At 41 she was appointed to the top job, after serving as managing director for two years and chief operating officer for a year before that.
Under her leadership the business has continued to grow, despite operating in a declining category. Currently 35 new McDonald’s stores are opening each year, a rise from 2009-2010 when 10-15 stores were opened annually. Last year the chain turned over $1.5 billion in revenue.
But the last decade has been a tough slog for the fast-food giant. “Through the ’90s we lost a bit of relevance; we didn’t evolve quickly enough with the changing expectations of our customers,” admits Noble. Turning that around required a company-wide reinvention.
Gone are the plastic seats and ugly woodgrain-tile restaurants. For the last decade Australian designers have been making over the stores with a café vibe. The McCafé concept was born in Australia and copied globally.
The menu also got an overhaul, with Australia one of the biggest global drivers behind McDonald’s healthier options – although studies show only 1-3% of meals purchased are of the healthier varieties. And there’s more innovation on the way. Next month customers in Woollongong will be able to order and pay via an app, as part of a global pilot program.
Why are Australians so attracted to the fast-food chain? Burgers may be a current food trend here in Oz (with Grill’d leading the gourmet burger pack), but you wouldn’t call Maccas fashionable.
“People go to McDonald’s because they’re quick, cheap, convenient and the toilets are clean,” says Stanton. And is that such a bad thing? Most of its restaurants offer a playground for kids to run around in. Australia was the first McDonald’s in the world, and the first major fast-food organisation in the country, to publish the nutritional guidelines of its products.
As Noble sees it: “With a lot of places you think ‘Oh, if I’m going to that restaurant, I have to dress up’. Or ‘If I’m going to walk into that clothing store I wouldn’t feel comfortable unless I’m this type of person, cause you’re judged to be too old, too young, not wealthy enough looking, too wealthy looking’. That just doesn’t exist at McDonalds.”
It’s up to you to decide whether you’re lovin’ the power it wields.
This article first appeared at The Power Index.
