined. Managers must, first of all, be aware of the different environments in which their restaurants operate before they can plan effectively. This will help them forecast into the future, so that they could plan any eventualities in the market. This is what the managers at McDonald’s did even, as they came up with strategic plans for their chain of restaurants (McDonald’s Corporation, 2001).

McDonald’s has a strategic plan that has been known as a ‘plan to win’. The company's project is not to be known as the largest world’s fast food restaurant chain. The company instead aims at being the very best fast food restaurant chain. In order to achieve this vision, McDonald’s has continued to use what is known as the five P’s: promotion, place, products, price, and of course, the people.  Together with the five P’s, McDonald’s continues to apply its geographic strategic plans. In their US markets, they have adopted a strategic plan that places its focus on convenience, chicken, breakfast, and beverages. For the McDonald’s in the US, these are the key areas of focus. 

McDonald’s success has mostly been as a result of the ability of the company to strategize or to plan properly. They have also introduced new items on their menu, such as the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit, which can be taken for breakfast, as well as the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, which is mostly promoted as being ideal for lunch. When it comes to beverages, McDonald’s has also planned to introduce the new specialty of coffee as a hot drink. This introduction will, however, vary from market to market and will not be introduced at once in all markets.

Everything that the company does has been in an effort to keep with its global strategy. The global strategy is a Plan to win, which insists on offering only the best services to its customers. They have often come up with slogans that they hope will differentiate them from the other companies, and to set them apart from the competition. Planning is important to every organization. McDonald’s is the company that has managed to remain profitable because it has been able to plan ahead. They have strategically owned new restaurants only because they did proper market research and used their findings as a basis for doing business (Holmstrom & Milgrom, 1994).

Organization

The reality is that a company like McDonald’s would not be as successful as it is today if the company did not organize itself properly. The function of organization is one that is very important. A company that is not organized often becomes chaotic, as no one is held accountable for anything that takes place in the line of business. Proper organization from the top to the bottom is what has enabled McDonald’s to achieve the amount of success that the company has today. It remains a force to reckon within the fast food industry because of its organizational structure, which one will further discuss in this article. Analyzing and understanding organizational structures often involves working with data and charts, which is where Excel homework can come in handy, providing students with the necessary skills to organize and interpret data effectively in real-world scenarios.

McDonald’s has also aimed at promoting diversity among all the employees that work for the organization. Managers want all their employees to feel like they belong. As a result, they often aimed at being their customers’ favorite way and place of eating. One of the strengths of the organization is that it is able to emphasize on proper leadership skills. They also offer leadership programs to their executives who are extensive and comprehensive. They have established very high standards for all their employees. They always insist on hiring only the best, and each time, a new employee or manager has to do a better job than the former one (Holmstrom & Milgrom, 1994).

The organization also focuses on its human resources. The way McDonald’s hires employees is in such a way that they ensure that they only select candidates who indicate willingness to put the needs of the organization ahead of their own personal ambitions. McDonald’s also has a culture of appreciating its employees, so that they do not feel the need to pride themselves as the authors of a project. Whenever a project is successful, the glory is shared among the employees, so that no one feels left out. In addition, the company does not have a culture where fingers are pointed or people are vilified whenever something goes wrong. Also, the organization has well laid out succession plans, so that when an employee leaves, a vacuum is not created.

The company's succession culture, as well as its enduring culture, has seen its rise above the troubled times which have seen other companies going under. Even when the company needs to make changes in management, they do so under well-organized procedures, so that operations are not interrupted in the process. The firm never waits until a Chief Executive Officer has died or retired to replace him, as this has a way of creating a crisis. There are well laid out plans for succession, in case someone decides to retire or to leave the company for another one. It is these strong organizational capabilities that have contributed to its great customer service.

