The inspirational story of McDonald's founder

The inspirational story of McDonald's founder

Story: On the basis of realistic cognitive view, it is described as an abnormal phenomenon. It is a literary genre, focusing on the description of the development process of events. It emphasizes the vividness and coherence of the plot and is more suitable for oral narration. What happened. Or imagine a story. The following is the inspirational story of the founder of McDonald's that I brought to you. I hope it will help you!

The inspirational story of McDonald's founder 1 Crocker's family was poor when he was young, and he dropped out of high school after only one year. He plays the piano in several touring bands and is the director of music festival at Radio Chicago. From 1929, Crocker has been engaged in sales promotion for the next 25 years, first helping people sell real estate in Florida, and then selling paper cups in the Midwest of the United States. As a salesman, he experienced many twists and turns and tasted the taste of failure. Crocker later recalled: "After I failed to promote real estate in Florida, I was completely bankrupt and penniless. At that time, I didn't have a coat, a raincoat or even a pair of gloves. When I drove into Chicago and crossed the cold street to get home, I was extremely cold. "

From 65438 to 0937, Crocker was the boss of a small company that distributed milk mixers. The dough mixer is a machine that can mix and stir five kinds of wheat milk at the same time. He escaped the impact of World War II, and his business barely maintained. In the 1950s, Crocker, who had reached the age of destiny, was still a small boss and was about to die in obscurity.

However, the chance of success is equal for everyone, and the key lies in whether you are good at finding opportunities and grasping them to the end. The chance of success can be obtained from a sale, a transaction, a job or even a meal. 1954, Crocker, 5 1 year-old, seized his chance of success by chance.

1937, a pair of Jewish brothers, Mike McDonald and Dick McDonald, had to run away from home after graduating from high school because of the economic depression and came to California from the east coast of the United States to find new employment opportunities. They opened a small cinema, but finally chose to run a drive-in restaurant. From 65438 to 0943, through the study of restaurant income in recent three years, they found that 80% of the income came from hamburgers, not ribs. This casual discovery actually promoted a revolution in the catering service industry.

As a result, the Mai brothers began to mainly sell this kind of 15-cent hamburger, and made a major reform in the management mode, adopting self-service dining, using paper tableware and providing fast service. This unique hamburger restaurant has been a great success. 1952 In July, American Restaurant magazine introduced the amazing achievements brought by the new concept of McDonald's in the form of a cover story. Then, McDonald's brothers began to open chain stores and personally designed the golden double arch signboard. By 1954, the annual turnover of McDonald's Hamburg restaurant with 10 chain stores reached $200,000. Nevertheless, the short-sighted MacDonald brothers didn't realize that their invention had great potential.

At this time, the legendary Crocker walked into the McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino. At first glance, he decided that McDonald's had unlimited prospects and made a historic change in McDonald's.

One day in 1954, Crocker, as the owner of the milk mixer, found that the restaurant opened by the Mai brothers in San Bernardino had ordered eight milk mixers at once. No one has ever bought so many machines at once. For business needs, he thought it necessary to find out what was going on, so he went to San Bertino specially.

Compared with many hamburger restaurants at that time, the restaurants opened by McDonald's brothers did not seem to have much difference in appearance. However, McDonald's shocked Crocker in its special way. It was noon, the small parking lot was crowded with people, as many as 150 people, and there was a long queue in front of McDonald's restaurant. The waiter in McDonald's works very fast and can deliver the food ordered by the guests in 15 seconds. Crocker has never seen such an operation.

"I've never stood in line to buy hamburgers." Crocker spoke loudly to attract customers' attention.

"Oh," one of the guests said at once, "you may not know that the food here is low in price, good in quality, clean in the restaurant and thoughtful in service. What's more, the speed is so fast, although there are many people waiting in line, they can buy it soon. I am a frequent visitor here. Sir, why don't you try? "

After listening to the customer, Crocker immediately realized that the Mai brothers had stepped into a "gold mine". He immediately went into the shop and found the two Jews and asked them why they didn't open more restaurants because their business was so good. At that time, all he could think about was the milk blender. If every McDonald's restaurant buys him eight machines, he will make a fortune. However, Dick McDonald shook his head, pointed to the hillside not far away and said, "Do you see that house above?" That's our home. I like that place. If there are too many chain restaurants, we will be too busy to go home. "

Obviously, the Mai brothers are in a "gold mine" and don't understand "gold".

With years of experience, Crocker realized that the opportunity had come. He set his sights on McDonald's and decided to open a chain restaurant. The next day, he negotiated with the Mai brothers. The Mai brothers quickly promised him the right to open chain stores all over the country, but the conditions were quite harsh. It is agreed that Crocker can only take 1.9% of the chain store turnover as the service fee, of which only 1.4% belongs to Crocker and 0.5% belongs to McDonald's Brothers. Crocker, who wants to do something big, accepted this condition without hesitation.

