McDonald’s marketing mix and segmentation
Introduction
The original McDonald’s in San Bernardino was owned by brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, however, the success of the chain lies with Ray Kroc, a travelling sales man who in 1954 visited the brother’s restaurant and was impressed by how efficiently the restaurant had been run by having a few items on their menu, therefore allowing to focus on quality, hence Kroc’s most famous quote “If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.” So, impressed, he quickly pitched his vision of opening McDonald restaurants all over the US to the McDonald brothers, and in 1955 founded the McDonald’s Corporation, buying exclusive rights to the McDonald’s name in 1960. Today McDonald’s is a world-renowned brand serving 69 million customers daily in 119 countries.
Part A
According to Jobber and Ellis- Chadwick, ‘segmentation provides the basis for the selection of target markets’. Segmentation is an important part of strategic marketing plan as it helps identify the differences of customer’s needs based on a variety of factors which helps companies target the best users for their product. (Filip and Ploesteanu 2009). McDonald’s believe themselves to be a family friendly restaurant and so they segment their market demographically to focus on children/ youth and the working-class family. Market research carried out by
McDonald's Corporation is considered to be the largest fast-food operator in the entire World and was initially formed in 1955 after Ray Kroc had pitched the idea of opening up numerous restaurants founded on the original which was owned by Mac and Dick Mac McDonald. McDonald's in 1965 decided to go public and then introduced its flagship product, which was the Big Mac, sometime in 1968 (Botterill, 2007). Today, McDonald's functions beyond 40,000 restaurants in over 200 nations and have one of the world's most extensively recognized brand names. McDonald's sales started hitting around the mark of $58 billion corporation -wide and over $30 billion in the United States alone in 2012 (S&P).
Since Richard and Maurice McDonald founded in 1948, McDonald's has grown from a small restaurant in California into one of the most recognized brands in the world with a chain of outlets that spans the globe. For over 50 years, McDonald's defined the fast food industry while indelibly etching its golden arches logo on the face of both American and global culture through such icons as character Ronald McDonald and the Big Mac sandwich. Millions of people started their very first jobs at McDonalds while even more began to have their eating habits redefined by the chain. Concepts like the drive-thru window were introduced along with the Happy Meal for children in order to provide a fast, affordable, and enjoyable dining. Ray Kroc, saleman
McDonald’s was a drive-in restaurant started in San Bernardino, California, by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, in 1948. They hired Ray Kroc in 1954, as a franchising agent who made McDonald’s the household name it is today. In 1961 McDonald brothers sold the company to Ray Knoc for $2.7 million, according to article in 2007 revenue reached $22.8 billion.
Ray kroc named mcdonald's from his friends Dick and Mac Mcdonald. Ray opened the first mcdonald's in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. In 1959 the 100th mcdonald’s opened in chicago. In 1963 there was one billion hamburgers sold. Also opened its 500th location.
Kroc noticed how unique and efficient this new restaurant operated. Their format allowed Richard and Maurice to produce huge quantities of food, quickly, and allowing them to charge only fifteen cents a burger! Competing restaurants charged double this amount! There was no need for waiters and waitresses, with their new self-service counter. Plus, all hamburgers were cooked ahead of time, pre-wrapped, and kept warm under heat lamps, ready for hungry customers working against the clock. Seeing great promise in their restaurant, Kroc began a franchise program for the McDonald brothers, opened their first franchise on April 15, 1955, in Des Plaines, Illinois, launched their corporation in the same year, and eventually, Ray Kroc bought out the company in 1961. As the new burger chain became more and more popular, Kroc decided the company needed a new public face. In 1963, Ronald McDonald was born. He was extremely popular, so the corporation continued to develop symbols to represent McDonald’s, such as the Big Mac (1968), the Egg McMuffin (1973), Happy Meals (1979), and Chicken McNuggets (1983). Even more characters were introduced, such as Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, and Grimace, to name a few. According to Britannica School, “McDonald’s effectively became the most popular family restaurant in the world, emphasizing affordable food, fun, and flavors that appeal to children and adults alike.” (Britannica School, par. 5) Soon, McDonald’s extended into Canada in 1968, and by 1988, they had reached a total of 10,000 restaurants. But all of this was just the
McDonald’s began as a barbeque, and the brothers strictly offered burgers, fries, and pop. Ray Kroc heard about McDonald’s one day and went to visit the restaurant. Kroc was surprised by their efficiency and the quality of the food. Kroc liked the fact that the brothers could focus on the quality of food, due to the limited menu items. Subsequently Kroc realized their success could amount to much more and shared his vision. Kroc told the McDonald brothers that McDonald’s could be a national business serving people across the country. (At this point, Kroc did not even think about being international). Dick and Mac were thrilled with what they heard, so in 1955 Kroc founded the McDonald’s Corporation and opened the first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois. By 1960 Kroc had bought exclusive rights to McDonald’s. In 1961, Kroc developed Hamburger University where new employees were trained on how to run a successful McDonald's. Kroc wanted to develop the most efficient methods to store, cook, and sell food, so he had a laboratory built at Hamburger University where students' test different ways to make McDonald's more productive. Hamburger University is still in use today in the search for ways to better McDonald’s. McDonald’s had their first sit-down restaurant in 1962, and then in 1975, McDonald’s had opened their first drive-thru restaurant in Arizona. The first drive-thru restaurant was
