Day 045 - 03 Nov 94 - Page 31
1 are not active at all.
2
3 Q. Was this a suggestion made by Al Golin in order to-----
4 A. I do not know if it was made by Al Golin, but it is
5 certainly a suggestion which I believe is good business,
6 yes.
7
8 Q. It says that he attributes this suggestion to him, or that
9 he found that the cheapest and most effective way of
10 keeping McDonald's name in the limelight was for McDonald's
11 stores to join in all these things in each locality?
12 A. One of the things that is a good thing about
13 McDonald's, I think, is that we have many independent
14 owner/operators who own the McDonald's restaurants in their
15 community, and it is important that they be a part of that
16 community. It is part of the philosophy that I discussed
17 yesterday, that not only do we want to have sales from the
18 community, we want to put back into the community. If that
19 gentleman is known and people like and trust the
20 owner/operator of that restaurant, they are certainly apt
21 to patronise the restaurant more often.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is as old as the hills, is it not?
24 A. Absolutely.
25
26 Q. It was going well before Al Golin was born, I would have
27 thought. Is there anything-----?
28 A. One hopes he is not taking credit for it all.
29
30 MS. STEEL: Anyway, was it found to be the cheapest and most
31 effective way of keeping the McDonald's name in the
32 limelight?
33 A. I am not sure if it is the cheapest or most effective,
34 but it is a very effective way; and there is not dollars
35 involved in it, there is just personal time and effort on
36 the part of the operator. Obviously, he contributes things
37 to the community, too, that involve dollars.
38
39 Q. Usually, the things that are contributed to the community
40 have the McDonald's name attached to them, do they not?
41 A. Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not.
42
43 Q. Right. Most of the time they do?
44 A. I do not know how to consider it, but I would imagine
45 that if it is attributed to McDonald's it would have some
46 McDonald's identification on it.
47
48 Q. So, again, that would be free publicity?
49 A. Yes, it would.
50
51 Q. Does McDonald's wade in with free hamburgers when a
52 calamities or disasters strike?
53 A. Yes, we do.
54
55 Q. What would be the purpose of that?
56 A. As a public service, to serve people who have no time
57 to go out and get food on their own, because they are
58 attending to a national disaster or a crisis.
59
60 Q. You would get lots of publicity out of that, as well?
