In 2016, a film was released showcasing the history of America's favorite fast-food, McDonald's. The movie is called The Founder and is a true story that shows the behind the scenes view of how McDonald's was discovered and revolutionized. Now, I'll give a little background information to those who have never seen the movie. Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman in 1954. McDonald's had ordered an unusually large amount of machines so he wanted to check out this establishment. Reason being, as a salesman, he's noticed almost every fast-food joint has been run very inefficiently. What he discovered was quite the opposite. McDonald's was unlike no other at the time. It was fast service, had a family friendly environment, and disposable packaging. All while being very high quality food. Those characteristics and the oh so amazing golden arches rang the American dream to Kroc.
To wrap this intro up, McDonald's has a little bit of a dirty past. The short version is this: Ray Kroc screwed over the original founder's of McDonald's, Mac and Richard McDonald, for the company. They eventually agreed, if you want to call it that, for $2.7 million and 1% annual royalties. Spoiler, they never got any royalties. Now, even though $2.7 million was a lot during the 1950's, the McDonald's corporation is worth $174 billion today. The 1% royalty would be equal to $100 million a year. Even though it's a sad origin story, the movie shows entrepreneurial aspects that McDonald's created in order to become the largest fast-food chain in the entire world.
Out of all the fast-food restaurants in America, McDonald's owns the largest share by far. Literally everyone knows about McDonald's. Think about it, McDonald's has an establishment almost everyone you go. There is a reason McDonald's has stood out from the others. Ray Kroc was a businessman and more importantly, an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you have to be innovative to stand apart and be better than your competitors. Efficiency is also a very important component to entrepreneurs. Being able to maximize the amount you yield from a process while keeping your costs low is vital for growth within a business. Mr. Kroc understood these things.
There's two things Kroc did in order to showcase innovation in order to maximize efficiency. First off, Kroc perfected the fast-food assembly line down to a science. Every worker had a station in which they had a specific job. Everyone knew how long their task was supposed to take. For example, the guy on the grill had a timer for when to flip and take off the meat. This process pretty much turned workers into robots. But as we know, robots are very efficient. The assembly line made a quick process turn into a very fast process. In my opinion, it's like a domino effect. The faster you prepare food, the more customers you can serve, The more customers you serve, the more money you make. The more money you make, the more restaurants you can open, and so forth.
The second thing McDonald's had innovated is because of the first. Once Kroc started to open new restaurants, they were all built the exact same in the kitchen. Kroc worked with people to develop a kitchen layout that would work to his advantage. Everything down to the tiniest detail was placed in a spot that made sense for how McDonald's cooked and prepared food. Not only does this promote their assembly method, but it ensures the method will be followed when new franchises open. It would be impossible for Kroc to run every single McDonald's. Having all the kitchens be the same gives him some peace of mind knowing that they are equipped with the proven practices.
How is this relevant to society today? These two methods were so effective that they are still used. They proved to be the most effective and are why McDonald's is known all around the world. Also, they have set the standard for how a fast-food restaurant should be operated. Just about every fast-food joint runs off of the same principles that Kroc developed and mastered.
