The Australian:
To get to the McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, you drive through the college-like campus, past Ronald Lane and Hamburger University, to an imposing brown brick building. Inside, there’s a four-storey atrium lined with an art collection so vast that it boasts it own curator. Burgers are big business.
When he’s not visiting some of the 32,000 restaurants scattered around the world, president and chief operating officer Ralph Alvarez sits in a third-floor office overlooking parkland where deer sometimes graze. His desk is only a few steps away from a McDonald’s restaurant on the top floor, which means that Alvarez can toddle up anytime and refresh his mind about what the brand stands for and the challenges that lie ahead.
He can also dine on his two favourite foods, the Double Cheeseburger and the new Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, complemented by a premium coffee (two sweeteners, two creams).
Alvarez is the top candidate to take over as McDonald’s CEO when his mentor Jim Skinner eventually retires. His has been one of those storybook journeys through the ranks – from working for Burger King in Miami as a university student to heading the world’s biggest restaurant chain. According to Forbes magazine, Alvarez’s annual salary package is worth more than $US3.763 million. Full post.