The company has over the years ensured that they have leadership skills which are sustaining. This is the reason why they have maintained the skills that are necessary to ensure that their customers are happy, so that they could keep coming back. They have been able to train their current leaders and even those they hope to have in the future. McDonald’s have over the years proven that they are capable of implementing leadership programs that are very strong and capable of producing the highest standards possible.

McDonald’s has remained strong because the company is able to adapt to changes that occur in demographics and technology. Changes in globalization have affected many organizations, and some have not been able to come through. The secret behind the success at McDonald’s has been as a result of their employee culture. The company has a culture where they build very capable team and emphasize on the value of teamwork. McDonald’s is a company where teamwork is valued. Each time they have a task to be accomplished or a business issue, the first thing that managers do is put a team together and empower them to accomplish the task. This is a culture that the company has natured for many years now, and can be seen by anyone who walks into any of the McDonald’s outlets anywhere in the world.

The corporation’s current Chief Executive Officer is Don Thompson. Mr. Thompson’s leadership style has been characterized the aggressive expansion and acquisition of the new market niches.  As a part of its business strategy, McDonald’s regards business competition as a war (Clausewitz, 2010). McDonald’s allocates most of its resources on provision of core services in order to ensure that the corporation stays ahead of the rest in the fast food industry. In this respect, McDonald’s operates its outlets either as joint venture or through franchising. In 1997, the corporation redesigned its strategy to focus only on its core brand. This move saw the company divest itself off some chains in Mexico. McDonald’s primarily focuses on selling products that it can provide conveniently to its clientele. This includes various types of chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, French fries, and an assortment of in-house soft drink brands. 

Concerning supportive policies, the corporation has ratified measures to ensure that it grows its business in the most profitable manner. Furthermore, McDonald’s believes in its systems, which ensure that the quality of its products remains high throughout the supply chain. Ethics is paramount to the corporation’s business. As a part of its policy, McDonald’s believes that good ethics means quality business. The corporation conducts its business in a fair and honest manner (Parasuraman et, el, 1988).

McDonald’s has a culture that ensures that the corporation grows continuously in order to respond to stakeholders’ needs effectively. The corporation has incorporated principles of organizational learning in its operations. These principles help the corporation to respond positively to ever-changing needs of consumers, system, and employees. Customer’s satisfaction is paramount to McDonald’s, since it is viewed as a business entity. The corporation offers excellent services to customers to afford them the unique experience that cannot be offered anywhere else. Currently, the corporation has the largest number of loyal customers than any other of its competitors. Additionally, the corporation has invested in the latest technology. McDonald’s was the first fast food restaurant to launch online shopping and selling of customized products. The company designs the business environment in which it operates, leaving others behind competition (Clausewitz, 2010). 

Strategic leadership is critical for any business success. McDonald’s has an efficient labor force and a management team that is innovative and visionary. The aim of management and workforce at large is to shape the corporation’s culture and ensure that it is in tandem with the organizational strategy. Moreover, McDonald’s has excellent reward programs that are geared towards stimulating employee performance. A motivated workforce is critical to an organization that aims at making profits. McDonald’s uses numerous tactics to reward its employees. This helps meet the company’s objects and reduce overheads at the same time. 

Controlling

According to McDonald’s Corporation Annual Report (2012), the company concentrates on the strategies that would strengthen its long-term survival with objectives of distributing evenly the shareholder returns in the top one-third of their colleagues. The company’s long-term financial targets are to:

Grow organic sales from 1% to 2% faster than the market grows in product classes and regions in which they operate

Attain the Core EPS growth of high single digits to low double digits

Generate free cash flow productivity of about 90% or even more

The fast food industry is extremely dynamic. Customer tests and preferences change rapidly. The organization must adopt a sound business strategy to stay ahead of competition. McDonald’s has a competitive strategy that has always manipulated the market in its favor. The corporation recognizes talents and trains them in order to build a formidable team that will always carry on the corporation’s mission, vision, and strategic plan. This has seen the company establishing a good organizational culture that is a critical organizational growth. The corporation appreciates diversity and unique customer requirements in the retail industry. This explains why the company has collaborated with other businesses in some of its chains to ensure that it serves the wider society. 