1on March 2, 955, Crocker founded McDonald's chain company. In April of the same year, his first McDonald's restaurant opened in Desipros. In September, the second restaurant opened in Si Nuo, California. Three months later, a third restaurant was established in Risade, California. Crocker, who was born in sales, fully demonstrated his sales talent and opened branches faster and faster. By 1960, Crocker had owned 228 McDonald's restaurants, with a turnover of $37.8 million. The McBrides took 0.5%-189,000, while the McDonald's chain system only earned $77,000 this year. With the expansion of the scale, mcpherson Brothers will gain more profits from spot checks. According to the provisions of the contract in that year, Crocker was not allowed to make any changes to the fast service system established by McDonald's Brothers, but in fact Crocker made at least hundreds of small improvements in his operation. McDonald's is not allowed to surpass him, which seriously hinders the further development of McDonald's business. This forced Crocker to make up his mind to buy McDonald's.

196 1 At the beginning of the year, Crocker and the Mai brothers began to negotiate the rights to broadcast McDonald's. However, the Mai brothers made an amazing bid: they wouldn't sell it unless it was $2.7 million! Among them, the two brothers each paid US$ 6,543,800+and paid US$ 700,000 in tax, which must be paid in cash. Crocker almost fainted. He put down the phone and forced himself to calm down. They set the price so high knowing that he couldn't afford so much money. Their intention is obvious, that is, they don't want Crocker to have control.

Crocker thought it over and over again, weighed the pros and cons, and finally agreed to the conditions of the Maxwell brothers. Crocker and his brilliant CFO Sona tried their best to borrow $2.7 million to buy the name, trademark, copyright and cooking formula of McDonald's restaurant. At this point, all McDonald's fast food restaurants in the United States belong to Crocker. Although the name of the company is still McDonald's, it has nothing to do with McDonald's brothers. The Mai brothers are entrepreneurs of McDonald's company, but obviously they are not big businessmen. Crocker said afterwards, "They were younger than me, but they all resigned. And I can't collapse. "

When signing the final text of the contract, the Mai brothers broke their word and excluded McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino from the transaction. They have great affection for this shop. This is the first store they opened and the birthplace of the whole McDonald's world. Although Crocker also regarded this store as the most valuable part of the transaction, he had to give up from the overall situation.

However, Crocker did not forget this symbolic restaurant. Later, he fought back, bought an open space near San Bernardino's shop and built a McDonald's restaurant exactly like the original one. Because the name of McDonald's has been bought out by Crocker, the new store he built is called "McDonald's", while the old store of Mai Brothers is just renamed "Big Mike". Who knows that in this way, the new store business began to flourish, but the old store plummeted, which greatly hurt its vitality. Because many regular customers thought that McDonald's had moved, they all went to the new store, and no one paid attention to the store called "Big Mike". In fact, the two stores sell the same things, but the results are quite different, which shows the intrinsic value of the name "McDonald's".

This time, it's the Maxwell brothers' turn to worry. 1968 They simply sold this treasure shop that once fought with Crocker to the death! Since then, the store has suffered a lot, and its owners have not improved, so it has to be changed into a record store.

Where are the mckesson brothers now? One of them died in 197 1, and the other one is alive and well. Obviously, his 1 ten thousand dollars must have been invested in a better industry. But what is certain is that no matter where he invests, it is best to own McDonald's. If he still owns 0.5% royalties, his wealth will be incalculable! From 196 1 to the early 1980s, the turnover of McDonald's was * * * 77 billion dollars. According to the original agreement, the Mai Brothers can earn 388 million dollars in royalties, while in 1985, the turnover of McDonald's reached as high as 1 1 billion dollars, which can earn 500 more a year. This is really "smarter than smarter".

Freed from the bondage, Crocker was finally free to play, and he took his own way to the extreme.

McDonald's needs people with strong enterprising spirit. Crocker said, "I want people who devote themselves to their careers." If someone just wants to earn money to support their families and live a comfortable life, then no one should come to McDonald's. "

There is an endless stream of people looking for jobs at McDonald's. They have to pass a rigorous examination, most of them are eliminated, and only those with the greatest potential for success will be hired.

The average age of McDonald's branch managers is 35 years old, and most of them have made considerable achievements in other industries, and the figures in their bank accounts are also considerable. Crocker's guiding ideology of recruitment is that in order to prevent those incompetent or mediocre people from entering, the company has a very high evaluation of the initial cash investment.

