MMMMcDonalds

I remember getting this leaflet handed to me on the streets years ago....


www.mcspotlight.org...

Which led to the now infamous... McLibel case. Two Activists took on Mcdonalds and started what would be the longest case in UK legal History.

en.wikipedia.org...

After finally "beating McDonalds, Thanks to the European Court of Human Rights, they offered this statement

Having largely beaten McDonald's... we have now exposed the notoriously oppressive and unfair UK laws. As a result of the... ruling today, the government may be forced to amend or scrap some of the existing UK laws. We hope that this will result in greater public scrutiny and criticism of powerful organisations whose practices have a detrimental effect on society and the environment. The McLibel campaign has already proved that determined and widespread grass roots protests and defiance can undermine those who try to silence their critics, and also render oppressive laws unworkable. The continually growing opposition to McDonald's and all it stands for is a vindication of all the efforts of those around the world who have been exposing and challenging the corporation's business practices

en.wikipedia.org...


If you can find the documentary, it's worth a watch... funny, hard to find online... I wonder whether the might of McDonalds has anything to do with that?

Here's the trailer

Originally posted by Argyll
reply to post by RiverRunsFree

 

Interesting thread, I really enjoyed reading the history of McDonalds

So.... in the end Kroc runs the McDonald brothers out of business and all other competition by the looks of it, not sure this guy is so nice.

As to the above....I'm afraid I don't agree with you.

Seems like Kroc was just a very good business man.....what's wrong with rising above your competition?


S & F

Hi Argyl, thanks for your courteous reply

I guess your right in that Kroc was a very good business man, it just seemed so brutal to me, to jump on the McDonald brothers bandwagon, take their ideas, buy them out of their business (for a very good sum, no doubt)... and then get upset that the brothers wouldn't sell their original McDonalds restaurant, so Kroc puts them out of their new business buy building a McDonalds right next to the brothers new restaurant, that's the thanks they get for setting up Kroc for the rest of his life.

Having said all that, I understand business is business and I can see your point of view... but still, these actions seem very vindictive to me, but it's just my opinion of course.

Yep, you should all ignore the people who are telling you things when they WORK there and continue your myths unabated. Good detective work guys..... El grande.

The staff are NOT disrespectful at all, about 9/10 customers use Mcdonalds employees as 'punch bags' for their horrendous lack of self esteem (the more customers in the restaurant to witness their 'legitimate' complaint the better, it makes them feel bigger. They also shout as loudly as possible, nothing like a little vitriol). They constantly have snide remarks and condescending, know it all, attitudes. They vandalise the store when enraged and abuse employees physically if they feel their food isn't COOKED PROPERLY.

Re-direct your idiotic assumptions and (like this site is meant to do) do some PROPER research and stop pointing fingers because it's the cool thing to do. My point stands, you should all respect their employees, they take some of the worst sh** the working retail sector has to offer and are forced to smile as they do. They can be fired for something as little as forgetting to record a dropped bun or for being 50p down on a till that takes about 3000 daily. The stress is monumental.

I don't even serve people, or cook for that matter, but I see it on ALL their faces. They don't even (like most people think) berate the customers behind their backs. Yet all I hear, from most everyone is how stupid, how idiotic and how little their staff are worth, and how 'poison' the food is.

I CHALLENGE YOU, all of you PROVE to me, ONCE that their food is poison. I'm in the UK and being delivery I see the original packaging ingredients, 100% beef 100% chicken. We are inspected MONTHLY by Mccains themselves who make sure we're clean and properly storing food. As for the person who said hygiene is an issue HAAAHAHAHAHA. You've never been there have you? Every 10 mins (especially in the UK) everything is sanitised and ajaxed, kept to the maximum standard of cleanliness, NOTHING is allowed to atrophe and all the cleaning products are powerful as balls.

This thread was about how the company was STARTED and we should really stick to it, rather start a witch hunt.

I will add as a COMPANY I hate them, they're ridiculously ruthless and heartless, the managers are total twa** and the big bosses are WAAAAAAY nasty. The working hours are fair and good, the pay is unbelievably low and working conditions are that of a Chinese sweatshop (you're actually told not to talk to each other!). I only do dels and maintenance but the store manager trips on his own power he thinks he can have a go at me sometimes!!!! I feel absolutely sorry for everyone else.

Originally posted by blupblup
If you can find the documentary, it's worth a watch... funny, hard to find online... I wonder whether the might of McDonalds has anything to do with that?

That's not the first time something regarding McDonalds has been hard to find, I've been trying to find the Mike Douglas show from 1977, which includes the Ray Kroc interview, nothing so far. If you type 'Mike Douglas Show 1977' into youtube, you get plenty of hits, but none containing Kroc..... conspiracy?

