You thought that McDonald's new products were all invented by the marketing department at the central corporation ?
Well, you should revise your judgement !
Take the Filet-O-Fish as an example. In 1962, Lou Groen, an early McDonald franchisee in the Cincinnati area, had a problem on friday and during the 40 day Lent. Indeed, in those days most Catholics abstained from meat during these periods. As a result, in an area 87% Catholics, his business was miserable and he was struggling.
He therefore invented a recipee with fish which ended in the Filet-o-fish product ! Originally conceived to attract Catholics, this sandwich now is a worldwide success which sells at a rate of 300 million a year, 23% of which during Lent !
The Filet-O-Fish was the first addition to the original McDonald menu, but there were others. Oddly enough, it's the same story for the very successful BigMac (Pittsburg, 1967) and the Egg McMuffin (California, 1972). Note that breakfast now represents a quarter of McDonald's sales in the US.
No wonder, in any consumer business, big dollars can only be ushered by people close to their consumers ! I don't really believe in retail CEOs who live in an ivory tower and who don't spend a significant amount of time talking to their customers. That's of course also true for e-tail CEOS.
Just obsessively listen to your consumers, scrutinize their behavior, and thereafter you should make the right decisions !
Back to Lou Groen, now 89 and retired from business, this guy who started with a single McDonald unit back in 1958 owned 43 restaurants in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky at the time he sold his franchise in the early 80s !
un peu de hors sujet, vous me pardonnerez.
Pendant que vous êtes aux US, quel est selon vous le bon magazine auquel s'abonner pour un frenchie : business2.0, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired, Fast Company, ... ?
Many thanks.
Posted by: Paul | February 20, 2007 at 11:46 PM
Je suis abonné à Business Week et Fortune.
De toute façon les frais d'abonnement sont assez ridicules ($30, $40) pour un an comparé au prix à l'unité ($3.99, $4.99).
Sinon Newsweek en ce qui concerne la politique est pas mal.
Posted by: olivier | February 20, 2007 at 11:55 PM
Je lis assez régulièrement Business 2.0 et Wired !
Posted by: Michel de Guilhermier | February 21, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Et c'est vrai qu'on est loin de mon filet-o-fish !
Posted by: Michel de Guilhermier | February 21, 2007 at 12:02 AM
Vraiment désolé pour le hors sujet :). Ca doit pas être si compliqué que ca à trouver à Paris à la vente au numéro, mais le kiosquier du coin n'a pas Wired ni B2.0
Il y a un site de vente d'abonnements qui vient de lancer une offre sur les magazines US.
Posted by: Paul | February 21, 2007 at 01:04 PM