As headlines go, the one above must certainly read like a tall order.
Earlier this year, McDonald’s published an infographic summarizing “50 Years of Big Mac” through a timeline highlighting eleven key years. The sandwich itself was developed by a Pittsburgh franchise named Jim Delligatti; he came up with the name and introduced it on April 22, 1967 in Uniontown Pennsylvania. It was added to the national McDonald’s menu throughout the United States the following year. [1]
A couple of years ago, The Wall Street Journal produced a video covering this history in terms of Big Mac origin, cultural reach, and a taste of economics. More than anything else, it’s this last metric — better thought of as consistency (whenever, wherever) — that has spelled ongoing success for the Big Mac. In fact, The Economist created “The Big Mac Index” in 1986 as “a lighthearted guide to whether currencies are at their ‘correct’ level. [2,3]
It is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), the notion that global exchange rates should eventually adjust to make the price of identical baskets of tradable goods the same in each country. Our basket contains just one thing, a Big Mac hamburger.
Prior to his graduation from Saline High School in 1981 and a bit after while attending the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Tim Johnson worked a variety of positions at McDonald’s. He was at the Zeeb Road exit just off I-94. During an interview with Saline Journal, he put a personal face on the broader story of which the Big Mac is a part.
On my first day, all I did was fries. We all had to wear those pointed paper hats and the manager kept telling me to push it forward, as I was pushing it back. What difference did it make how my hat was when all I was doing was fries the entire day?
The difference was a system. McDonalds had a system. That was the most valuable thing they taught me, and I feel like they continue to teach generation after generation.
For instance, the fries were delivered frozen in these giant boxes of ten individual boxes. Thirty pounds more or less. I brought one out from the freezer and dropped it on the floor in front of the fry station. The manager promptly asked me not to do that and explained why: You can reduce your fry yield by ten percent by dropping the boxes. Makes sense: A bunch of tiny, broken fries will fill up a serving box of fries much more than long, intact fries.
Someone actually measured the fry yield using pristine fries, versus fries that had been dropped numerous times and we now have bits and pieces.
By far the biggest reason for McDonald’s success is it is always the same. The Big Mac in Detroit tastes the same as the Big Mac in Fort Lauderdale. … when you see the Golden Arches, you know what you are going to get. Consistency is the key.
Mr Johnson is no longer boxing fries or serving Big Macs, of course. Today he serves as president and CEO of Elevate Real Estate Brokers based in Florida. Since 2011, he has consistently generated sales commissions of $1 million or better every year since 2011. With a beaming sense of pride, he credited the early course that has resulted in this success to employement with McDonald’s.
You can look at McDonalds — or any entry level job for that matter — as ‘just a job.’ And not a great job sometimes. Try to bag fries for eight straight hours and then let me know how you feel about French fries!
But if you look behind the job and look at the system that all these companies have — McDonalds, Walmart, Starbucks, whatever your first job is — and you choose to become a student of that system, that will be far more valuable than the paycheck you are getting.
That will teach you how to run a business. How to scale a business. How to duplicate yourself over and over again, without it actually requiring your physical involvement at each and every step.
Tim Johnson could very well be talking about the value of our own McDonald’s on East Michigan Avenue to the City of Saline. Saline Journal ongoing experience with this franchisee almost dates back to the ten-year anniversary of the Big Mac. The layout has changed, of course; the demographics from which employees are drawn has as well. But the substantial mealtime draws, and, yes, “regulars” speak to a consistent customer experience that always sorts business winners from losers in the free marketplace.
Whatever any given individual may choose from the menu, the Big Mac continues to be an iconic example of the secret ingredient that continues to make McDonald’s successful.
References
- “50 Years of Big Mac” McDonald’s.
- “McDonald’s Big Mac: A Short History” Rob Alcaraz (November 30, 2016) WSJ | Video.
- “The Big Mac index” (January 12, 2017) The Economist.
- Elevate Real Estate Brokers (Facebook Page).
