McDonald's Success Story
Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC
Departamento de Letras e Artes - DLA
Projeto de Extensão Dinamizando o Ensino da Língua Inglesa na UESC
Grupo de Pesquisa (CNPq) ELLE - Estudos em Línguas e Literaturas Estrangeiras
Coordenação geral: Prof. Dr. Isaias Francisco de Carvalho
Source: http://successguides.org/mcdonalds-franchise/ (2009)
TASK: read the text. Underline all the verbs which are either in the simple past form or in the past participle form. Write down the base form of each verb. Use the List of English Irregular Verbs page as a reference.
McDonald’s success story
Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino in 1940, which was barbecue-themed. By 1948, the restaurant changed its focus to hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes; the burgers were half the price of competing diners.
In 1954, milkshake mixer salesman Ray Kroc met the McDonald brothers on a sales trip. Impressed by the efficiency of the operation, Ray convinced the brothers to allow him to sell McDonald’s franchises for $950 each, with a cut of 0.5% of sales for Ray. He opened his first franchise in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois.
McDonald’s began its true financial turnaround in 1956 with Harry Sonneborn, who started their real estate arm, Franchise Realty Corporation. FRC purchased store sites and then leased them back to franchisees at a 20%-40% markup; this mechanism became the primary moneymaker for the McDonald’s Corporation.
Continuing problems with the McDonald brothers prompted Kroc to to purchase the entire business and brand in 1961 for $2.7 million. He financed this with a loan from a New York money manager.
In 1963, McDonald’s began marketing to families and children with the introduction of Ronald McDonald, played by Willard Scott (who previously played Bozo The Clown). Other familiar McDonald menu items such as the Filet-O-Fish, the Big Mac, Egg McMuffin, Quarter Pounder and Happy Meal were introduced in the 60s and 70s.
McDonald’s opened its first international location in Canada in 1967; this was followed by the first locations in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe in the early 1970s. By 1972, McDonald’s totaled over $1 billion in sales and had over 2200 restaurants. The 3000th restaurant opened a short time later in 1974.
McDonald’s now serves more than 54 million customers in 120 countries each day, with over 31,000 restaurants worldwide. With $22.8 billion in revenues in 2008, the fast food company remains a force to be reckoned with.
did you know…
… the busiest McDonald’s is located in Pushkin Square, Moscow? It serves over 40,000 people a day.
… McDonald’s saw its first quarterly loss in 2002? This spurred the company to make a strategic shift away from adding new locations and buying real estate. Instead, a focus on higher quality foods, healthier options and longer operating hours helped to reverse losses.
… some menu items were created due to dietary limitations? The Filet-o-Fish was invented to satisfy Catholic diners on Fridays, while the all-lamb Maharaja Mac was created for McDonald’s restaurants in India.
… Ray Kroc mortgaged his home and invested his life savings to become a milkshake mixer salesman? Part of his reason for opening new McDonald’s franchises was to sell more Multimixers to the McDonald brothers, who would run eight of the mixers simultaneously in their restaurant.
… Ray Kroc’s purchase of the entire McDonald’s business from the McDonald brothers strained their relationship? The brothers retained ownership of the original location, which was renamed “The Big M”. Ray opened up a competing McDonald’s one block north of it, and eventually drove the original restaurant out of business.
… Ray Kroc was obsessed about cleanliness? His motto was, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” and he required that everything from the kitchen floors and uniforms to the parking lots be immaculate.
poéticos acadêmicos parentéticos
© 2009 isaiasfcarvalho@gmail.com
Itabuna/Ilhéus, Bahia, Brasil
Ilustrações dos temas na base da página por: Wellington Mendes da Silva Filho