You, you're the one

You are the only reason

You, you're the one

We take pride in pleasin'

The crowded courtroom fell silent as Richard G. Schultz, attorney for the McDonald's Corporation, approached the bench. Schultz, everyone there knew, was to defend his multi-million dollar client against charges of unfairly revoking the license of one Raymond Dayan, owner and operator of McDonald's franchises in Paris. Five hundred million dollars in damages was at stake. So was the entire French fast food market--one of the fastest-growing and most profitable such markets in the world. Reporters from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal scribbled furiously as Schultz addressed the Hon. Richard Curry, a solemn and conservative judge, even by the standards of his fellow magistrates.

"Your Honor," Schultz began, "the evidence will show that the plaintiff's french fries are greasy."

Although the entire Chicago courtroom--even Curry-laughed, Schultz and McDonald's take the matter very seriously. They say Dayan's operations are irreparably damaging the image of McDonald's around the world because of their failure to maintain strict standards of quality, service, and cleanliness-what McDonald's calls "QSC. In short, they contend Dayan's stores, particularly his highly visible outlets on the Champs Elysee, are "a blight on the system." "At stake here is the good McDonald's name that it took more than a quarter of a century for Ray Kroc (McDonald's founder) and the company to establish," Schultz told the Court.

McDonald's charges against Dayan range from dirty floors and long service times to allowing dogs (and their byproducts) to lounge in food preparation areas. Schultz also charged at the trial that "Dayan cooked his hamburger patties 180 degrees too high; french fries 50 degrees too high; fish 55 degrees too high; and apple pie 67 degrees too high." To make matters worse, he added, "Customers waited for service for more than three minutes." The net result of Dayan's peccadilloes: "His mismanagement has destroyed the McDonald's image."

You're why we serve the best

That's McDonald's style

You're why we keep it clean

You're what makes us smile

Dayan, sitting in the front of the courtroom, found many of the charges hard to bear. He nearly had to be forcibly restrained when another McDonald's attorney, Thomas Foran, alleged that the restauranteur had ordered one of his guard dogs to attack a customer in a demonstration of restaurant security for a visiting McDonald's executive. In fact, it was Foran's theatrics which provided most of the drama in the early stages of the trial. While examining one of Dayan's French store managers, Foran displayed melodrama that even Perry Mason would have shunned. He turned away from the witness and walked slowly towards the councilor's desk. Wheeling around suddenly, he whipped off his Kennedyesque half-glasses and shouted, "Is that the basement where you beat up one of your employees?" Since the restaurant in question didn't have a basement, the judge, with a disapproving glance at Foran, ruled the question irrelevant.

Unlike the McDonald's attorneys, the lawyers for the plaintiff were cautious and businesslike, possibly a strategy designed to offset the flamboyant brashness of their French-Moroccan client. A loud but affable man, Dayan is known around his attorney's rather sterile law offices for his booming voice and harmless flirtations with secretaries. At heart, he considers himself a Frenchman.

A former interior decorator, Dayan became involved with McDonald's while decorating Ray Kroc's Des Plaines home. Kroc soon granted Dayan rights to franchise a huge area on Chicago's North side, where the Frenchman successfully peddled burgers and fries until the early 1970s. Kroc then persuaded Dayan to swap his Chicago empire for the French market. It is here where our story starts.