McDonald's is a real estate business.

麥當(dāng)勞是一家房地產(chǎn)企業(yè)。

That might sound surprising: After all, who hasn't at least once in their lifetime indulged in the glorious experience that is a Happy Meal?

這可能聽起來很奇怪：畢竟，誰一生中沒有至少一次沉迷于開心樂園餐的光榮體驗？

You might know McDonald's as that fast food chain that sells hamburgers and fries, but trust me, it goes way deeper than that.

你可能會知道，麥當(dāng)勞是賣漢堡和薯條的快餐連鎖店，但相信我，它比這復(fù)雜得多。

That's why, this week on Behind the Business we'll be looking at the world's second-largest restaurant chain, McDonald's.

這就是為什么，本周的節(jié)目中，我們將會看到世界第二大餐飲連鎖企業(yè)麥當(dāng)勞。

Few things sound as Irish as the name McDonald.

很少有英文名字聽起來會像愛爾蘭語的，但麥當(dāng)勞就是。

It's an interesting name: the 'mac' part means son, while Donald comes from a Gaelic name that means 'Ruler of the World'.

這是一個有趣的名字：'mac'這部分是指兒子，而Donald來自一個蓋爾語的名字，意思是'世界統(tǒng)治者'。

Very ominous, right?

有種不祥的預(yù)感對吧……

The two 'world-rulers' that we're interested in are Richard and Maurice McDonald, two brothers from New Hampshire.

我們感興趣的兩個'世界統(tǒng)治者'是來自新罕布什爾州的兩個兄弟，Richard和Maurice McDonald。

In the 1920s they moved to California, where they started a movie theater and a hotdog stand, but they eventually went bust when the Great Depression came around.

在上世紀(jì)20年代，他們搬到了加利福尼亞州，在那里他們開了一個電影院和熱狗站，但是他們最終都在大蕭條時期破產(chǎn)了。

Their first big success came in 1940, when they opened a barbecue joint in San Bernardino.

他們第一個大成功出現(xiàn)在1940年，開在圣貝爾納迪諾的一個燒烤會。

Now at the time, virtually all restaurants were mom-and-pop establishments, with their own unique taste and cooking methods.

在那時，當(dāng)時幾乎所有的餐廳都是家庭經(jīng)營的，有自己獨特的口味和烹飪方法。

Drive-ins with roller skating waitresses were all the rage back then, but they weren't particularly efficient.

隨著輪滑女服務(wù)員的推動，速度快了一些，但是她們效率并不高。

You had to wait half an hour to get your order, and half of the time they got it wrong.

你不得不等待半小時才能點單，而且一半的時間他們都搞錯了。

The McDonald's barbecue was no different, and although it did turn a profit, the brothers knew they could do better.

麥當(dāng)勞燒烤沒有什么不同，雖然確實有利可圖，但兄弟們知道他們可以做得更好。

They realized that most of their income was coming from just three products: hamburgers, french fries, and coke, and after running the place for 8 years, the brothers decided to make a radical makeover.

他們意識到，他們大部分的收入來自三種產(chǎn)品：漢堡包，炸薯條和可樂，經(jīng)過8年的運營，兄弟們決定徹底改造。

They dropped most of their menu to focus on their best sellers, and then they redesigned the entire kitchen around that.

他們把大部分菜單都放在了自己的暢銷書上，然后重新設(shè)計了整個廚房。

The cooking process started to look like an assembly line, which allowed the brothers to fill customer orders in as little as 30 seconds.

烹飪過程開始看起來像一條流水線，這也讓兄弟們能在短短30秒內(nèi)點好單。

They abandoned the drive-in concept in favor of a walk-up counter, and they stopped using cutlery and dishes entirely, replacing them with disposable paper packaging.

他們放棄了免下車?yán)砟?，改成一個步行進入的柜臺，他們用一次性紙包裝取代了餐具。

In an instant, their restaurant became a sensation, drawing in attention from across the country.

一瞬間，他們的餐廳就轟動全國，得到了各地的關(guān)注。

One of the people they attracted was this guy, Ray Kroc.

