Long time ago I had a discussion with one of my friends regarding setting up a restaurant. He was a man of money, courage and risk taking ability. Yet he was more concern for this new business venture. He had a plan.
- The restaurant has to be the best in the town by having best food
- It must be having the best chef
- It must be having the best support staff
This can’t be the plan to succeed in this competition. What he missed was the touch of marketing…
I could remember the movie The founder (2016) a biopic which was directed by John Lee Hancock showing us the journey of Ray Kroc, a salesman working with , McDonald brothers to start a food chain or restaurant in southern California in 1950s.
I want to discuss the scene that presents the inner mind of a entrepreneur who understand marketing… (courtesy: http://www.imdb.com)
Dick McDonald: I just have to ask you one thing. Something I’ve never understood.
Ray Kroc: Alright.
Dick McDonald: That day we met, when we gave you the tour…
Ray Kroc: Uh huh. What about it?
Dick McDonald: We showed you everything. The whole system, all of our secrets. We were an open book. So why didn’t you just…
Ray Kroc: Steal it? Just, grab your ideas and run off, start my own business… using all those ideas of yours. It would have failed.
Dick McDonald: How do you know?
Ray Kroc: Am I the only one who got the kitchen tour? You must have invited lots of people back there, huh?
Dick McDonald: And?
Ray Kroc: How many of them succeeded?
Dick McDonald: Lots of people started restaurants.
Ray Kroc: As big as McDonald’s?
Dick McDonald: Of course not.
Ray Kroc: No one ever has and no one ever will because they all lacked that one thing… that makes McDonald’s special.
Dick McDonald: Which is?
Ray Kroc: Even you don’t know what it is.
Dick McDonald: Enlighten me.
Ray Kroc: It’s not just the system, Dick. It’s the name. That glorious name, McDonald’s. It could be, anything you want it to be… it’s limitless, it’s wide open… it sounds, uh… it sounds like… it sounds like America. That’s compared to Kroc. What a crock. What a load of crock. Would you eat at a place named Kroc’s? Kroc’s has that blunt, Slavic sound. Kroc’s. But McDonald’s, oh boy. That’s a beauty. A guy named McDonald? He’s never gonna get pushed around in life.
Dick McDonald: That’s clearly not the case.
Ray Kroc: So, you don’t have a check for 1.35 million dollars in your pocket? Bye Dick.
Dick McDonald: So if you can’t beat’em, buy’em.
Ray Kroc: I remember the first time I saw that name stretched across your stand out there. It was love at first sight. I knew right then and there… I had to have it. And now I do.
Dick McDonald: You don’t have it.
Ray Kroc: You sure about that?
Ray Kroc: Bye Dick.
So What is the success story of McDonald’s…The founder was there to take risk and he knew business is not all about what the ordinary humans do. Business is all about the ideas that stay loyal to you and you have the courage to connect that idea with the customers. Indian entrepreneurs are focusing more on operational side of business. They are less focusing on marketing…What is the restaurant represent? what values drive the restaurant ? Who is the customer and why he would pay for? What is the point of differentiation? What is the branding strategy? What is the communication strategy? If someone is passionate about business, he/she should ask these questions to the business world “How can I be the best in the eye of the customer…How can I be satisfying the ego of the customer…”. Only a marketer can find solutions to this…
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