Page 111 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Standards

a particular franchisee’s standard of cleanliness really was. Com-
ing from a strict Italian family where personal hygiene, partic-
ularly around food, was very important, this proved to be an
interesting learning experience. Putting a quarter under a grill,
just to see if it was discovered, as the grill was on schedule to be
removed for cleaning on a weekly basis, was only one of the
tricks we employed to keep an eye on how diligently operators
lived up to our standards. The vast majority of licensees
accepted the high standards, and to their credit, they did a great
job and taught us in the process how well they could run oper-
ations. Others never seemed to understand our passion. Never
mind that these franchisees would never open another unit—by
not honoring the standards, they risked their right to stay in the
system. Those few were pushed out of the system and let go, and
the stories leaked out that let every owner know that McDon-
ald’s was very serious about QSC.
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Case in Point

How important are maintaining standards to an organization?
The standards set are vital to the trust you develop with your
consumer. There are a lot of ramifications to not upholding
tight standards. Consider the case of Raymond Dayan, a
McDonald’s operator who had the exclusive territory in Paris,
France. As noted in John F. Love’s Behind the Arches, Dayan had
defied McDonald’s QSC standards.
Field inspectors graded the stores with an F rating, having
found dirty sites where menu items were not prepared with
the prescribed recipes and the food—cooked in stale oil—was
served up cold and unappealingly. McDonald’s sought to buy
out Dayan’s restaurants and franchise territory, and when