McDonald’s shows it still has the recipe for success

I DON’T know how many of you have seen the film The Founder with Michael Keaton but, if you haven’t, it’s well worth a watch.

It’s the true story of how Ray Kroc, a travelling milkshake machine salesman, ends up as the CEO of McDonald’s, the most successful fast-food corporation in the world feeding approximately one per cent of the world’s population every day.

McDonald’s has, over the years, had its fair share of criticism – Greenpeace protested about its environmental, health and labour record in the 1990s; Eric Schlosser’s best-selling book Fast Food Nation criticised its business practices in the early 2000s; and vegetarian groups complained about its French fries containing beef broth.

Yet despite these and other campaigns, the company has always managed to shrug off criticism, adapt what it does and grow.

It will certainly be growing over the next two years. McDonald’s is set to hire 20,000 more staff here in the UK and open 150 new sites, defying the concerns of other fast food outlets worried about shrinking city centres and reduced customer numbers.

Whatever its critics might say, McDonald’s is an inspiring success story, which shows that giving your customers what they want at a price they are happy to pay is a simple formula for any business to flourish.

Maybe all businesses would do better if they concentrated on looking after their customers rather than forever worrying about what its opponents say and what the Government would like them to do.