The inspirational story of the founder of McDonald's
Story: Based on the realistic cognitive view, it is described as an abnormal phenomenon. It is a kind of 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 has happened. Or imagine a story. The following is the inspirational story of the founder of McDonald's that I brought to you, hoping to help you!
inspirational story of the founder of McDonald's 1
Crocker's family was poor when he was young, and he dropped out of high school after only one year. He played the piano in several traveling bands, and worked as a music festival director on 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 went through 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. I was freezing when I drove into Chicago and came home through the cold street. "
In 1937, Crocker became the boss of a small company that distributed milk mixers. The milk mixer is a machine that can mix and stir five kinds of wheat milk at the same time. He survived the impact of World War II, and his business was barely maintained. In the 1951s, Crocker, who had reached the age of destiny, was still a small boss and was about to die in obscurity.
However, the chances of success are equal for everyone. The key lies in whether you are good at discovering 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. In 1954, 51-year-old Crocker seized the opportunity of his success by chance.
In 1937, a pair of Jewish brothers, Mike McDonald and Dick McDonald, had to leave 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. In 1943, through the study of restaurant income in the past three years, they found that 81% of the income came from hamburgers, not ribs. This casual discovery actually promoted a revolution in the food service industry.
As a result, the Mai Brothers began to mainly sell the hamburgers with 15 cents each, and made a major reform in their management mode, adopting self-service dining, using paper tableware and providing fast service. This unique hamburger restaurant has been a great success. In July 1952, American restaurant magazine introduced the amazing achievements brought by McDonald's new concept in the form of cover stories. Then, the McDonald's brothers started to set up chain stores and personally designed the signboard of Golden Double Arch. By 1954, McDonald's hamburger restaurant with 11 chain stores had an annual turnover of $211,111. Nevertheless, the short-sighted McDonald brothers didn't realize that their invention had great potential.
At this moment, Crocker, a legendary figure, walked into the McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino. At first glance, he believed that McDonald's had an infinitely broad prospect, thus making a historic change in McDonald's.
It was one day in 1954, and 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 before. Out of business needs, he thought it was necessary to find out what was going on, so he went to San Bertino specially.
Compared with numerous hamburger shops at that time, this restaurant opened by McDonald's brothers seems to have no great difference in appearance. However, McDonald's shocked Crocker in its special way. It was noon, and the small parking lot was crowded with people, as many as 151 people, and there was a long queue in front of McDonald's restaurant. The waiter of McDonald's works quickly and can hand over the food ordered by the guests within 1.5 seconds. Crocker has never seen this kind of operation.
"I have never stood in line to buy a hamburger." Crocker spoke loudly on purpose in order to attract customers' attention.
"Oh," one of the guests immediately said, "You may not know that the food here is low in price, good in quality, clean in the restaurant and considerate in service. What's more, the speed is so fast, although there are many people in the queue, you can buy it soon. I am a frequent visitor here. Sir, why don't you try it? "
After listening to the customer's words, Crocker immediately realized that the Mai brothers had stepped into a "gold mine". He immediately went into the shop to find the two Jews and asked them why they didn't open more restaurants because their business was so good. At that time, all he had in mind was the milk mixer. If every McDonald's restaurant bought him eight machines, he would make a fortune. However, Dick McDonald shook his head and pointed to the nearby hillside and said, "Do you see that house above?" That is 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 know "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 Maxwell brothers quickly promised him the right to open chain stores all over the country, but the conditions were quite harsh. It was stipulated that Crocker could only draw 1.9% of the chain store turnover as a service fee, of which only 1.4% belonged to Crocker and 1.5% belonged to McDonald's brothers. Crocker, who wanted to do something big, accepted this condition without hesitation.
on March 2nd, 1955, Crocker founded McDonald's chain company. His first McDonald's restaurant opened in Desipros in April of the same year. In September, a second restaurant opened in Si Nuo, California. Three months later, a third restaurant was established in Ressard, California. Crocker, who was born as a salesman, fully demonstrated his talent in selling, and opened branches faster and faster. By 1961, Crocker had owned 228 McDonald's restaurants, with a turnover of $37.8 million, and the Mai brothers took 1.5%-$189,111 in profits, while the McDonald's chain system only earned $77,111 this year. With the expansion of the scale, the Macpherson brothers will make more profits from spot checks, and according to the provisions of the contract of that year, Crocker is not allowed to make any changes to the fast service system set up by the McDonald brothers, but in fact Crocker has made at least hundreds of minor 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.
in early 1961, Crocker and the Maxwell brothers began to negotiate the transfer of McDonald's rights. However, the Mai brothers bid amazingly: they won't sell it unless it is $2.7 million! Among them, the two brothers each pay $1 million and pay taxes of $711,111, and they must pay 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 come up with so much money, and their intention was obvious, that is, they didn't want Crocker to have control.