McDonald’s had to apply various marketing concepts to percolate the global market. This market segmentation analysis did not include a survey; instead, it relied wholly on customer’s behavior data that was captured at various branches. The food is mostly served in bags, cartons, or plastic wrapping to minimize cost of operation and for quick identification. Menus are made from processed ingredients prepared from a central place, and then transported to individual outlets. Once in the destination restaurant, the food is finally cooked through grill, microwave, or deep frying for a short time to meet the ever-surging customer’s demand. Precooked food is constantly evaluated to root out stale or overstayed food products. Thus, food at fast food restaurants is mostly characterized by high amounts of fat, high sugar content and less fiber i.e. highly processed. For example, King Burger’s food had a characteristic flavor, aroma, mouth feel, and texture (McDonald’s Corporation, 2001).

Their products include chicken nuggets, pizza, sandwiches, and hamburgers. Customers check in any time of the day either for a bit or for a take-away. The customers are mostly youngsters, and a few old busy people who want to grab some food while on their chores. Young people, in particular, prefer fast foods because they are cheap. Food is packaged in a group and sold at a considerably cheap prize. The restaurant also has a value meal; this is a case when a collection of menu items is sold as a whole at a low price that would be also sold individually. These arrangement-attracted youths, especially school going children usually keep looking for either a hamburger or chicken nuggets to eat.

What is more, the restaurant has a hospital point of sale system to cope with high customer’s demand. This enabled kitchen crew to view orders placed at the counter and prepare them in real time. The system also ensures speed and accuracy in service delivery. Consumer spending was very high, for the time one had been there, the restaurant made sales amounting to $100000. It was evident that most Americans still prefer fast foods compared to cooking a meal at home.

McDonald’s customers in Asia, especially in China, are naturally conservative and prefer eating home-cooked meals, unlike fast food products. Fast foods are prepared with many additives, salts, sugars, flavorings, and preservatives that limit the nutritional value of the final product. McDonald’s restaurants in China include ingredients of organic foods to enrich quality of their food, in accordance with the recommended standards, and minimize the negative impacts of fast food. Despite all negative facts, fast food has become more appealing because it is cheaply priced with irresistible tastes. Consequently, this makes fast food almost everybody’s choice, despite its health implications. McDonald’s provides broad range of chic products, such as modern and classic foodstuffs, including chicken nuggets, pizza, sandwiches, and hamburgers. Its products’ design was initiated by designers, style makers, and buyers. For that reason, it becomes a new trend, which attracts a number of customers. The new items are channeled to the right stores at the right time. McDonald’s provides fashion and quality products at the best price to customers. The best price can be assured through buying in large quantities, purchasing the right products at the right place, focusing on cost-awareness, and making effective distribution. McDonald’s sells its products through stores, catalogues, and online stores. However, there is a limitation for shopping via catalogue and Internet, as this system exists only in some countries. Customers in up market estates are able to order products through catalogue and online, i.e. they can purchase merchandise via Internet. These two channels give advantages and convenience to the customers since they can purchase items at home. Nonetheless, the major distribution channel of McDonald’s consists in stores, which expands more rapidly than other two channels. 

Catalogue and Internet shopping are the channels that offer customers more accessible and also increasing service, which reinforces its profile. The corporation does not own any stores, it rents all of them. Therefore, it can move its stores to the new location as the prime location changes. McDonald’s will not establish a new store until it finds the suitable place. Location of a store is essential for success. The company’s stores are always located in the best commercial regions, such as, busy streets and up market estates. A large number of customers are induced to shopping at McDonald’s because of the effective marketing tool of store displays. 

McDonald’s usually launches several campaigns annually in order to promote fashionable products that satisfy the ever-changing consumer tests and preferences. Its customers can get up-to-date information about trendy fast food products from such social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the magazine, which is also available on its website.  