It costs 1 10000 to 125000 dollars to obtain the franchise of a McDonald's branch, half of which must be in cash and the other half can apply for a loan. After the funds were in place, Crocker sent someone to choose a place and build a restaurant. When the new branch opens, the branch manager will pay 1 1.5% of the monthly turnover to the company, of which 3% is management fee and 8.5% is rent.

At first glance, these conditions seem harsh, but in fact, branch managers can still make a lot of money. A well-run restaurant can recover its original investment within three to five years. The average annual turnover of McDonald's branches is 430 thousand to 500 thousand dollars, and the manager of a middle-level branch can make a profit of 50 thousand to 75 thousand dollars every year.

Crocker's greatest reward for excellent branch managers is to let them buy more distribution rights whenever possible. Some managers own four, six or even eight restaurants, and their income is considerable. In McDonald's, about sixty or seventy branch managers have become millionaires.

In terms of personnel training, the place that best embodies the characteristics of McDonald's is the "Hamburg University" founded by Crocker. Crocker stipulated that his managers must receive special training from the University of Hamburg. In McDonald's, only the bachelor of Hamburg trained by Hamburg University is recognized, and other academic qualifications are not recognized.

As early as February 196 1, Crocker established the first Hamburg University in Ake Jian Luo, Illinois. After 19 days of professional training and an elective course of French potato chips, students can get a bachelor's degree in "Hamburg Studies" after passing the examination. 1983 A new "Hamburg University" was opened, costing 40 million dollars. Seven classrooms can accommodate 750 students to train at the same time. Each classroom has computer-controlled automatic recording and grading, as well as translation equipment for international students. 28 full-time professors teach almost everything from productivity research to machine maintenance. Many courses at the University of Hamburg are now recognized by American education authorities and listed as official credits by many universities.

Another secret of Crocker's success is that he manages well and creatively puts forward three standards for running McDonald's fast food restaurants: "Q.S.C", namely, quality, service and cleanliness, which means "excellent quality, considerate service and clean place". This has also become one of the signs that McDonald's is different from other fast food industries.

In terms of quality, Crocker attached great importance to food quality from the beginning. When he bought the first hamburger restaurant from the Mai brothers, he found that the French fries he sold at that time were taken out of the refrigerator, which was a bit like "overnight fried dough sticks", with dim color and no crispy taste. He thinks that such food will not arouse customers' appetite, and the business in the store will be depressed. So he hired experts to improve the quality of potato chips. First of all, we should choose specially planted potatoes and cut them into crispy potato chips. Secondly, it should be fried and eaten without refrigeration. When this new potato chip appeared in front of customers, it was really popular and its sales immediately doubled.

The company has also formulated a set of strict quality standards, such as requiring that beef raw materials must be lean meat and the fat content should not exceed 19%. Chopped beef will be made into patties with a diameter of 98.5mm, a thickness of 5.65mm and a weight of 47.32g.. While ensuring the quality, we should also emphasize the word "fast": we should make a beef pie, a plate of potato chips and a drink in 50 seconds. In order to ensure the freshness of food, it is also expressly stipulated that hamburgers that cannot be sold within 10 minutes after baking or within 7 minutes after frying French fries must be thrown away. Thanks to this set of strict quality measures, every customer who comes to McDonald's restaurant can eat steaming, delicious hamburgers and other foods within 50 seconds. In this case, how can it be unpopular with customers?

In order to keep this place clean, Crocker stipulated that his employees must do it: men should shave and manicure every day, keep their mouths clean at all times, take a bath often and don't have long hair. Women are not allowed to wear nail polish, don't wear heavy makeup and wear hairnets on their heads. As soon as the customer leaves, the service staff will clean up the desktop and all the pieces of paper left on the ground will be picked up immediately. Cigarettes and newspapers are not allowed in restaurants. Under the protection of this series of regulations, the storefront of McDonald's restaurant has always maintained bright windows, clean floors and clean desktops. Therefore, McDonald's is famous all over the United States for its cleanliness.

Crocker's management skills have brought great benefits to the company. The image of the company is also established because of good management. What followed was a steady stream of wealth.

Paying attention to advertising is also a factor of Crocker's great success. McDonald's spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising every year. 198 1 year, the company's advertising fee is USD 320 million, accounting for 4.5% of the annual turnover. 1963, the company also created an unforgettable image of "Uncle McDonald" for advertising. Uncle McDonald has a tray filled with hamburgers, malt extract and potato chips on his head, a pair of McDonald's cups on his nose, and shoes on his feet like two pieces of bread, which is quite commercial. This clown-like image leaves customers with an amiable and lovely feeling, which is especially popular with children. "Uncle McDonald's" became the spokesperson of McDonald's in American TV advertisements.

After the success of any enterprise, it is inevitable to transfer its business from home to abroad, and McDonald's is no exception.