Crocker thought twice, weighed the pros and cons, and finally agreed to the conditions of the Maxwell brothers. Crocker and his talented CFO, Sonaben, tried their best to borrow 2.7 million dollars and bought 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 business people. Crocker said afterwards, "They are younger than me, but they all quit. And I can't break down. "
When signing the final text of the contract, the McBrides went back on their word and excluded McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino from the transaction. They have a lot of affection for this store. It is the first store they set up 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 it up from the overall situation.
However, Crocker did not forget this symbolic restaurant. Later, he fought back, bought a vacant lot near San Bernardino's 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 has only been renamed "Big Mike". Who knows that in this way, the new store business began to prosper, but the old store plummeted and was greatly hurt. Because many regular customers thought that McDonald's had moved, they all went to the new store, and no one paid any 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, the Mai brothers were worried. In 1968, they simply sold this treasure shop that had fought with Crocker for a life-and-death battle! Since then, the store has been ill-fated, and several owners have not improved, so it has to be changed into a record store.
where are the Macpherson brothers now? One passed away in 1971, and the other was well off. Obviously, his $1 million must have been invested in a better industry. But to be sure, no matter where he invests, it is better to own McDonald's. If he still owns 1.5% royalty, his wealth will be incalculable! From 1961 to the early 1981s, the turnover of McDonald's was * * * 77 billion US dollars. According to the original agreement, the Mai brothers could earn 388 million US dollars in royalties. In 1985, the turnover of McDonald's was as high as 11 billion US dollars, and they could earn an extra 55 million US dollars a year! This is really "smarter than smarter."
After getting rid of the shackles, Crocker can finally play freely, and he has brought his own set of practices into full play.
McDonald's needs talents with strong enterprising spirit. Crocker said, "What I want is people who devote themselves to their careers. If anyone just wants to earn money to support his family and live a comfortable life, no one should come to McDonald's. "
There is an endless stream of people coming to McDonald's to apply for jobs. They have to go through a rigorous examination, most of them are eliminated, and only those who have the greatest potential to succeed are hired.
The average age of managers in McDonald's branches is 35 years old. Most of them have made considerable achievements in other industries, and the figures in their bank accounts are considerable. Crocker's guiding ideology of recruitment is that in order to prevent those who are incompetent or mediocre from entering, the company rated the initial cash investment very high.
it will cost us $11111 to $25111 to obtain the distribution right of a McDonald's branch, of which half must be in cash and the other half can apply for a loan. After the funds are in place, Crocker sends people to choose the location and build the restaurant. When the new branch opens, the branch manager will pay the company 11.5% of the monthly turnover, of which 3% will be used as management fee and 8.5% will be 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 earn back its original investment within three to five years. The average annual turnover of McDonald's branches is 431 thousand to 511 thousand dollars, and the manager of a medium-level branch can make a profit of 51 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 earn considerable money. 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 "Hamburger University" founded by Crocker. Crocker stipulated that his managers must receive special training from Hamburg University. In McDonald's, only the bachelor of hamburger trained by Hamburg University is recognized, and other academic qualifications are not recognized.
As early as February 1961, Crocker established the first hamburger university in Akro, Illinois. After 19 days of professional training and an elective course of French potato chips, the students can get a bachelor's degree in "Hamburger Science" after passing the examination. In 1983, a new "Hamburger University" was opened, which cost 41 million US dollars. Seven classrooms can accommodate 751 students at the same time. In every classroom, there are computer-controlled automatic recording and scoring, as well as translation equipment for foreign students to use. Twenty-eight full-time professors teach almost everything from productivity research to machine maintenance. Many courses in Hamburg University are now recognized by American education authorities and have been listed as official credits in 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", that is, Quality, Service and Cleanness, which means "excellent quality, considerate service and clean place". This has 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 shop from the Mai brothers, he found that the French fries sold at that time were taken out of the refrigerator, which was a bit like "overnight fried dough sticks", and the color was dim, and there was no crispy feeling to eat. He believes 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 kind of potato chips appeared in front of customers, it was really popular, and the sales volume immediately doubled.
The company has also formulated a set of strict quality standards, such as the requirement that beef raw materials must be lean meat, and the fat content should not exceed 19%. After the beef is minced, it will be made into patties with a diameter of 98.5 mm, a thickness of 5.65 mm and a weight of 47.32 grams. While ensuring the quality, we must also emphasize the word "fast": we should make a beef pie, a plate of potato chips and a drink in 51 seconds. In order to ensure the freshness of food, it is also expressly stipulated that hamburgers must be thrown away if they cannot be sold within 11 minutes after they are baked or within 7 minutes after French fries are fried. Thanks to this set of strict quality measures, every customer who comes to McDonald's restaurant can eat steaming and delicious hamburgers and other foods within 51 seconds. In this way, how can it be unpopular with customers?
In order to keep the place clean, Crocker stipulated that his employees must shave and manicure every day, keep their mouths clean at all times, take a bath frequently and keep their hair long. Women are not allowed to wear nail polish, do not wear too much 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 to be sold in restaurants. Under the guarantee of this series of regulations, the storefront of McDonald's restaurant always keeps the windows bright and the ground clean.