其中有一個被他們吸引而來的人，就是Ray Kroc。

He was a natural-born hustler, who at the age of 15 had lied his way into serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver during WW1.

他是一個天生騙子，曾經(jīng)在一戰(zhàn)期間，15歲的他裝成了紅十字會的救護車司機。

Interestingly enough, he served alongside Walt Disney in France, but they didn't really keep in touch after the war.

有趣的是，他在法國與沃爾特迪斯尼一起服役，但在戰(zhàn)后他們并沒有真正保持聯(lián)系。

Like most people from the postwar years Ray had worked dozens of jobs: jazz pianist, radio DJ, paper cup salesman, you name it.

像大多數(shù)戰(zhàn)后的人一樣，Ray曾經(jīng)換過12個工作：爵士鋼琴家，電臺DJ，還有你們說的紙杯推銷員。

In the early 1950s he was travelling cross-country trying to sell expensive milkshake machines, but he wasn't really doing a good job at it.

上世紀(jì)50年代初，他正在越野旅行，試圖出售昂貴的奶昔機，但他并沒有做得很好。

One day in 1954, however, he got an order for 8 of them, and it was from none other than the McDonald brothers.

然而，在1954年的某一天，他一下子得到了八臺機器的訂單，買家不是別人，正式麥當(dāng)勞兄弟。

When Ray made his way to San Bernardino, he fell in love with their restaurant and immediately offered to franchise it.

當(dāng)Ray前往圣貝爾納迪諾時，他愛上了他們的餐廳，并立即提出要加盟。

By that point the McDonald brothers had already opened over 20 franchise locations, but none of they were doing as well as the original restaurant:

那時，麥當(dāng)勞兄弟已經(jīng)有了20多個加盟商，但沒有一個像總店一樣：

The lack of oversight made maintaining quality impossible.

缺乏監(jiān)督使得維持質(zhì)量成為不可能。

The brothers decided to give Ray a shot, and boy did he deliver.

兄弟們決定給Ray一次機會，而他也確實做到了。

He handpicked only the best franchisees and ran his operations like an army drill.

他只挑選最好的加盟商，像軍事演習(xí)一樣經(jīng)營。

In the span of just 6 years Ray built 100 McDonald's restaurants, while the McDonald brothers were basically managing their own joint.

在短短6年的時間里，Ray就建立了100家麥當(dāng)勞餐廳，而麥當(dāng)勞兄弟基本上還是在管理自己的那部分。

Ray eventually grew tired of them: they'd reap 0.5% of all sales for doing nothing while roadblocking Ray's suggestions for improving the franchise.

Ray最終厭倦了他們：他們什么都沒干，卻拿了所有銷售額的0.5％，反而還阻攔了Ray對加盟商的改善建議。

To cut them out, Ray figured out a brilliant strategy.

為了把他們踢出去，Ray想了個很好的策略。

He'd buy the land all future restaurants would be built upon, and then he'd lease it to his franchisees.

他把所有未來會建餐館的地都買下，然后租給他的加盟商。

This way Ray got to keep almost all of the profits from the business, while leaving the McDonald brothers empty handed.

這樣Ray就能保持幾乎所有的業(yè)務(wù)利潤，同時讓麥當(dāng)勞兄弟空手而歸。

Of course, the brothers weren't very happy at that, but there wasn't anything they could do, and in 1961 they finally agreed to sell their franchise to Ray for $2.7 million.

當(dāng)然，兄弟們并不是非常高興，但是他們也無可奈何，于是在1961年，他們終于同意以270萬美元的價格把他們的專營權(quán)賣給了Ray。

With the brothers out of the way, Ray stepped on the accelerator, implementing all the changes he had wanted like redoing the logo and creating a mascot.

隨著兄弟們的離去，Ray加大步伐，實施了他想要的所有改變，例如重做標(biāo)志，并創(chuàng)造了吉祥物。

He also expanded the menu, adding the Filet-O-Fish in 1965 and the Big Mac in 1968.

他還擴大了菜單，在1965年添加了麥香魚，1968年加了巨無霸。

That same year Ray celebrated opening store #1000, and adopted the modern iteration of the golden arches logo.