1970 when McDonald's decided to enter the overseas market, there was almost no precedent to follow. Because at that time, there were not many precedents for American service industry to invest overseas, and the scope was limited to the United States. There are no fast food restaurants in the country where McDonald's wants to develop its business. The middle class in these countries think eating out is a big deal. What they need are gorgeous and neat clothes, white cloth tables and big plates. Therefore, McDonald's is ready to export not only hamburgers and other foods, but also a food culture, and its difficulty can be imagined.

When McDonald's first tried to develop chain stores in the Caribbean, Canada, the Netherlands and other countries, it failed, but it was a great success in Japan.

Fujita, president of McDonald's in Japan, took a unique approach to Japan's national conditions. He believes that "Japanese people have both inferiority complex and xenophobia. Everything in Japan comes from foreign countries: writing comes from China, Buddhism comes from Korea, and everything from Coca-Cola to IBM comes from postwar America. But Japan is basically exclusive, and it doesn't like China and Koreans, nor Americans. " From this, he concluded that McDonald's company in Japan must be 100% Japanese from the boss to the employees, so that McDonald's food can't be regarded as imported American goods from the outside. If you insist that it is American, customers will not buy this kind of food because they don't like America. 197 1 year, Crocker agreed to Fujita's plan and signed a cooperation agreement with him, with the United States and Japan each contributing half. Fujita launched a propaganda offensive with dramatic marketing methods, making McDonald's famous all over Japan overnight. On July 20th, 197 1, the McDonald's restaurant in Ginza District of Tokyo opened as scheduled, and the turnover on the first day reached 6000 dollars, breaking the world record of McDonald's single-day turnover. Then, the second and third McDonald's restaurants opened one after another. In just 18 months, Fujita quickly opened 19 McDonald's restaurants in Japan. McDonald's has become the largest chain restaurant in Japan with an annual turnover of $600 million.

After summing up Japan's successful experience, Crocker used the same model as Japan to develop the global market: find a partner, give him considerable shares and autonomy, and let him play freely.

In this way, McDonald's restaurants have mushroomed all over the world. They use different promotion methods in different countries and different market cultures, but they use the same standard operating system. By the early 1980s, McDonald's had established more than 6,000 branches in 33 countries and regions around the world. Only 1985 has developed 597 overseas branches, and the average opening speed of 15 hours has left competitors behind.

1984 65438+1October14th, Crocker, a billionaire with $320 million in assets, died of a heart attack. But the "McDonald's Kingdom" he founded is still developing rapidly. In the office of McDonald's headquarters, Crocker's favorite motto still hangs:

Nothing in the world can replace perseverance.

"Talent" is no good: it is not uncommon for talented people to accomplish nothing.

"Genius" can't: It's not uncommon for a genius not to be appreciated.

"Education" doesn't work: it's not hard to find people with education and no job.

Only perseverance combined with determination is omnipotent.

Perhaps this is one of the secrets of Crocker's great success.

The inspirational story of the founder of McDonald's 2 ray kroc, the founder of McDonald's, was born in Oak Park in the western suburbs of Chicago on 1902. He doesn't like reading, but likes to think for a long time and imagine how to deal with various situations when they happen. Mom sometimes asks: What are you doing? He usually answers: nothing, just thinking about something.

12 years old, began to work after finishing the second grade of junior high school, and his fantasy was more or less put into action. If he wants to open a lemonade stand, he will open it before long. He also opened a small record store with two friends. Each of them invested $65,438+000 and rented a small shop at the price of $25 per month, selling records and rare musical instruments, such as Na Di, harmonica and Creary. Crocker is responsible for playing the piano and singing to attract guests. These stores have achieved unexpected success.

Crocker also promoted many things and once provided paper cups for a food chain called walgreen. They used small folding paper cups to hold sauce for their guests. That was at 1930. Crocker observed their noon passenger flow and found a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to greatly increase the business volume of both parties-when the business was busy and the seats were not enough, he could sell beer or soft drinks in covered paper cups and pack them for people who could not find seats.

Crocker visited the manager there and showed him the products. But the manager shook his head and waved and said, either you are crazy or you treat me like a madman. The guest spends 15 cents on a glass of beer in front of my counter, which is the same as taking it away with a paper cup. Why should I spend 1.5 cents more to increase the cost? Ask for guidance! Crocker said: Because it will help you increase your business. You can set up a separate place in front of the counter for take-away, put drinks in paper cups, add lids, and put other foods that guests want to eat in bags for guests to take away. Finally, the manager agreed to try out the paper cups he provided for free. As a result, the take-out was very successful, and it didn't take long for him to become a paper cup supplier in walgreen.

The establishment of McDonald's empire was after he was 52 years old.

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