Franchise Focus New look
Five years ago McDonald’s embarked on a programme of sustained investment in restaurant modernisation, menu improvements, and people development. Franchisee Mike Ghazarian describes his journey
Investment level: £85,000*
just a short walk from the UK corporate headquarters in East Finchley. Although I didn’t have any previous restaurant experience, with the support of the franchisee training programme it did not take long to get the hang of things. McDonald’s have a procedure in place for every last detail and the comprehensive training reflected this.
“M
My background includes some 15 years working in the world of consumer electronics, an unforgiving industry that pushes the envelope of practical design to create a demand for products that most people never even thought they needed. Who could do without their iPad or Blackberry now? It’s an industry that only survives by making it happen, by innovating new products at an amazing rate.
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Businessfranchise.com | April 2012
y McDonald’s journey started at the turn of the millennium, at a London restaurant
“If it looks good, you feel good about going there and that’s half the game won”
So, it’s a different business to McDonald’s in many ways. In contrast to the sole focus on brand new development in my former industry, much loved and iconic products – such as our ‘Big Mac’ – have stood the test of time and remain more popular today than ever before. I wouldn’t want that to change, being a good progressive burger business is what we are about. McDonald’s has always been evolving and in recent years the business has taken big steps to extend the range of choice on our menu for our customers.
I guess that is what makes re-imaging our restaurants all the more important to me. It allows us to communicate to customers how
we are moving with the times, listening to their changing wants and needs, remaining relevant and fresh – whilst still keeping true to our much loved favourites on the menu. That’s a powerful position that very few businesses have the opportunity to be in. First impressions are important – I have always believed that. It’s not unusual for people to decide where to eat solely based on what a restaurant looks like from the outside – we have all done that at some time. If it looks good, you feel good about going there and that’s half the game won. With McDonald’s, when you combine a welcoming and modern look with great food and good service, our customers enjoy the restaurant experience all the more and it can certainly help to bring them back too. When I decided to refurbish my group of six restaurants, the appeal of the exterior façade was a high priority for me. To keep the interest and excitement alive within my restaurants, I decided to re-image using six different designs including the ‘Wood and Stone’ scheme, which is my favourite. The use of natural materials in the ‘Wood and Stone’ scheme, with homely furniture like the Chesterfield sofas, really complements the quality message of our food ingredients. And our customer feedback on the new look has been fantastic.
The business results, since the refurbishment programme began in 2008, speak for themselves – on average, the business has seen sales increases of six per cent from re-imaging in the first year and the increases are being sustained into the second year of the re-fit. It is clear that the aesthetic changes have worked well but so too have the technical enhancements that came with them. The upgraded Drive-Thru experience using customer order display units has been popular with our customers, as has the introduction of free WiFi internet access and contactless payments across all 1,200
McDonald’s UK restaurants. It’s great to know there are new concepts being designed for the future and I will certainly be watching with great interest.” n
Mike Ghazarian
*As a guide, the cost of a restaurant typically ranges from £125,000 to £325,000. You will need to provide at least 25 per cent of the value as unencumbered funds, the remaining 75 per cent can be funded through a bank loan with favourable funding terms.
mcdonAld’s Website:
www.mcdonalds.co.uk/franchising
Investment: £50k-£100k
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