同年，Ray慶祝開業(yè)第1000家店，采用了現(xiàn)代化的金拱標(biāo)志。

Throughout the next decades McDonald's would keep expanding, and not just in the US.

在接下來的幾年中，麥當(dāng)勞不斷擴大，不僅僅在美國。

They pioneered breakfast fast food with the introduction of the Egg McMuffin in 1972.

他們在1972年推出了煙肉蛋松餅，開創(chuàng)了早餐快餐。

They also added stuff like Chicken McNuggets and the Happy Meal, which would eventually make them the world's largest toy distributor.

他們還添加了一些像麥樂雞和開心樂園餐這樣的東西，最終成為世界上最大的玩具經(jīng)銷商。

By 1988 they had 10,000 restaurants, and although Ray was no longer alive, the company kept on growing without him.

到1988年，他們有10,000家餐館，雖然Ray已經(jīng)不在了，可公司一直在增長著。

Thanks to their iconic Hamburger University, the McDonald's franchise had some of the best-trained managers in the fast food industry.

由于他們標(biāo)志性的漢堡大學(xué)，麥當(dāng)勞的加盟商在快餐行業(yè)擁有一些訓(xùn)練有素的經(jīng)理人員。

This allowed them stay one step ahead of competitors like Burger King and Wendy's.

這讓他們比競爭對手漢堡王和Wendy's更領(lǐng)先一步。

Since then, McDonald's have continued expanding their menu into what we know today.

此后，麥當(dāng)勞繼續(xù)將菜單擴展到我們今天所知道的菜單的模樣。

In 2006 the franchise underwent its first major redesign since the 1970s, adopting the so-called 'Forever Young' design, which features dining zones with comfortable sofas and armchairs.

2006年，加盟商經(jīng)歷了自20世紀(jì)70年代以來的首次重新設(shè)計，采用了所謂的'永遠年輕'的設(shè)計，設(shè)有帶舒適沙發(fā)和扶手椅的用餐區(qū)。

Interestingly enough, today McDonald's isn't the world's' largest restaurant chain:

有趣的是，今天麥當(dāng)勞不是世界上最大的餐飲連鎖店：

That title goes to Subway, who have almost 45 thousand locations compared to 37 thousand for McDonald's.

那個稱號給了賽百味，他們擁有近4.5萬個分店，而麥當(dāng)勞則有3.7萬個。

The company itself owns only 15% of them, the rest being franchised out.

該公司本身只擁有其中的15％，其余的則都是加盟商的。

The restaurants ran by the company account for 2/3rds of its revenue, but that's not the whole story.

這家餐館經(jīng)營的公司占其收入的三分之二，但這不是全部的故事。

In reality, it costs way more to run your own restaurant than it does to sit back and collect rent.

在現(xiàn)實中，運行自己的餐廳比坐下來收取租金更費錢。

In 2014, for example, company-operated stores generated $18.2 billion, but McDonald's got to keep only 2.9 billion.

例如，在2014年，公司經(jīng)營的商店創(chuàng)造了182億美元，但麥當(dāng)勞只能拿走29億美元。

In comparison, out of the $9.2 billion coming in from franchisees, the company kept 7.6, a stunning 80%.

相比之下，在加盟商的9.2億美元中，公司拿走了7.6億，驚人的80％。

So even though McDonald's seems to be flipping burgers, in reality they're playing Monopoly instead.

所以即使麥當(dāng)勞似乎稱霸漢堡界，實際上他們正在玩'大富翁'。

Thanks for watching and a big thank you to all of you out there who are supporting us on Patreon!

感謝您的關(guān)注，感謝您對我們的支持！

If you liked the history of McDonald's feel free to subscribe for more and to check out the full Behind the Business playlist for the interesting stories of other big companies.

如果您喜歡麥當(dāng)勞的歷史，請隨時訂閱更多內(nèi)容，并查看其他大公司的有趣故事。

Once again, thanks a lot for watching, and as always: stay smart.

再一次，非常感謝觀看，和往常一樣：望您智慧動人。