Video advertising, print advertising, and e-marketing are used to promote its products. Approximately 5% of its income is expended on advertising. There are websites, which customers can access 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Customers can be acknowledged about a new trend and a new arrival of products via its website. The Internet utilization is a powerful tool in marketing. Online market can help to attract customers and encourage the business growth. 

McDonald’s believes in people. Its employees are the most important asset. It encourages employees to share their ideas and attitudes. Moreover, it avoids line of authority. Teamwork and cost awareness are promoted. Responsibility is delegated to employees. Consequently, staffs will feel that they are one part of the company. Freedom and responsibility exist in all business functions and workplaces. People can make their own decisions. Some unexpected situations might happen, but the critical thing is that one can learn from mistakes and avoid them next time. There are policies of diversity, gender equality, and non-discrimination policy. The company usually concentrates on customer’s demand and always provides base of products, according to customer’s requirement. Employees in the stores are well-trained about customer’s services. When customers walk to the company’s outlets, they can feel revitalized, since McDonald’s always provides new fashionable products to clients. Its store layout is obviously separated among merchandise for children, teenagers, women, and men. 

An analysis of McDonald’s indicates that successful firms do not target every customer; instead, they satisfy and meet demands only of certain groups of customers. This circumstance is called market segmentation. Consumers have different needs and interests. Firms have to differentiate products according to customers’ need in order to satisfy all clients. One cannot imagine that one product can meet all customers’ demands. However, avoiding mass marketing and focusing only on specific group of customers is significant. This process consists of three elements, which are segmentation, targeting, and positioning (Hale, 1996). Transforming demand and need of customers into marketing mix, which comprises of product, price, place, and promotion at the maximum satisfaction is the challenging job. It is vital to provide well-defined and large enough segmentation. The successful position of products depends on how well companies are able to offer more preferable products than their competitors.

Evidence indicates that there are four standards for effective segmentation:

Identifiable: Ability to determine

Viable: Enough quantity of customers which share the same interest in order for firms to get profit

Merchantable and governable: Easy to create sales and promotion

Static: Remain stable to carry out an activity

There are various types of segmentation, such as geographic segmentation, distribution segmentation, media segmentation, price segmentation, demographic segmentation, time segmentation, and psychographic segmentation (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993).

McDonald’s segments its customers based on both demographic and psychographic factors. Demographic segmentation can be defined as gender, age, income, and education level, while psychographic segmentation is based on customers’ lifestyle, attitudes, values, behaviors, perceptions, beliefs, personality, and interests. The company concentrates on satisfying demand and requirement of target customers rather than making and selling its products. Moreover, it offers products for children, teenagers, women, and men. Children segmentation includes a target audience starting from a newborn infant to an adolescent aged 14. In this segment, products will be produced based on the nature of tastes and preferences. McDonald’s segments’ customers are classified by demographic principle. It involves children, youngsters, women, men, relying on preference and style of everyone in that segmentation (Narver & Stanley, 1990).

After the market segmentation was discovered, firms got alternatives regarding decision about a group of customers that they will target. Firms can target only one segment with one brand of product, or provide different segments with one brand of product, or offer each customer groups with different brands of products. The choice of entirely targeting specific market is not always suitable. The successful company such as Body Shop targets only one segment, which is well-determined. Therefore, it can strongly enhance the appeal of products. McDonald’s major customers are young people aged between 18 to 45 years. The range of target customers was expanded into all ages of both female and male customers. 

Positioning is the processes of making customers perceive its products in their minds. Customers’ demand of selected group has to transform into marketing mix, product, price, place and promotion. It is essential, regarding to the fact how customers perceive and position the products in their opinion relatively to the rivals. Sometimes, customers do not sense the correct image of the brand. The uniqueness of the brand is the main factor that leads to success. Positioning can be defined through various factors. It is essential for customers to make judgment and selection from them. The key factor in selecting a grocery store can be defined by price, the possible parameter in choosing a hotel can be made by level of service, the major element in buying electrical device, such as computer, can be chosen from quality and reliability. Some customers perceive that H&M provides cheap products relatively to its quality. It means that McDonald’s positioning is still unclear to some customers, since they understand the company in the wrong direction. Moreover, some customers do not know what the full name of the company is.

