Bane Knezevic: Energetic, Straightforward, Focused on Execution

It was a little less than three years ago that Bane Knezevic took up the CEO’s job in Germany – at the same time taking over management of the West Division in the European McDonald’s organisation, with a further eight national markets. If the empire had definitely lost its shine over the preceding years, today in Germany McDonald’s is an eye-catcher once again: now the architect of the whole thing talks about paths to growth and a new relevance for the brand.
 

 
The leader in the sector has definitely succeeded in effecting a turnaround in Germany. Not just when it comes to the figures, but in image too. Are you satisfied?
 
Bane Knezevic: Happy! Yes, not long ago business in Germanywas completely stuck; there were external reasons for this, but internal ones, too. The task was no light one: radical modernisation of the brand. And this involved one big subject, the most important of all as far as I am concerned: food. New emphases in our product range. We worked on this intensively. Then the remodelling– we have made immense progress here: more atmosphere, more experience. At the moment around 700 of our 1,300 and more outlets in Germany have been redesigned – the programme will be completed by 2009. At the same time we have introduced new technologies and processes in the kitchens – the key-word is BOP, bridge operating platform – in the interests of greater efficiency and freshness. And finally, there is McCafé. Accelerated roll-out for the coffee module. Taken all together, today the McDonald’s brand stands once again – or perhaps more than ever – for lifestyle. On an overall view, themost valuable gain.
 
Key-word McCafé. The formula was developed in Australia, but Germany is the pace-setter in the rest of theworld when it comes to speed of implementation. Was it your plan from the start?
 
Knezevic: Of course there were visions. But, let me be honest: when I took on the job I would never have dreamed that we would get on so quickly – although I ambasically an optimist! I was really surprised by how very willing the franchisees were to support remodellings and McCafé. I sort of ‘inherited’ the franchise community in this country – whoever we have to thank for selecting the people, they did their job excellently well and were fortunate enough to find outstanding partners. I have a broad overview of a whole series of national markets, and I know what I am talking about: we have excellent, highly committed franchisees here, entrepreneurs whose heart is in their business. Who are prepared to invest in the future.
 
You say modernisation must begin first of all in the product range. What is your concept of innovation in brief?
 
Knezevic: In this area we have done more in the last three years than in the preceding decade. At least! For a long time product innovation in Germany focused on promotions, while the core range was left out. We got to grips with the key products too. We started with slimmer salad dressings and a lower fat content in our nuggets, then we went on to new options with HappyMeals: fruit juices, salads and bio-milk. Beyond this, we established new product lines enabling a sustained growth in sales: along with the speciality coffees, cakes and desserts associated with McCafé, there is now, for instance, our chicken range. We must and shall offer our guests a greater selection, more variety. And work on further fields – it is no secret, for instance, that we are currently experimenting with soup in a number of test stores. The same is true of our greatly expanded breakfast range.
 

 
Breakfast is not a subject which is at all new to McDonald’s. It is a growth market which in this country is still mainly the province of bakers and bakery- snack specialists...
 
Knezevic: There is no question of our involving ourselves in the classical product range supplied by the bakers. Nevertheless, we want to make progress in breakfast business – as far as product strategy is concerned, we think we arewell prepared. But it is precisely with breakfast that drive-thru plays a key role: that will be one of our next major questions. At the moment we are seeing in-store business grow more strongly than drive-in counters, thanks to remodelling and McCafé. Now our task is to bring them back to parity. In other words, improving user convenience in drive-thru facilities. We are trying out a double-lane solution for the first time at our Kirchheim test store, and a new order system at the same time. The customer-order display gives us an additional 15-20 seconds for handling the order. Waiting times at the pick-up window have been considerably reduced – which is the absolutely critical factor.
 

 
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| 19 November 2008 | Marianne Wachholz |