Day 123 - 09 May 95 - Page 38
1 Q. But when you are going to open up in another country
2 generally you have your core menu, which is the same in all
3 countries, yes?
4 A. In general you could say that, but, as I indicated in
5 previous testimony, it is important that we understand, or
6 attempt to understand, as much as we can of the culture of
7 that country. So that if there are certain dietary laws
8 that would restrict us from serving a particular product,
9 we would do so. An example of what I am saying would be
10 India, as we are presently looking at developing
11 restaurants in India. We do not have any open at present,
12 and because of some of the religious laws and the culture
13 in that country we probably will not have beef in most of
14 our restaurants. So we will have an alternative to beef
15 products in that country.
16
17 So, as best we can, we want to serve the public, give the
18 public what they want, and it is certainly not a case where
19 we want to swim upstream, so to speak. If, in fact, we see
20 that that there are strong, there is a strong aversion to
21 consuming beef or some other product, then it would not
22 make good sense for us to try to force that issue, and we
23 have not.
24
25 Q. No, but you have said that you are an influential and
26 pioneering organisation that is spreading throughout the
27 world, trends are changing throughout the world, people are
28 eating out more often and people are changing their diet to
29 different things. In the countries where there is no
30 hamburger tradition, or not much of one, how do you
31 attribute your success in those countries?
32 A. That is a rather complicated question, but let me
33 attempt to answer it this way. I think, first of all, and
34 most important, what we do we want to do consistently
35 well. There are four basic tenets that we feel are
36 extremely important to McDonald's and McDonald's brand.
37
38 Q. Do not tell me, quality, service, cleanliness -----
39 A. Cleanliness and value. Those four basic tenets have
40 served us well since the beginning and they continue to
41 serve us well in every country we operate. I think that
42 what sets us apart from our competition, and others, is
43 that we are able to do that day in and day out, not just
44 today but on a continual basis, and people have come to
45 expect that from McDonald's. Obviously as you grow and you
46 build that reputation, it becomes harder and harder to try
47 to maintain that or to improve upon that.
48
49 Q. But in countries where -----
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why do you not start and put some
52 generalisation to Mr. Beavers? See if it is sufficient for
53 your purposes or, depending on his answer, narrow it up.
54 You might ask, for instance, whether he thinks that
55 McDonald's in any countries have made a significant
56 contribution to an increase in the eating of animal
57 products in countries.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: That is good example. (To the witness). Do you
60 think in some countries because of your success you have