It is vital to create a strong brand, which provides competitive advantage to the corporation. Customers should perceive that McDonald’s offers fashion and quality products at the best price. Its merchandises are always updated. In addition, new items are always available. Website is one of the communicative tools that strengthen its brand. Moreover, online shopping is used to convey the business concept and induce customers to come to stores, and purchase products online or by catalogue.

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Mcdonald's — The Company Profile of Mcdonald’s

The Company Profile of Mcdonald's

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Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 1990 | Pages: 4 | 10 min read

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Company’s profile, mcdonald’s history, the strategic direction, mcdonald’s in pakistan, mcdonald’s mission statement, vision statement.

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Opinion Dogs are our greatest creation. And we might be theirs.

Tommy Tomlinson is the author of “ Dogland .” He lives in Charlotte with his wife, her mother and a cat named Jack Reacher.

The dog is humankind’s greatest invention. The wheel, the lightbulb, concrete — all amazing. Top of the line. But nothing in human creation has been as essential and adaptable as the countless descendants of the ancient gray wolf.

How did we do it? I spent three years following the traveling carnival of American dog shows — like a Grateful Dead tour with Milk-Bones — in search of the answer. My journey culminated in the dog world’s most prestigious event: the Westminster Dog Show. Show dogs are bred from the purest stock, culled from litters at just a few weeks old, trained with the dedication of Olympic gymnasts — and groomed like supermodels. They’d be unrecognizable to their ancient kin — and to ours.

The American Kennel Club, arbiter of bloodlines, now recognizes about 200 breeds, while tracking crossbreeds like goldendoodles, and even mutts. From the most massive mastiff to the tiniest teacup chihuahua, all dogs trace back to the same common ancestors.

Scientists think this weird and powerful companionship of humans and dogs might have started somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago. Humans of that era were mainly hunters traveling in camps. They ate meat by the fire. The cooking meat attracted wolves who were drawn to the aroma but stayed safely out of range of the flames. Every so often, a human would fling a bone into the darkness. The wolves gnawed on the bones. They trailed the humans to the next campsite, still keeping their distance. There was an unspoken arrangement. The wolves alerted the humans to intruders, and the humans fed the wolves well.

Over time the wolves crept closer. One fateful night a curious wolf came all the way into the firelight. The humans didn’t chase it off.

Slowly, the humans mingled with the wolves. After days or months or generations or centuries, a wolf curled up at a human’s feet. Maybe got its belly rubbed. That was the first dog.

As far as we can tell, dogs are the first animals that humans ever tamed. The wolves that hung out with humans found themselves changing inside and out. They developed shorter muzzles and smaller teeth. Their instinct to run became a desire to stay close. With time, dogs were manufactured through breeding to meet different human needs. We made huskies to pull sleds and Newfoundlands to pull fish nets and dachshunds to catch badgers.

Dogs taught humans the early science of designer genes. In the mid-19th century, as we moved off the farm and into the factory, we created dogs we could bring indoors at the end of a workday. And we created dogs we could bring to work: French bulldogs (now the most popular breed in America ) started out as literal lap dogs for lace-makers in France. We molded dogs to be friends, companions, playmates and unofficial therapists.

So dogs are not just humanity’s greatest invention but also its longest-running experiment.

That’s one way to look at it.

Now switch out the frame. Swap the subject and the object. Change the verbs.

Here’s another view:

Around the time early humans evolved, Neanderthals also walked the planet. At some point — roughly 40,000 years ago — humans started to thrive while Neanderthals died off. And this is about the time when those first curious wolves began to evolve into dogs. Some scientists believe the timing is not a coincidence. Maybe the dog was the key advantage in the triumph of humankind.

