Day 123 - 09 May 95 - Page 53


     
     1        who is our Field Service Manager, will from time to time
     2        also visit with a franchisee in his or her restaurants as
     3        well as sitting down, you know, at the regional office or
     4        some other meeting place to discuss business matters.
     5
     6        Where appropriate, we, at our suggestion, will bring in
     7        additional professionals to provide guidance and counsel to
     8        a franchisee.  For instance, if a franchisee is having a
     9        problem in staffing his restaurant or is not doing a
    10        particularly good job in managing the personnel in his or
    11        her restaurant, then we might have Human Relations or a
    12        Human Resources consultant to spend some quality time with
    13        the franchisee.
    14
    15        If the franchisee, for instance, is, let us say, having
    16        some difficulty in mining the promotional opportunities
    17        that are existent in his trading area, we might have the
    18        Advertising Manager in the region to come out and -----
    19
    20   Q.   Just pause there, because I was more concerned with direct
    21        supervision, even though if anything untoward is discovered
    22        it may be advice which is given rather than directions, but
    23        there is direct supervision by Field Consultants and Field
    24        Service Managers who are actually employed by McDonald's
    25        Corporation, as I understand it?
    26        A.  Yes.  We review the quality of the operation and, as a
    27        matter of fact, will provide a written summary of our
    28        findings which is made available and discussed with the
    29        franchisee, and that will cover all aspects of his
    30        operation.
    31
    32        I might, my Lord, say that we are in the process of even
    33        upgrading that relationship.  Presently, we have undertaken
    34        a strategic initiative by which we are asking our
    35        franchisees to, with our assistance, develop a business
    36        plan, a fully comprehensive business plan, which will
    37        provide for all aspects of his operation.
    38
    39        So, our consultation generally is pretty comprehensive.  We
    40        cover everything from, you know, the maintenance of
    41        equipment, calibration of equipment, to the holding of raw
    42        product, to the service of the consumer, to the cleanliness
    43        of the rest rooms, the repair and maintenance of the
    44        building -- you name it; everything from the kerb to, from
    45        kerb to kerb.
    46
    47        In carrying out this consultation with the franchisee,
    48        generally speaking, the majority of the times
    49        recommendations are made regarding the operation.  If we
    50        see some things that are not being attended to properly or 
    51        thing that needed to be ratcheted up a bit, we will make 
    52        recommendations to the franchisee.  If this franchisee 
    53        requests some additional assistance from us to make it
    54        happen, we will do that.
    55
    56        Where there are some serious cases of non-observance of
    57        procedures or recommended policies, then our language in
    58        our communication will be a little stronger.  We will say:
    59        "You should get this done by such and such a time and we
    60        will be back in in six months or three months to review

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