If this thread goes missing or me for that matter... tell my family I love them

Great info by the way



Joneselius & Happykat39 - thanks for the inside information, very interesting to get your point of view.

Originally posted by Joneselius

I CHALLENGE YOU, all of you PROVE to me, ONCE that their food is poison. I'm in the UK and being delivery I see the original packaging ingredients, 100% beef 100% chicken. We are inspected MONTHLY by Mccains themselves who make sure we're clean and properly storing food.

It maybe listed as 100% beef, but do you know where that beef came from? Mass grinders. There is the meat of over 1000 different cows in one patty.

Up until this year, in the US mcdonalds used its infamous pink slime in their burgers, which was ammonia treated scrap meat. So it may be 100% beef, because the "lips and aholes" are part of the cow as well.

Basically the grade of meat was dog food level.

In the US, only four companies handle and pack a whopping 85% of the beef. McDonalds is the largest purchaser of beef and pork in the US.

These companies, broke up the Unions in the 1970s, brought in immigrant workers to break up and end strikes, and broke up the unions.

So now meat packing companies are the lowest industrial paid workers in the US.

McDonalds is the largest employer of mimimum wage workers in the US, and is also the biggest opponent of any increase in minimum wage.

The attitude towards employees starts at the top my friend.

reply to post by Joneselius


Perspective is everything, isn't it? I'd say that it really depends on the McDonald's when it comes to employees following the rules and being courteous to customers (and vice versa). Some are better than others, to the point where there is no comparison. I've been to some horrible McD's with awful employees, and I've been to some great ones over the years.

I'll go back to my field trip example. McD's is a usual field trip stop for lunch. One McDonald's really didn't want us there. However, another one did. All we had to do was call a day or so before to give them a heads up. The manager was fantastic, and the employees were patient and courteous in dealing with an overwhelming amount of middle schoolers. In fact, the manager called our school to let us know we were welcome any time.

I'm not going to say to never eat at one- but it shouldn't be a regular thing for anyone. However, they do use waaay too much sodium in their food. It's noticeable. It's probably what makes their burgers last longer. And- I still maintain that Argentina uses a higher grade of beef than they do in the US. No comparison there.

People who say that people are responsible for their own choices, forget that large corporations like McDonalds, hire psychologists and basically employ brain washing techniques. You think how the human thinks and what their impulses are, are not highly studied and advertising is based on that.

The average American is advertised too a whopping 1200 times in a single day. you may say it is about choice, but you don't know what is driving those choices. And if you think the human mind can't be influenced, then advertising wouldn't be the powerhouse that it is today.

ONE of every SIX dollars spent in advertising is spent by McDonalds. Think about that.

Mcdondalds spends almost 6 BILLION dollars in advertising in the US alone each year.

There are only 350 million Americans. That is dollars spent on every single American each year.

If that is not some powerful stuff, I don't know what is.

If PBS can figure out that toddlers start losing interest in Sesame Street exactly 40 minutes into the show, which is why they air Elmo, which is a designated amout of time to keep toddlers interested, imagine what McDonalds has figured out.

The only thing I can stand from McDonald's is the fries and only if they're fresh from the fryer.
Most fast food is so bad I've can't even stand the smell. I like the little mom and pop burger places much better, because the food isn't flash frozen, fried all in the same grease, then kept under a heat lamp for 12 hours. My wife takes the kids to McD or gets drive through occasionally, but they've learned to not even ask if I want something. The answer is always NO.

reply to post by nixie_nox


It's written right on the side of the very truck I take food off of, flank and quarter..... What the hell is up with the US?

Originally posted by Joneselius
Yep, you should all ignore the people who are telling you things when they WORK there and continue your myths unabated. Good detective work guys..... El grande.

The staff are NOT disrespectful at all, about 9/10 customers use Mcdonalds employees as 'punch bags' for their horrendous lack of self esteem (the more customers in the restaurant to witness their 'legitimate' complaint the better, it makes them feel bigger. They also shout as loudly as possible, nothing like a little vitriol). They constantly have snide remarks and condescending, know it all, attitudes. They vandalise the store when enraged and abuse employees physically if they feel their food isn't COOKED PROPERLY.

Re-direct your idiotic assumptions and (like this site is meant to do) do some PROPER research and stop pointing fingers because it's the cool thing to do. My point stands, you should all respect their employees, they take some of the worst sh** the working retail sector has to offer and are forced to smile as they do. They can be fired for something as little as forgetting to record a dropped bun or for being 50p down on a till that takes about 3000 daily. The stress is monumental.