Dogs enabled humans to settle down and stop their endless wandering. Dogs protected humans at this vulnerable transition from nomadic to settled life. Dogs did work that humans did not have the strength or stamina to do: guarding, herding, hunting, pulling sleds. They created time for humans to build and think and create without having to focus every moment on the next meal or the next threat.

We domesticated dogs, and they domesticated us.

Today, dogs provide not just companionship but also an uncomplicated kind of love in an ever more complicated world. And for those restless souls wandering from town to town, chasing job after job — nomads again — a dog can be an anchor, something to hold on to on a lonely night.

From the gray wolf by the ancient fire to a coifed Pomeranian prancing around the show ring, dogs have been with us nearly as long as we have been human.

They might be our greatest creation. And we might be theirs.

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Art Fair Review

Frieze New York Brings a Rich, Cross-Cultural Mix

The Shed welcomes an international survey of painting, textiles and collage to its galleries. Our critic picks his 23 favorite booths.

By Holland Cotter

“Money is no object,” states a sly little text painting by the artist Ricci Albenda in this year’s edition of Frieze New York. Which, of course, isn’t true. At any art fair, as at any trade fair, money is the object. Put another way, in this context all the objects on view basically equal cash. And anyone allergic to the “political,” never mind the “activist,” in contemporary art will find a refuge here.

But for casual visitors to Frieze New York — now in its 12th year and its fourth season at the Shed in Hudson Yards, through Sunday — the whole cash question can be moot, at least after you’ve paid your $76 general admission fee for the weekend. Most of us are just window-shoppers, strolling the aisles for information and pleasure (which for me are often identical), and this year’s fair offers plenty of both.

The size of the show feels right, 60-plus booths spread over three floors. The setting is open and light, the exact opposite of the bank-vault dankness of last season’s Armory Show at the Javits Center. (The Armory Show is now a Frieze franchise, so maybe that will change in September.) And within the narrow formal range of cash-and-carry goods that art fairs were conceived to accommodate, there’s some variety. You even see it in booth designs.

Pace Gallery has come up with an absolute whitest of white-box settings — it makes you feel like a walking smudge — for a pairing of Robert Mangold’s shaped paintings and Arlene Shechet’s abstract sculptures. (Shechet will cap a notable career with an opening of monumental work at Storm King Art Center , a sculpture park in upstate New York, this weekend.)

Contrastingly, David Zwirner’s booth has the scuffed-up look of a college dorm lounge, with scroungy, loose-threads sculptural sofas by Franz West (you can sit on them) and madcap graffiti-ish objects by Nate Lowman tumbling across the walls.

Painting is big in the show, as it is all over town. The recent onslaught of figurative work seems to have subsided a bit, though there are some interesting examples here, notably a radiant diptych of gold-clad goddess-like figures by the São Paulo artist Rosana Paulino at Mendes Wood DM. Abstraction is ubiquitous in galleries and online. A lot of it looks like hotel-room art, and your eye slides over it. Standing in front of massive new gestural Sterling Ruby paintings at Gagosian , I felt I wasn’t learning anything about the genre that I didn’t already know.

I had the opposite reaction to a rosy 1989 Mary Heilmann painting titled “Our Lady of the Flowers” at Hauser & Wirth , which to me has the feeling this artist’s work often does, that nothing quite like it had happened before.

But the media that consistently caught my eye in this Frieze were textile and collage, and work that took them beyond their traditional boundaries. Ortuzar Projects’ booth is a place to linger, with a show by the Buenos Aires-based Feliciano Centurión (1962-1996), who turned embroidery and knitting into an intimate record of a brief, intensely lived gay life. Likewise, a stop at A Gentil Carioca , a Rio de Janeiro gallery, is a must for the sight of the dynamic but utterly unalike woven work of three very different artists, Laura Lima and Vivian Caccuri , both from Brazil, and Ana Silva from Angola.