Ray Kroc, the founder and owner of McDonald's, once stated once stated that “He wanted to serve burgers, buns, fries and beverages that tasted just the same in Alaska as they did in Alabama.” To achieve this, he chose a unique path: persuading both franchisees and suppliers to buy into his vision, working not for McDonald痴, but for themselves, together with
Raymond Albert Kroc is better known as the innovator of McDonald’s. Ray Kroc started the largest, fastest, first of its kind establishment. The fast food industry sparked up and is still growing today. With more popular names like Burger King, Subway, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and many more as well, but if the McDonald brothers didn’t ever buy the milkshake machine who knows if McDonald’s would even be a thing in today’s world. Raymond had such a passion and love for his work that it helped make McDonald’s what it is today. When Kroc became co-owner of McDonald’s he changed so many things and did a lot of things differently. Compared to anyone or anything of that time, he did things no one had ever considered doing.
A lot of people think that Ray Kroc created McDonalds, but that’s just not true. While working as milkshake mixer salesman, he got a huge order for eight milkshake mixers from a small restaurant in California. He was really curious as to why they needed so much and went to investigate. He arrived at a small business owned by Dick and Mac McDonald. Their business was different from any he had seen. There was no indoor seating and customers had to come to the window to place their order. Their menu focused on selling only burgers, fries, drinks and milkshakes. They also used an assembly line process for each customer’s order that allowed the customer to receive their food in minutes. Ray Kroc had a vision and according to McDonalds.com, he “pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In 1955 he founded the McDonalds Corporation, and five years later bought the
The Mcdonalds brothers opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940 but it wasn 't until 1948 did they turn their focus to selling hamburgers and fries. The first Mcdonald 's franchise was opened in Phoenix, in 1953. In 1955, a man by the name of Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchising agent, Ray then bought the Mcdonald 's chain from the brothers (History Of Mcdonalds).
McDonald’s was open opened by Dick and Mac McDonald which was known as McDonald’s Bar-B-Que restaurant in 1940, in San Bernadino, CA. this only lasted a few months’ and they then close and rebranded and open “McDonald’s” as we now know as a
The latter is the oldest Mc Donald’s restaurant still in operation. In 1954, an entrepreneur and milkshake-mixer salesman, Ray Kroc, acquired the franchise of McDonald’s restaurant for outside California and Arizona. In effect, Kroc opened his first and the overall ninth restaurant in Illinois, Chicago, and gave birth to Mc Donald’s Corporation. In 1958, the restaurant chain sold its 100 millionth hamburger. In 1960, Kroc renamed his company as ‘McDonald’s Corporation’. In 1961, Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers to sell the business rights to him for a sum $2.7milion.
McDonalds is a fast food company that was founded in the 1940’s. In McDonalds short existence it has revolutionized not only the fast food industry, but the way in which business is conducted world wide. What the McDonald brothers and then Ray Kroc set out to accomplish was a business model that standardized all aspects of operation, in order to make expansion effortless. So great their power of growth that McDonalds now has over 31 thousand stores in over 118 countries. So iconic that the average US school child can recognize Ronald McDonald.
McDonald has been a well-known and valuable brand for over half a century. The company’s mission and vision is striving to be the world’s best quick service restaurant and formalizing their beliefs into “People, Vision, and People Promise”. “Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value” also became the company’s motto. The company’s first McDonald store was built “in 1940 by the original McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac. Later in 1954, Ray Kroc became the first official franchisee appointed by Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California” (Chandiramani, Ravi). Soon after, Mr. Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the McDonald’s corporation was created. The new franchise began to grow rapidly as a result of its
The first McDonalds was started by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, better known as Dick and Mac. The first McDonalds was opened in 1930 in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, McDonald closed down their successful carhop, they were closed down to make McDonalds a self-service operation. The lack of Jukebox, telephone and tables to sit at, this made McDonalds attract more families than teenagers. The most impressive aspect of McD’s was the quality that the food was created and the efficiency at which the employees worked at.