In 1970, a businessman bought the rights to McDonaldâs in Japan, but when CEO Ray Kroc arrived 3 days before the grand opening, construction hadnât even begun! Hereâs how Den Fujita built the first Japanese McDonaldâs in 36 hours, and later built the fast-food empire in Japan: đđ
Humble Beginnings: đŁâ
Den Fujita was born in 1926, in Osaka.
Osaka was decimated during WWII, taking the lives of his father and sisters.
He went on to study law at the University of Tokyo, while hustling on the side importing foreign goods to pay for his tuition fees.
This turned into a full-time business, specialising in luxury brands like Dior & Longchamp, foregoing his law career.
In 1970, Fujita heard McD was expanding internationally and pursued the rights from Kroc.
Fujita won Kroc over with his experience in global brands and intimate knowledge of the Japanese market.
Fujita had to create the Japanese McDonaldâs Playbook.
1. Cultural đâ
âEverything from our culture has come from the outside, our writing from China, Buddhism from Korea and after the war, everything new from Americaâ â Fujita
He changed the names from âMcDonaldâsâ to âMakudonarudoâ, even Ronald McDonald became Donald McDonald.
The menu was also altered to suit local tastes.
He also wanted his McD to attract American tourists, so that Japanese seeing that would be interested too.
Essentially, he disguised an American brand to look Japanese to attract American tourists to attract Japanese locals to an American brand.
2. Real Estate: đ â
In America, the playbook was to open stores in the suburbs and cater to the drive-in habits of Americans.
Fujita went the opposite route, focusing on the younger generation in the urban markets first.
The prime location he found was at Mitsukoshi, Japanâs largest dept store. Awesome right?
Hereâs the catch, Fujitaâs construction couldnât interfere with business hours, so he only had 1 public holiday and 2 nights for construction (ie. 39 hours).
Fujita didnât complain, he rented a warehouse for his team to practice the construction process from start to finish.
After 3 trials, they even reduced the duration to 36 hours.
20th July 1971, Japanâs first McDonaldâs opened on time, and it was a massive hit, despite no advertising.
With this success, Fujita expanded quickly. He opened 3,000 locations all over Japan from 1971 to 1999. Thatâs roughly 2 stores every week for 28 years straight! Today, Japan is the 3rd largest market for McD, behind only China and US. I bet the ice cream machines would never break down too if Fujita is in charge here. đŚ
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