I don't even serve people, or cook for that matter, but I see it on ALL their faces. They don't even (like most people think) berate the customers behind their backs. Yet all I hear, from most everyone is how stupid, how idiotic and how little their staff are worth, and how 'poison' the food is.

I CHALLENGE YOU, all of you PROVE to me, ONCE that their food is poison. I'm in the UK and being delivery I see the original packaging ingredients, 100% beef 100% chicken. We are inspected MONTHLY by Mccains themselves who make sure we're clean and properly storing food. As for the person who said hygiene is an issue HAAAHAHAHAHA. You've never been there have you? Every 10 mins (especially in the UK) everything is sanitised and ajaxed, kept to the maximum standard of cleanliness, NOTHING is allowed to atrophe and all the cleaning products are powerful as balls.

This thread was about how the company was STARTED and we should really stick to it, rather start a witch hunt.

I will add as a COMPANY I hate them, they're ridiculously ruthless and heartless, the managers are total twa** and the big bosses are WAAAAAAY nasty. The working hours are fair and good, the pay is unbelievably low and working conditions are that of a Chinese sweatshop (you're actually told not to talk to each other!). I only do dels and maintenance but the store manager trips on his own power he thinks he can have a go at me sometimes!!!! I feel absolutely sorry for everyone else.

edit on 11/10/2012 by Joneselius because: I

I absolutely agree with nearly everything youve said, im a Mcd, dining area hostess, id rather be doing something else, but there arent a lot of jobs around and i have to feed my kids.
The way some customers treat the restaurant is dispicable. I cant go into details for the moment because ive got to rush off to get the kids from school, but the messes ive had to clear up have been unbelievable. Ive been blamed for kids slipping on non existant puddles of water (thankgod for the cctv i suppose), and have been spoken to and treated like crap by customers.
im gonna post more later but for now ive got to rush off.

My friends,

Not sure if this has been posted, it's info relating to his

Proof that Ray Kroc appeared on the Mike Douglas show in the form of a newspaper TV schedule was recently sent by a reader of this site

Mike Douglas Show. Rumour has it that is was covered up however, this website appears to have a Newspaper print of proof that he was interviewed on said TV show in the 70's.

Proof that Ray Kroc appeared on the Mike Douglas show in the form of a newspaper TV schedule was recently sent by a reader of this site

Scroll down a little for image

Infact, here is the image

Be safe be well,

Spiro

Beautiful but still desgusting :S

A couple of shocking articles

www.examiner.com...

www.guardian.co.uk...

Originally posted by RiverRunsFree

It should be called 'Kroc's' so people know where this all came from in my opinion.

So thaaaats where a kroc of s*** came from

Still very gross

reply to post by Foundryman


Like I said in a previous post. McDonalds is the largest purchaser of beef and pork in the US. The beef industry is now in the hands of only four companies, who disbanded unions in the 70s making meat packers the lowest paid industrial workers.

Funny how that works.

It is one thing to be good at what you do, it is quite another to make entire industries get on their knees for profit, all at the cost of a labor force.

Today the U.S. government can demand the nation-wide recall of defective softball bats, sneakers, stuffed animals, and foam-rubber toy cows. But it cannot order a meatpacking company to remove contaminated, potentially lethal ground beef from fast food kitchens and supermarket shelves.”

~ Eric Schlosser from Fast Food Nation

funny how that works.

Often, even if the USDA does issue a recall, the contaminated meat and poultry is never recovered, which means that consumers are probably buying it and consuming it. Between 1995 and 2000, the USDA initiated 275 recalls for meat products, for a total of more than 140 million pounds of meat. Of all the recalls that have been completed, less than 30 percent of the contaminated meat has been recovered. (See the above chart for a year-to-year breakdown of recalls versus recoveries.)

pbs.org

The Beef Industry Food Safety Council - whose members include the meatpacking and fast food giants - has asked the USDA to change its rules and make the labeling of irradiated meat completely voluntary. The meatpacking industry is also working hard to get rid of the word 'irradiation,; much preferring the phrase 'cold pasteurization.'...From a purely scientific point of view, irradiation may be safe and effective. But he [a slaughterhouse engineer] is concerned about the introduction of highly complex electromagnetic and nuclear technology into slaughterhouses with a largely illiterate, non-English-speaking workforce.”

~ Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation

McDonalds is the largest union busting corporation. It has busted over 400 unions since the 1970s.

link

Obama actually tried to curb the power of the meat industry, but Congress shut it down. It would of given small farmers more bargaining power.

poultrytimes.com

After Congress refused to fund the anti trust, and the big meat packing companies won, the meat industry regulator stepped down.

huffingtonpost.com

Oh look, McDonalds doubled their PAC contributions in 2010 and 2012.
Guess who voted down the USDA reform?

opensecrets.com

Yea, it is jsut good business.





