|
 Marta
Gerdes
Vice President, Chief Brand Officer, Latin America
Group McDonald’s Corporation
In my nearly 14 years at
McDonald’s ® I’ve learned that it’s one thing for a
global company to promote diversity and fair hiring
practices within its corporate infrastructure. But
it’s much more rare for companies to grant the same
level of fairness and consideration to the
organizations and individuals with which they do
business each day.
At McDonald’s we value diversity under the Golden
Arches ®, and all around them too. Our company was
recently recognized by Fortune magazine as the top
purchaser from minority suppliers. More than 45
percent of McDonald’s supplier purchases come from
Hispanic-owned businesses.
About a year and a half ago, McDonald’s Hispanic
franchisees and employees saw an opportunity to
better understand and serve the Hispanic consumer
market and its business owners. As a result, we
developed McDonald’s Hispanic Business Vision, a
sustained initiative to make McDonald’s more
appealing and welcoming to Hispanic consumers,
employees, franchisees and suppliers. The result has
been exactly what we intended: a better experience
for all stakeholders.
As a part of our worldwide reach, McDonald’s relies
heavily on the diversity of our suppliers and the
customers we serve to maximize innovation, growth,
competitiveness, and customer satisfaction.
In order to provide the world’s best quick service
restaurant experience, we must leverage the unique
strengths that come with the diversity of our
partners and suppliers.
McDonald’s ensures that our employees, owner/operators
and suppliers represent the diverse populations we
serve around the world. We harness diversity –
individual and group differences – as a combined and
complementary force to run our restaurants.
The mission of McDonald’s Corporation Supplier
Diversity is to deliver superior supplier
performance through highly qualified minority, women,
and small businesses that enhance the overall
McDonald’s customer experience. We support continued
economic growth in our diverse communities, which
helps us establish better relationships in
communities around the world.
Through McDonald’s Corporation Supplier Diversity,
we provide equal access to potential business
opportunities for small businesses, small
disadvantaged businesses, woman-owned small
businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, minority
and women business enterprises, and HUBZone
businesses (Historically Underutilized Business Zone)
to participate as partners and suppliers within our
corporate supply chain. Many of our Latin America
based suppliers extend their contributions to other
geographies, thereby enhancing their own corporate
value and business practices.
Some of our minority and women-owned suppliers
include Andersen-DuBose, Bama Pies, Inc., Best
Harvest, Lopez Foods, Reyes Holding Co., and LJ
Distributors. We also know that partnering with our
suppliers to tell the McDonald’s story is an
effective way to reach the public.
When we introduced Premium Roast Coffee in the
United States in 2005, we asked one of our top
coffee suppliers, F. Gavina & Sons, to stand by our
side as we told the nation about the improved menu
offering. Gavina, a U.S. specialty coffee roaster
since 1967 and the largest privately-held minority (Hispanic)
coffee roaster nationwide, produces more than 30
million pounds of roasted coffee a year. With
Gavina’s help, McDonald’s successfully conveyed that
its new coffee came from the most reputable
suppliers and, as a company, McDonald’s values the
economic impact that our partnerships have on
minority businesses and communities.
At McDonald’s, we are committed to building our
brand value and sustainable partnerships in all
communities. McDonald’s is proud to partner with
national organizations such as the National Council
of La Raza and the United States Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, Catalyst, Women’s Foodservice Forum,
National Urban League, NAACP, Organization of
Chinese Americans, President’s Committee on
Employment of People with Disabilities as well as
other national and local community organizations.
Marta Gerdes joined McDonald’s in May 1993. As a
seasoned professional with over 20 years of
experience in the marketing field and as the vice
president/chief brand officer for Latin America
Group, Marta plays a primary and direct role in all
Brand, Marketing, Menu Management, Communication,
Strategic Planning, Business research and Revenue
Management for McDonald’s Latin America.
Marta serves on McDonald’s Hispanic Leadership
Council, McDonald’s Women’s Leadership Network and
the McDonald’s HACER ® Scholarship Board of
Directors.
© 2006 McDonald’s |
