McDonald's President Don Thompson, Explains How He Plans To Beef Up Sales
Tuesday, March 04, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: McDonald's is thinking more about coffee and less about beef these days. The fast food giant is focusing on beverages as it beefs up its specialty coffee business. The man leading this effort is Don Thompson. He's president of McDonald's U.S.A. Reporter Shon Gables of the "Black Enterprise Business Report" shows us the view from the top of the golden arches.
SHON GABLES, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: If 17 years ago you asked this man...
DON THOMPSON, PRESIDENT, MCDONALD'S USA: Hi, I'm Don Thompson.
GABLES: ...where he'd be today, working at the world's largest fast food chain, it's probably the last place that would have come to mind.
THOMPSON: My first thought honestly was, no, I didn't get this engineering degree to go through all of that at Purdue to now go and flip hamburgers.
GABLES: As fate and years of hard work would have it, the former electrical engineer now president of McDonalds U.S.A., can't think of any place he'd rather be.
THOMPSON: As God would have it, I always say, I'm here at McDonalds, been here for 17 years. It's the best career decision I ever made. If anything doesn't go quite right, let us know because we'll fix it.
GABLES: But don't let his big smile fool you. As part of the executive management team, Thompson's directly responsible for all McDonald's restaurants in the U.S.
THOMPSON: The biggest part is that we serve customers one at a time.
GABLES: He loves what he does and it shows.
THOMPSON: At McDonald's, we want to make sure were contemporary and relevant. We're not just your great-grandmother's McDonald's.
GABLES: It's all part of his turnaround plan to fix flagging sales and build company morale after the consecutive deaths of two CEOs.
THOMPSON: It wasn't about how many restaurants can you build? It was what do you do with the 14,000 you already have? How can you ensure that you have better service, better food quality?
GABLES: Once he figured that out, Thompson did what many corporate execs wouldn't, he rolled up his sleeves and went to work, literally.
THOMPSON: You name it, I did it. I cleaned toilets, I mopped floors, I cooked hamburgers.
GABLES: But most importantly, Don listened. Customers wanted a more appealing breakfast menu, specialty coffees and health conscious menu options such as the Asian salad and snack wrap. And that's exactly what he gave them.
THOMPSON: We've grown our chicken business from $2 billion just four years ago to over $5 billion and we continue to grow it.
GABLES: Don's ingenuity has led to over 26 million customers now visiting a McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. every single day. And that number is expected to grow as new McCafes pop up, adding gourmet coffee, plasma TVs and wi-fi connections.
THOMPSON: I look at my role as one that has to make sure that the environment is right for us to succeed, the strategies are right to provide the right leadership and the vision to the overall organization, so our franchisees and corporate employees and our suppliers know where we're trying to take the business.
GABLES: So, what's next? Perhaps CEO of worldwide operations?
THOMPSON: I'm in a great position. I'm blessed to be here and not that I'm content with the fact that this is all I've ever wanted in life, but I am content that as long as I execute here and do a great job, I can sleep well each and every night. And that's what's most important to Don Thompson.
GHARIB: Another thing important to Thompson -- aggressively expanding McDonald's entire beverage business. Once sales for specialty coffees, smoothies and bottled drinks are ramped up, the fast food firm hopes to add another billion dollars to the bottom line.
