McDonalt’s Hong Kong @35

There are many books about McDonald’s but this is the only one that is written in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong. Inside you may find a lot of surprises and interesting stories.

To my surprise, the well known Big Mac Index was inspired by Dr Daniel Ng, the Father of McDonald’s Hong Kong and adopted by The Economist.

And it is unbelievable that in 1992 among the world’s busiest McDonald’s, 7 out of 10 are in Hong Kong. The Admiralty Centre McDonald’s even served 227 customers in just 15 minutes, in 2009!

We have the Hamburger University Hong Kong! Each year more than 6,000 employees undergo the training.

There are also some interesting stories, like, in Hong Kong’s McDonald’s management team, there are Chemical engineer, nurse working in hospital Intensive Care Unit, superintendent in police force and headmaster of a primary school. They all quitted their professionals and work in McDonald’s. Engineer, nurse, superintendent and headmaster are jobs that commonly regard as occupationally immobile. What makes them change their jobs?

How did McDonald’s survive in the political and currency crisis in 1983 when the exchange rate at that time plunged to a historical low of US$1 to HK$9.6? It almost doubled the operating costs of McDonald’s as most of the food ingredients are imported from the U.S.A.

Besides flexible working hours which enable students to work around their class and exam schedules, there is also a story going around: young people are joining McDonald’s because of the uniforms designed by Eric Kot. Do you believe it?

McDonald’s Restaurants (HK) Limited. (2010). McDonalt’s Hong Kong @35. Hong Kong: Mingpao.