the guidance to get through this first stage.
“He has always been my mentor in business,”
he says. A supportive staff at McDonald’s
also helped him successfully move into
management. “I was blessed to have such
a wonderful team at the time. They supported
me immensely. For the first two years, I did
not make any decisions, I was just learning
basically. It was only in my third year that
I began taking on an assistant manager’s role.”
GROWTH
McDonald’s Saudi Arabia was a late entrant
to the kingdom’s quick service restaurant
(QSR) market, but soon made up for lost
time and is now comfortably the lead player
in its segment. It has achieved one of the
highest penetration rates of any national
McDonald’s company; more than 85 per cent
of the population are McDonald’s customers.
Prince Mishaal credits the company’s
commitment to customer service as the main
reason for this market dominance.
He says further expansion will depend
upon the company continuing to achieve the
kind of operational excellence that leads to
word-of-mouth recommendations. “Our main
priority is to ensure that we can offer every
one of our customers a unique and
differentiated experience when they visit our
restaurants. It is extremely important that we
have the right people, and that they are
well-trained, qualified and motivated to
deliver. Ultimately, we are a people business,
so if we don’t have the right people, we will
not be able to deliver the customer
experience levels that we need to differentiate
ourselves,” Prince Mishaal explains.
“In the old days, McDonald’s was
perceived as a burger company run by great
people, but today we define ourselves as
a people company offering great burgers.”
Growth will also be dependent on how
well McDonald’s Saudi Arabia can integrate
new technology into its business. The global
company recently announced a blueprint
called Experience of the Future, which
outlined its plans to stay relevant in this field.
“Technology can allow us to provide our
customers with a unique experience.”
MODERNISATION
Embracing technology is part of modernising
the brand, which Prince Mishaal says will be
instrumental to the company’s ongoing
success. “This could involve self-ordering
kiosks in our restaurants, digital menu boards,
table service for our customers, and having
hostesses in our lobbies. We are changing the
entire customer service experience inside our
restaurants to stay relevant and to ensure we
maintain our lead in the market.”
Digital is an important business driver
and a major component of the company’s
marketing spend. “We know that this is the
gateway of the future and our objective is38 | theceomagazine.com