Using cut-up strips of Amazon delivery boxes, the Brazilian-born Clarissa Tossin, represented by the Los Angeles gallery Commonwealth and Council, makes weaving almost indistinguishable from collage ( her work is also featured in the current Whitney Biennia l ). And collage itself, in one form or another, is everywhere: in Beatriz Cortez ’s dense assemblages of bird feathers at the same L.A. gallery; in rich, riotous Joan Snyder paintings incorporating dried flowers, fruit and herbs at Canada and Thaddaeus Ropac ); and in a matchbox ensemble by Antonio Tarsis at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel , adding yet another Brazilian artist and gallery to Frieze in an international art season dominated by the name of a Brazilian curator, Adriano Pedrosa , organizer of the current Venice Biennale.

The fair even has a research project on collage, as a form, in an exhibition at Kukje Gallery by the Korean artist Haegue Yang who, with words and images, traces the history of the cut-paper medium as a global phenomenon with secular and religious applications.

Yang’s solo is one of several in the fair, and one of the more interesting. Also worthy of attention is a selection of exquisite small sculptural heads by the self-taught New York artist Reverend Joyce McDonald at Gordon Robichaux ; and a mini-survey of work by Seung-Taek Lee , a Minimalism magician of recycled matter, at Gallery Hyundai . Alex Katz delivers a blithesome splash of tangerine-colored nature images at Gladstone ; and Jenkins Johnson has a volcanic suite of paintings by the veteran San Francisco artist Dewey Crumpler, which link, among other historical subjects, two lucrative European enterprises: the Atlantic slave trade and the Dutch tulip trade.

Tulips! Manhattan has been Tulip City over the past couple of spring weeks, as I was reminded by Crumpler’s paintings and, at Tina Kim Gallery , by a fantastically meticulous collage made of pressed tulip petals by the Dutch-Indonesian artist Jennifer Tee. Frieze, like most big art fairs, is a cattle-call phenomenon, about high visibility and competitive moreness. But what I often take away is the memory of small idea-packed things, some eye-grabbers, some hard to spot. Tee’s tulip collage is one; here are a few more:

At Anton Kern , a painted ceramic figure by the Polish artist Pawel Althamer depicting his son as the youthful Buddha who, stunned by sudden wisdom, has thrown off his clothes and sits waiting to see what’s next. (Althamer’s New Museum retrospective in 2014 was one of the most moving the museum has done, yet we’ve rarely seen this artist in New York since.)

At Tanya Bonakdar, a tiny sculpture composed of two crushed, sand-leaking hourglasses by the great Indian artist Shilpa Gupta, whose work focuses on histories, past and present, of religious and ethnic repression in her homeland.

At White Cube , a shimmering but dangerous veil or mantilla made entirely of sharp sewing needles and loose white thread — a scrap from the wardrobe of Colombia’s “disappeared” — by the Bogotá-based Doris Salcedo .

At Matthew Marks , a violet-colored polyester sculpture by the German sculptor Katharina Fritsch , as realistic as if cast from life, of a hand lying prone, half open, palm upward. (Titled “Beggar’s Hand,” it perfectly complements the “Buddhist” paintings of Leidy Churchman nearby.)

At Andrew Edlin , a pairing of works by Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015) and Thornton Dial (1928-2016), two Southern artists who, career-wise, passed each other in the night but were on the same bright beam.

And at Andrew Kreps, where the Albenda hangs, is a tiny abstract painting, titled “Kaddish 3,” of an image of what looks like rising smoke, by the Israeli-French artist and philosopher Bracha L. Ettinger.

Even the most modestly scaled of these items could go for a bundle at Frieze. (A different, larger Salcedo fetched $1.25 million at last year’s fair.) And all are reminders of realities in progress, right now, just beyond the art world’s gold-armored walls.

Frieze New York 2024

Through Sunday at the Shed, 545 West 30th Street; frieze.com .

