McDonald's may be hitting tough times but it remains one of the great business success stories of all time.
It may have registered its first ever quarterly loss, but it is far from down-and-out. It is said to own 75% of the buildings and 40% of the land at its 30,000 sites around the world, which despite a book value of $4bn observers believe are really worth closer to $12bn.
The business that the legendary Ray Kroc built-up in post-war America has always been about more than simply selling hamburgers. The shrewd investment in property was the foundation on which the enterprise was able to prosper.
The business itself has actually been about selling the American dream – the dream of thousands if not millions of ordinary Americans to run their own business, to get a leg-up in the world. The McDonald's franchise allowed many of them to do just that.
The nearest thing in Britain is probably the dream of running your own pub. The parallels between McDonalds and the UK's tenanted pub market are not that stretched.
The tenanted and leased pub business is essentially about owning property and selling a franchise. It may not be a brand, but the "local" is one of the most easily understandable business concepts.
Punch, the country's second biggest leased pub player, released positive results this week with growth in both contribution and income per pub. As well as negotiating better beer and machine deals, that means pushing up rental income.
To do that it needs not only more and better pub sites but better and constantly motivated lessees. Long term growth will not come solely by squeezing suppliers – though Wal-Mart always sets a good example – but by working with partners who want to grow the business for themselves. It's about getting rich by making others rich, and not begrudging them their success. Very McDonalds, very free enterprise!
Punch has had more than its share of bust-ups with lessees. McDonalds has not always had a smooth ride with its franchisees, either. Moaning partners are not good for business, but those that push you are. It's sometimes a fine line. But McDonalds always claims that most of its better business ideas came from individual franchisees and were then adopted by the rest of the system.
That core relationship will also be the most crucial and biggest challenge for the long-term sustainability of Britain's leased and tenanted pub giants. How they develop it, in deed as well as word, may well make the difference.
Punch is taking the hands-on approach with improved licensee training and support. "Helping our retailers build better pub businesses" is one of its mottos. How much Punch's leaders tap into the ideas coming the other way from the lessees will be interesting.
Punch and its rivals may not yet have the evangelical zeal of McDonalds in its heyday. But it can't hurt being a little more upbeat in promoting to an even wider business audience the positives of "living the British dream" of running a pub? Can it?
It may have registered its first ever quarterly loss, but it is far from down-and-out. It is said to own 75% of the buildings and 40% of the land at its 30,000 sites around the world, which despite a book value of $4bn observers believe are really worth closer to $12bn.
The business that the legendary Ray Kroc built-up in post-war America has always been about more than simply selling hamburgers. The shrewd investment in property was the foundation on which the enterprise was able to prosper.
The business itself has actually been about selling the American dream – the dream of thousands if not millions of ordinary Americans to run their own business, to get a leg-up in the world. The McDonald's franchise allowed many of them to do just that.
The nearest thing in Britain is probably the dream of running your own pub. The parallels between McDonalds and the UK's tenanted pub market are not that stretched.
The tenanted and leased pub business is essentially about owning property and selling a franchise. It may not be a brand, but the "local" is one of the most easily understandable business concepts.
Punch, the country's second biggest leased pub player, released positive results this week with growth in both contribution and income per pub. As well as negotiating better beer and machine deals, that means pushing up rental income.
To do that it needs not only more and better pub sites but better and constantly motivated lessees. Long term growth will not come solely by squeezing suppliers – though Wal-Mart always sets a good example – but by working with partners who want to grow the business for themselves. It's about getting rich by making others rich, and not begrudging them their success. Very McDonalds, very free enterprise!
Punch has had more than its share of bust-ups with lessees. McDonalds has not always had a smooth ride with its franchisees, either. Moaning partners are not good for business, but those that push you are. It's sometimes a fine line. But McDonalds always claims that most of its better business ideas came from individual franchisees and were then adopted by the rest of the system.
That core relationship will also be the most crucial and biggest challenge for the long-term sustainability of Britain's leased and tenanted pub giants. How they develop it, in deed as well as word, may well make the difference.
Punch is taking the hands-on approach with improved licensee training and support. "Helping our retailers build better pub businesses" is one of its mottos. How much Punch's leaders tap into the ideas coming the other way from the lessees will be interesting.
Punch and its rivals may not yet have the evangelical zeal of McDonalds in its heyday. But it can't hurt being a little more upbeat in promoting to an even wider business audience the positives of "living the British dream" of running a pub? Can it?
