Day 123 - 09 May 95 - Page 33
1 A. I do not think that will ever happen, but we certainly
2 would like to be the restaurant of choice because of the
3 consistency of our quality, service and the cleanliness of
4 our restaurants, we would like to think that as people
5 consider a place away from home that they think of
6 McDonald's.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. That includes people
9 who are eating, say, their mid-day meal while they are out
10 at work? If it is in an office canteen, that is obviously
11 a meal out of home ---
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. -- outside of home, as you put it?
15 A. Yes, that is correct.
16
17 Q. Do you know any other countries which have got to one out
18 of two, can you think of any ---
19 A. Well .....
20
21 Q. -- in mind apart from the States?
22 A. I can say that the general trend is that more and more
23 meals are being consumed out of the home as homes have --
24 where homes have both spouses working, it is more
25 convenient to eat out. It just -----
26
27 Q. Yes, but is there any particular -----
28 A. Japan, for instance, it has picked up. I would say it
29 has picked up here in England, France, Germany, Canada --
30 just to name a few -- Hong Kong. Generally speaking, you
31 know, lifestyles have changed and we think that we
32 complement that fact, that as society changes, as
33 conditions change, we try to step up and provide an added
34 convenience to families across the globe.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: With the rise of your influence as an organisation,
37 including other countries, McDonald's, it is fair to say,
38 is it not, have been also a target of criticism in other
39 countries as well as in the USA?
40 A. Yes, we have been. I think we have been the target of
41 uninformed criticism in some cases.
42
43 Q. Do you monitor the criticism that you get in all different
44 countries? Is there some monitoring of that by the
45 Corporation or is it your international department or
46 whatever?
47 A. No. I would not say that there is a monitoring
48 programme. There is too much happening. We are located in
49 79 countries, and it would be almost impossible to know
50 what is going on at any given time in all of those
51 countries. Certainly, within that country our organisation
52 would be conversant on what is going on and would be in a
53 position to respond to criticism that has occurred.
54
55 So, it very well may be that, for example, there might be
56 some criticism lodged against us in New Zealand, and we
57 would not know about it in the United States unless it
58 reached a point where it was picked up on the news wires.
59
60 Our people in New Zealand would respond to that criticism,