An earlier version of this article misstated the nationality of an artist, Jennifer Tee, showing at Tina Kim Gallery. Tee is Dutch-Indonesian, not American. It also misstated the number of years Frieze has been coming to the Shed. This is its fourth year at the Shed, not its second.

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Holland Cotter is the co-chief art critic and a senior writer for the Culture section of The Times, where he has been on staff since 1998. More about Holland Cotter

McDonald’s Company Analysis and Success Essay

Introduction, reference list.

McDonald’s truly is a one-of-a-kind company in the modern fast food industry. Remaining at the top of the world’s most famous fast food services list, it maintains an extraordinarily strong presence in the global market and remains memorable and easily distinguishable from the rest of similar organizations. The success of the organization can be attributed to its focus on customer satisfaction and the tendency to push the envelope as far as the customer options are concerned.

In retrospect, McDonald’s success was not quite expected by the general audience since the firm did not introduce any groundbreaking concept when entering the food market. In fact, it was not even the first organization to bring its customer’s fast food products – the White Castle Company had already been operating in the identified market rather successfully when McDonald’s made its first attempt at attracting a new audience (Strom 2015).

However, the firm gained recognition for its unique branding strategy and the ability to update their services and products, at the same time retaining the distinctive characteristics that made the entrepreneurship a worldwide success.

The organization is represented in 119 states and has a total of 34,480 locations in the identified countries as of 2013 statistics (‘Countries without McDonald’s’ 2013). Therefore, the brand recognizability and the popularity of the product delivered by the company can be viewed as McDonald’s key strengths. However, when it comes to identifying the defining feature that makes the company a success, one must mention the fact that McDonald’s approach to production processes, public relations, and company management, in general, is very pliable. By viewing change as an essential part of progress, the leaders of McDonald’s have created the environment in which customer and staff satisfaction can be achieved successfully.

The Food industry is one of the aspects of the global economy that many customers take for granted, yet the changes that the target environment has been going through clearly deserve a closer look. The interview with one of the representatives of the McDonald’s service has shed a lot of light on the changes that the organization has been experiencing over the past few years.

Particularly, the focus on green products, the sustainable economy, and the need to respond to the changes in the market and the buyers’ behavior quickly need to be listed among the current priorities of McDonald’s. The identified approach seems rather sensible since the firm needs to cater to the needs of an extremely diverse population, yet the predictability of McDonald’s response to the changes in the global market seems somewhat disappointing.

The approach used by the organization is fully justified by the needs of the target audiences that McDonald’s views as its potential customers. In the environment that can be deemed as highly multicultural, there is a consistent need for maintaining diversity rates high. However, it feels that McDonald’s could have taken more chances with its current approach and explored the areas into which it has not wondered yet. For instance, the design of a new brand that could represent the organization in an entirely new and exciting way could have been a possible solution to the challenges that the entrepreneurship is currently facing.

Nevertheless, one must give McDonald’s credit for remaining at the top of the fast-food industry. The recent focus on sustainability and healthy products can be viewed as a significant improvement in the company’s strategies as it is likely to appeal to a wider range of people. However, it is desirable that the organization should be more innovative in its branding strategies.

‘ Countries without McDonald’s ’ 2013, Fox News . Web.

Strom, S 2015, ‘ McDonald’s seeks its fast-food soul ’, New York Times . Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 28). McDonald's Company Analysis and Success. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mcdonalds-company-analysis-and-success/

"McDonald's Company Analysis and Success." IvyPanda , 28 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/mcdonalds-company-analysis-and-success/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'McDonald's Company Analysis and Success'. 28 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "McDonald's Company Analysis and Success." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mcdonalds-company-analysis-and-success/.

1. IvyPanda . "McDonald's Company Analysis and Success." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mcdonalds-company-analysis-and-success/.

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IvyPanda . "McDonald's Company Analysis and Success." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/mcdonalds-company-analysis-and-success/.

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