Sad part is, not only does McDonalds have the meat industry in their hands, and Congress, what most people don't realize, it is the not the crappy meat that is the biggest revenue generator for MD

The former CFO of McDonald's CFO, Harry J. Sonneborn is often quoted as having said -

"We are not basically in the food business. We are in the real estate business."

"We are in the real estate business. The only reason we sell hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue from which our tenants can pay us rent."

McDonald's property portfolio was estimated to be valued around eight billion dollars, as of 2001.

bookaddict-readersparadise.blogspot.com... 09/03/mcdonalds-dont-sell-hamburgers-they.html

I don't know what McDonalds are like all over the world and not all of them will be the same as many branches are owned by franchisees and they are given options as to what they want to sell and how much it costs, but over here in Australia, McDonalds are nowhere near as bad as many people think- it used to be, but it is improving in leaps and bounds.

We have something called Made For You- where all products are made as you order it- the food is not kept in warmers or reheated. It is as fresh as it can be when you order it. And after seeing the wasted product that has been thrown out I can guarantee that it will not last for a week and be edible, let alone 5 years.

All products are 100% beef chicken and fish, and as of next year we will be going organic (yes we- I am a supervisor of a small branch). The only thing that is added to our products- is a small amount of sugar in the buns (except the new wheatgerm buns).

There are healthy heart tick meals that are recommended by the heart foundation, and just like every other fast food company over here, we now have calories and fat information on all of our menus. We no longer have supersized products (although America still does). There are salads also available- which are made fresh and are healthy.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the MYTH that there is added pig fat in the sundae mix- this is also not true of McDonalds - although there are rumors that the myth originated from a Burger King- which apparently recycle the ice creams if they are made incorrectly...


To the generalization that the crew or the managers are lazy or rude- that is only as true as in any other shop or restaurant. We, like every one have bad days, but we try to hide it from the customers. I myself have been spat on, had food thrown at me- I even had a dead chicken's head thrown at me once. We have been robbed, set on fire and attacked by random drunk people. On top of that we have had to clean up vomit and feces that were nowhere near the bathrooms (including in the play equipment- its not as fun when that's waiting for you...)
I know some people may think we deserve to be treated like this, but remember, how would you like it if your child was treated like this? How would you like to be treated like this?

Whats more is, a lot of the workers are about 15 years old. It is their first job and they are only there for a bit of spending money.
All of the workers are trained for at least 50 hours before they are left alone and they are trained as cooks (yes, cooks) and baristas that are recognized accomplishments from other businesses around the world. McDonalds has the second best training programs in the world- behind British Airlines.

One of my favorite parts of McDonalds is the Ronald McDonald House Charity. It is several houses around the country that offers support to children with cancer and their families- they are able to stay at the houses while the children are receiving chemo or other treatments. We have McHappy Day- that is a day where we all raise money and all proceeds (including some of the sales during the day) go to the House Charity. I think that is an amazing thing for a business to do.

www.rmhc.org.au...

So, yes, there are some things that are wrong with McDonalds, but it isn't evil, it is a business. You may not agree with everything they do, but they are no worse than any other fast food company.At least, not in Australia. That's my opinion anyway

reply to post by RiverRunsFree


I don't understand why Ray Kroc's ties to the Church of Satan would surprise anybody. He's a predatory capitalist. That's practically a commandment in Satanism.

Now we find conspiracy with McDonalds! Must be a slow alien day. Some of my most fond memories as a child are driving in the family station wagon (no mini vans or SUV's) to the Arches. The first one of us kids to spot the Golden Arches was the winner! Cheeseburgers were either .25 or .35 cents... We'd go when my dad was out on the road. Mom would pile us into the Chevy wagon (no seat belts...) and drive the 20 minutes to the place. I remember the sign in the parking lot asking us NOT to eat in the parking lot. They used to advertise the amount of burgers sold on the big sign. Now it's just "Billions and Billions Sold". I still enjoy an occasional cheese burger (no fries or sodas - sucks to get old).

Originally posted by RiverRunsFree
Thanks for clearing up the Fillet O-Fish thing guys, I had no idea.

I find it funny how McDonalds cater for different types of people, beer served in Germany, baguettes in France etc, it sounds so stereotypical, guess it makes sense though.

There's even a fake McDonalds in Iraq, called MaDonal -

en.wikipedia.org...

They serve poutine at McD's in Quebec. Mmmmmmm indeed.

Wiki - Poutine