The purpose of this report is to explain how the renovation in a McDonald’s restaurant was completed. I tried to answer the following questions to know more facts about the renovation. What was the purpose of the renovation? How much time it took? What were the steps taken or should have been taken to complete the project in time? Who was involved in the project? What role did HR play in completing the renovation? What did they contribute and to analyze how the four management functions were applied to complete the renovation.
The Nature Of The Business: Mc Donald’s restaurant is basically a fast food chain selling hamburgers, chicken, French fries and soft drinks. It also offers side meals like salads and desserts (ice cream, apple pie, and milkshakes). McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food restaurant having branches world wide. It is the first restaurant which introduced the concept of speedy service system. It is a huge corporation which sells its rights to individual citizens who want to own and run the restaurant by themselves that is called franchising. This way it has successfully expanded to the whole world market. McDonald’s restaurant which I am researching and analysing for the project is a franchise.
Location: The restaurant is located in an urban location. It is situated in a nice neighbourhood near by hwy 27. The area consists of upper class citizens. Humber College (North campus) is situated in just ten minutes drive from the restaurant. Many students from the college come during their off-periods and enjoy their meals there. There are some night clubs also located near by the restaurant which bring many customers at night time. Therefore the restaurant closes late at night to accommodate those customers.
The restaurant is situated in a densely competitive location. Although there are many fast food and family restaurants situated in the same road it has maintained its position and its sales are profitable every year. The McDonald’s franchise which I have researched is owned by Mr. Ron Reaves. He bought the restaurant from the corporation three years ago .The restaurant building was in a shabby condition before it was owned by Mr Ron. That was the main reason why Mr. Ron wanted to renovate the building to make it look better. The restaurant does not have any past history of robberies, since it is located in a safe location. It was the first fast food restaurant which was established fifteen years ago in that area.
A Brief Description Of The Company’s Project: The restaurant was renovated on a large scale. Since it started 15 years ago it didn’t go under any major renovation which caused it to look ragged and obsolete. Most of the customers were not finding the restaurant an attractive and a clean place to eat. The owner therefore decided to make a major renovation in the restaurant to attract the customers. The front lobby of the restaurant was not only renovated but also expanded.
More chairs were made available for the customers since many customers complained about the restaurant being crowded at peak times. New tables were introduced with a better design on them. The roof of the front lobby was renovated and extended plus the side walls of the restaurant were re-painted. The tiles of the restaurant were changed and matched according to the colour of the paint of the side walls. The washrooms of the restaurant were reconstructed changing everything in them therefore putting a new and clean look to them. The purpose or objective of all the renovation was to give the restaurant a new and fresh look so that it can attract more customers and keep the loyal ones satisfied.
Ron, the owner of the McDonald’s franchise restaurant was interviewed by me. Findings and Analysis: Planning: The owner of the restaurant Mr. Ron hired a contractor to do the renovation in the restaurant. He made a contract with him in order to complete the project. He arranged a meeting with the contractor and explained to him about the purpose of the renovation and how he would like it to be done, what kind of design he wants in the front lobby and what is the color of the paint for the side walls etc. He also explained the kinds of tiles he wants in the front lobby; he chose the furniture (chairs and tables). He explained the contractor about the extension of the roof and how he wants it identical with the rest of the restaurant. He also told the contractor how he wants the designs of the washroom. He explained all these things in details to the contractor because he wanted the renovation accordingly with McDonald’s guide lines and format.
The contractor gave an estimated date when the renovation would be completed. The owner agreed to the date and the price he was told. He considered contacting a contractor to do the construction rather than planning himself because it would have taken him a long time and would have also taken a lot of effort to complete the job. Although by choosing the labour and organizing the renovation by himself, the owner could have saved a lot of money but the reason why he chose not to do by himself was because he is currently running a big restaurant which he has to spend time in it . He can not afford to spend time on other things and take another burden on himself .Therefore to avoid all the hassles he gave the job to a contractor. The renovation was started in the august 2006 and ended in the January 2007. Although the renovation should have ended
two weeks before the due date, but due to the incompetence by the workers and some minor problems the construction was completed two weeks later. Even though the construction was completed at a later date, the owner did not ask for any compensation since it was a major project and he was expecting little bit of delay. At the end of the construction the owner was satisfied with the work.
In order to avoid delay the owner should have followed up with the contractor from time to time and should have checked the schedule for different tasks the contractor had assigned to the workers. After environmental scanning and looking at the complaints of the customers which were increasing day-by-day, he should have pressured the contractor to complete the work at the due time.
The owner used both types of forecasting techniques in order to know how his sales will be during the construction period. He used the previous sales of the same months plus keeping in mind the effect of renovation got a rough idea about his sales for those months. He also used qualitative forecasting by taking opinions from other owners or managers of McDonald’s restaurants who had their restaurants renovated in past to know how much will the construction affect his business.
He used the break analysis technique and considered the fact that he will lose most of his business during Day time and the customers will not be happy with the renovation. So therefore he told the contractor to do the construction at night time instead of day time. Since during Day time are the peak hours and he gets more business during day rather than night time, therefore he focused at his day sales and hired more employees for daytime.
The owner did the right thing by hiring a contractor and asking him to do the renovation instead of taking all the responsibility .That would have been a lot of pressure for him and a lot of work that he would have to do. Organizing: The owner of the restaurant was the project leader. Although he gave the responsibility to the contractor, he was still constantly engaged in planning and organizing renovation. The contractor was responsible for completing the job on time and was in touch with the owner to keep him updated about the renovation. Supervisor (Assistant manager) was also a major team member who gave regular reports to the owner about the renovation.
The supervisor had to update the owner because the owner can not be in the restaurant all the time. So the supervisor had the responsibility to check whether the work is done properly or not. The reason why the owner chose the night manager to check the construction was because he was a reliable and efficient person who has been doing his job with dedication for many years. That’s why the owner did not bother to stress himself out by taking the night shifts. The owner chose the contractor because he had a lot of experience in renovation and had done big projects in the past. The owner had the ultimate authority for making the decision regarding the project. He used all the planning tools to check how the construction was going and how it was affecting the business.
