McDonald’s Movies And Hot Dogs? The Little-Known Origins Of The Burger Giant
You probably have heard how McDonald’s was started by the McDonald brothers, but made into the famous restaurant we know by a shake machine salesman named Ray Kroc.
But I bet you don’t know the full story of how it all started. And after you read this story, you’ll learn some things that might help you with your business.
Ready? Let’s go…
Photo from wikipedia
In the 1930s, Dick and Mac McDonald were struggling and trying to make a living by running a movie theater in California.
Yes, you read that right, a movie.
Things weren’t going well for them, but they noticed that a nearby hot dog stand always seemed to do a lot of business.
In 1937, with a $5,000 loan, the McDonald brothers started a hot dog stand called the Airdrome hot dog stand.
In 1940, they moved the Airdrome from Arcadia to San Bernardino and changed the name to McDonald’s Barbeque.
But it’s still not the McDonald’s we know today, huh?
Watch what happens next.
Things were going fairly well and the brothers were seeing success, but they weren’t satisfied. They wanted to do things better and faster, so they came up with a bold idea.
They temporarily shut down the restaurant in 1948 and opened with a completely new, experimental method.
They simplified the menu and decided to focus on only burgers, fries, and milkshakes.
They got rid of the carhops and hot dogs.
Ditching the hot dogs weren’t that big of a deal, but getting rid of the carhops was.
Why?
Carhops were everywhere. It was the way that all of the others businesses kept their service moving quickly.
Their idea to get rid of them had to seem crazy to anyone else on the outside.
The McDonalds brothers didn’t care what people thought, because they had something up there sleeves: they had borrowed a process from the auto industry.
The brothers used an assembly line to prepare their food and make their restaurant more efficient.
The name of their new system? They called it the “Speedee System.”
And this was the system that made them a big success.
The kind of success that would just a little over six years later attract Ray Kroc and that would change their destiny forever.
Questions To Ponder:
- What ways do you need to change your business?
- What ways can you simplify and make things more efficient in your business?
- What ideas can you borrow from other businesses outside of your industry?
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