McDonald's

“Researchers did a study. People came in, and one-third of them just went to the to the counter and ordered their food. Another third of them came in and were given a very attractive key ring with a beautiful medallion on it by the management. Oh, thank you for…”

“The other half, each kid got the balloon as they entered. Those families bought 25% more food because they had been given something first.”

“If I can change people's behavior with the foods that they love, And provide a better option for them, then I can provide kind of a gateway for them to start experimenting with other healthy things, right? You're not getting people who eat McDonald's three day…”

“So if you're living in a mansion, and you get picked up in a chauffeur, and you tell your fifteen-year-old to go get a job at McDonald's, it's gonna cause resentment. So you have to live whatever lifestyle you want them to grow up in. So if you want your kids …”

“It was Charlie who told me, and I had never thought of it this way, he said, you get into a lot of trouble when you want your kids to live a different lifestyle than you're living. When you're getting a chauffeur to drive you to work, and you're telling your 1…”

“My industry is an industry of winner-take-all. Think McDonald's and Burger King. Think Panera and Corner Bakery, Chipotle and Qdoba. All of the value creation tends to happen for those that are building something of large scale.”

“They refused to send registered letters authorizing changes, which meant Technically, every store he built was in violation of their original contract. Their attorney could shut them down at any moment.”

“He could not deviate from their specifications unless changes were approved in writing, signed by both brothers, and sent by registered mail.”

“They projected it would take until 1991, 30 years. They paid it off in 1972. The lenders made about twelve million.”

“The simplicity wasn't just about efficiency. It allowed them to concentrate on quality at every step. When you're only doing nine things, you can do all nine perfectly.”

“The best product innovations that McDonald's ever had came from operators solving local problems. The company just gave them a system in scale. They gave the company its future.”

“He finally found a group of 12 institutions, including Princeton, Howard University, Carnegie Tech, the Ford Foundation, willing to lend the money in exchange for a Half a percent of gross sales.”

“If we have to resort to bringing in the government to beat our competition, then we deserve to go broke. If we can't do it by offering a better, fifteen-cent hamburger, by being better merchandisers, by providing faster service and a cleaner place, then I woul…”

“In 1965, McDonald's went public at 22 50 a share. By the end of the first day, it was trading at 30 dollars. By the end of the first month, it was trading at 50.”

“They started Franchise Realty Corporation with a thousand dollars in capital, and Harry would eventually turn it into over a hundred and seventy million dollars worth of real estate.”

“He refused to put any pay telephones, jukeboxes, or vending machines of any kind in any McDonald's. Many operators were tempted by this side income, but Ray stood firm.”

“First, the teenage crowd was driving away families, and second, despite a menu of 25 items, 80% of sales came from one thing, the hamburger.”

“More than once, at two in the morning, Ray Kroc sorted through a competitor's trash to count out how many boxes of meat they'd used the day before.”

“McDonald's insisted the beef be 19% fat. They developed a testing device called the Fatalizer so operators could check their meat on the spot.”

“The system was valuable precisely because it was theirs, because it had a name, an identity, a track record. Customers who'd eaten at McDonald's in one location would recognize it in another location. A copy wouldn't have that. Copy was just another hamburger …”

“Kroc would take 1.9% of gross sales from franchisees. He proposed two percent, but the brothers talked him down. Tell a franchisee two percent, they said, and he'll block. Say one and nine 10th, and it sounds like less. Out of that 1.9%, the brothers would rec…”

“What made McDonald's wealthy was owning or controlling the land under every restaurant. Franchisees paid rent. That rent was McDonald's real income. It was steady, it was predictable, and it was growing with every new location.”

“What Kroc invented was a way to replicate the system and cross an entire country, a structure that aligned the interests of the company, the franchisee, the supplier, and the customer. A machine for turning one restaurant's success into 10,000.”

“In fact, Ray would go on to open a McDonald's across the street from them and run them out of business.”