Golden Arche

A02-05-0017

Stefan Michel

McDonald’s Adventure in the Hotel Industry

In spring 2001, McDonald’s Corporation opened its first hotel in the Swiss town of Rümlang. The 211room, four-star Golden Arch Hotel, situated close to Airport Zürich-Kloten, was followed in the same month with the opening of a second hotel in the town of Lully. Heading this project was Urs Hammer, longtime chairman of McDonald’s Switzerland. Hammer hoped the hotels would continue “the spirit of McDonald’s hospitality philosophy.” Jack Greenberg, CEO of the McDonald’s Corporation, viewed Hammer’s concept as a way forward for the company—since McDonald’s competed in many saturated markets with its restaurant business, diversification was a promising way for future growth.1

McDonald’s

The McDonald’s story began in 1954, when a self-employed salesman named Raymond Kroc sold a popular milkshake mixer in Southern California. Oddly, many of his clients referred to his product as the mixer that the McDonald brothers used in San Bernardino. As the number of these references increased, Kroc asked himself why the McDonald brothers were so well known and what was their secret? He decided to find out by driving down to San Bernardino. The “secret” was a restaurant on the outer limits of the city. Through observation, Kroc noticed that many of the customers had come from far away (far being, of course, more than 25 miles!—remember, this was 1954), and the reason they came was uncommon for the time: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, a soda, and a milkshake made with the same mixer that Kroc himself sold. Kroc questioned some of the customers in the restaurant and discovered that the reason they came was that they could get the freshest burger and fries all at one price (think Value Meals and Happy Meals). Also, what impressed Kroc during his visit to the restaurant was that the food was served in a clean environment and it provided “fast and friendly” service—the service was so quick that none...