By Sandhya Nag:
What does the most famous malls and shopping complexes have in common apart from the fact that they’re the most flocked places in India?
You go shopping-for clothes, footwear, accessories, household items, gifts, you’re inevitably hungry at the end of it. Hell, you go window shopping with friends, you see a place where you can relax and down some fast food which also happens to be light on the pocket. What am I driving at?
McDonalds. Yes.
You (and I) are more likely to walk in, than not. Which is what McDonalds is really all about.
McDonalds founder, Ray Kroc once walked into a class of students at Harvard and asked them what they thought McDonalds was about.
Burgers, they said.
And he asked the million dollar question: “ How many of you can prepare better burgers than the ones made at McDonalds?” Several hands shot up in the air.
He then told the class that burgers weren’t the deal, because obviously, there were so many people better at that. Infact, food itself didn’t qualify as the topmost priority. And then he shared his million dollar idea.
That McDonalds wasn’t really about burgers, it was about ‘Real Estate’. Did I hear that right? Well yeah, you did.
McDonalds is about real estate.
It’s just about places. How amazing is that, right? You just put up outlets of McDonalds at places where your target market is, and Bingo!, you’re on your way to get those million dollars. The talent was in choosing those magical ‘places’.
Real estate isn’t the only factor which made McDonalds what it is today, but that was the core factor. Add to that a list of 4 to 5 ingrediants, you have the cake ready.
It is said that he would arbitrarily fire staff who erred in minor ways sometimes, and the executives wouldn’t carry it out. Knowing him all too well. The incident would be forgotten in a few days.
Charity begins at home:Â After becoming a millionaire, he established a foundation to support his charitable efforts. The Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing for relatives of children undergoing lengthy hospital stays, is one such example.
Optimism and excellent mentorship no doubt proved to be the key, in addition to everything mentioned above. And the rest, as they say, is history. The tagline has another story in itself, but let’s reserve that for some other time! I’m lovin’ it! Bade se bada business paise se nahi — ek bade idea se bada hota hai. True, that!
References: http://www.lc21.com/directions/thoughts1.html and http://businessleadershipadvice.com/archives/2008_10_01_archive.html
Image courtesy: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=fun-facts-about-ray-kroc