Last week I was walking with my wife and dog along the seafront near our house and after walking for about 2 hours I was ready for a bite to eat. We passed quite a few eating establishments and each time we said no to them.
There were several reasons for us not eating at these establishments, one being that they didn’t take dogs, (there’s no chance that we’ll leave the dog tied outside whilst we go into eat) and the other was that it wasn’t quite what we wanted.
There was another reason that kept cropping up, which was that we’d been there once and it was great but the second time wasn’t as good as the first. In fact, this came up more often than you’d think. Why is this so common? Well, there could be a number of reasons for this and without actually investigating each establishment it’s difficult to say.
However, I’m going to suggest that the main reason you get variable quality is that the establishment doesn’t have the necessary business systems in place to ensure consistency. It could be that the chefs are allowed to vary the recipes to their personal styles or that there is a lack of consistency in the sourcing of ingredients. All of this results in a lottery for ‘the dinner’. One time they may be blown out of the water with how good it is, and the next time it could be awful.
Just think about how many times this has happened to you, and your reaction when it has happened. I know that it’s happened countless times to me, and each time I never go back. Lost business for the establishment and all because they didn’t have the systems in place to ensure consistency.
There is one business I think is probably the model of consistency, and that’s McDonalds. Many years ago I was presenting in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) and after traveling some 17 hours I eventually arrived at the hotel feeling hungry and tired. I just wanted a quick bite to eat and then off to bed.
However, having never been to Taiwan I was unsure as to the local cuisine and a little reluctant to experiment. Looking out of my window I spied those golden arches and I knew that there was the answer to my conundrum. A Big Mac and Fries. No need to try something I was unsure of on my first day there.
I walked into McDonalds in Taipei and had almost the exact same experience I’ve had in countless McDonalds across the globe. Now don’t get me wrong, I am as adventurous as the next person and during my stay in Taipei, I tried all sorts of new cuisines, including snake, down snake alley.
So why is McDonalds such a model of consistency? Well, it’s down to systems and processes. Even the humble fry in McDonalds is subject to a level of obsession that very few businesses could match. Little is left to chance with a fry in McDonalds. They use specific varieties of potatoes (Russet) which are tested for the level of starch and moisture content before being turned into McDonalds fries.
When they are fried in the restaurant, they are fried at a specific temperature (168 deg C) for a specific length (3 Minutes) and then kept in the warming cupboard for a maximum of 7 minutes, if they are not sold within 7 minutes they’re dumped. McDonalds don’t allow their franchise holders to vary the cooking time, temperature or even try their own recipe. Why not, because it’s the systems and processes that McDonalds have developed over the years that they know will deliver me a perfect fry whether I’m in Taipei, Dallas or Sheffield.
Fries are not the only thing that McDonalds obsess about, it’s just one of many, including non-food items like the toilets (restrooms). I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I’ve been in a toilet in McDonalds that wasn’t spotlessly clean. Again this is down to systems and processes.
Now you’re probably thinking that I’m a big fan of McDonalds food, I’m not really, I occasionally fancy a burger, probably twice a year. The thing I’m a big fan of is, knowing what to expect and getting what I expect, which is pretty much what happens at the 37,855 restaurants worldwide, which employ more than 210,000 people (Figure correct as of 2018). There’s a great film worth watching about McDonalds starring Micheal Keaton called ‘The Founder’ (Keaton plays Ray Kroc). The film highlights both the McDonald brothers and Kroc’s obsessions with systems. There are plenty of other business lessons in the film as well (spoiler alert: they are not all good business practices). Find out about the film here.
Here’s the thing you should really take away from this. Most business owners allow their business to operate on chance, they don’t have the necessary systems in place to ensure consistency, which if done right ensures success. Spend some time looking at the systems in your business, are they fit for purpose, are you delivering to your customers on a consistent basis every time. If not it’s time to take a long hard look at where you can make improvements. Here’s a final quote to get you thinking…
“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is inconsistency.” Jim Collins, author of good to great..
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