In 1940 two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, started McDonald's Barbeque Restaurant in San Bernardino, CA. Typical of the drive-ins of its time, McDonald's offered an expansive menu from which customers could order and then be serviced by carhops. Through time, the brothers noticed a trend in their sales. A small number of items on the menu accounted for a bulk of their restaurant's profits.
Struck by the trend, the brothers embarked on a bold strategy to streamline McDonald's. They temporarily closed their doors, remodeled the restaurant, and did away with the carhops. Three months later McDonald's reopened as a self-service drive-in specializing in fast service thanks to a simplified, nine-item menu. The combination of low prices and speedy service made the new McDonald's a smashing success with motorists, who flocked to the restaurant en masse to buy burgers and milkshakes.
Click on the article title to read the full article Accidental Growth Versus Purposeful Growth
