MMMMcDonalds

Having seen a fair few McDonalds conspiracies on the web and here at ATS, I decided to have a look at the history and facts about this massive fast food chain. I found this a strangely interesting subject, although I'm not too sure why, maybe because of the size of the company, I don't know. I thought I would share some of the interesting facts I found in case others found it interesting too.

Love it or hate it, McDonalds is famous the world over and to some, it represents what people love or hate about America. But where did it all start and by whom?

It does depend on who you ask, for instance if you ask McDonalds they will say that the company was founded in 1955 by Ray Kroc, but there are deeper roots than that, so lets start at the very beginning.

In my opinion it all started in 1937 when the McDonald brothers (Mac & Dick, I guess if they named a burger after themselves it would be the MacDick) took out a $5,000 loan and opened the Airdrome hot dog stand in California.

In 1940 (which is the date many attribute to the beginnings of McDonalds) the brothers moved their business from Arcadia to San Bernardino and changed the name to McDonald's Bar-B-Q.

First ever McDonalds (Carhop stand) -

thatslikewhoa.com...

The original menu contained some 40 items, including peanut butter & jelly with fries for 20c

(Menu front cover) -

www.flickr.com...@N00/4313387880/

After great success the brothers decided they wanted to experiment with a different method of doing things. They noticed that 80% of their sales were burgers and that having a carhop was not the best approach as only adults and teens would come, they wanted a family place for kids too (the answer to many conspiracies regarding McDonalds targeting children has been found and it was way back in the beginning!). The brothers also wanted to make things faster and easier.

The brothers studied how Henry Ford changed car manufacturing with an assembly line, so they wanted to adopt this method to see if it works in their industry too.
They also changed the carhop method to a self-serve drive-in restaurant and reduced the menu to just 9 items

New 1940's menu, notice the McDonalds logo of a burger headed guy, I've seen that before somewhere.

www.buzznews.ro...

In 1948 they closed their eatery for three months, redeveloped it and opened their new experimental restaurant.

McDonald brothers during the redevelopment works in 1948 -

zazenlife.com...

It was a great success and they soon set the standard for success in the fast food industry. They called their much more efficient method of a food preparation the Speedee System (later to become known by most as fast food).

In the next six years, business was doing so well that the brothers sold 21 franchises and opened nine outlets [source: Gilpin]. The original restaurant was bustling with so much business that the brothers ordered eight Multimixers -- machines that made five milkshakes at one time. The distributer of Multimixers -- a salesman by the name of Ray Kroc -- was so intrigued at this news that he traveled to California to see what the fuss was about.

money.howstuffworks.com...

So along comes Ray Kroc, the man credited with founding the McDonalds we know today -

www.vindy.com...

Amazed and inspired at the success of the McDonald brothers, Kroc wanted in. He had dreams for the potential of McDonald's restaurants and asked Dick and Mac to hire him as their franchise agent. In exchange for licensing the name to him, the brothers would get a percentage of sales.

money.howstuffworks.com...

In 1955 Ray opened his first McDonalds restaurant in Des Plaines, the restaurant took $366.12 in the first day.

classmatesmemorylane.wordpress.com...

gettinoldainteasy.blogspot.co.uk...

Although Kroc's business deal with the McDonald brothers started swimmingly, relations soon soured. At first, Kroc just wanted to sell as many Multimixers as possible. But by 1961, he bought the entire business for $2.7 million. When they gave up rights to the McDonald's name, Dick and Mac reopened their original San Bernardino hamburger joint as The Big M. Kroc, upset over the brothers' refusal to relinquish the original restaurant, opened up a McDonald's restaurant nearby. The Big M was run out of business.

Soon, using these tactics, Kroc made short work of the rest of the competition. Now in control of McDonald's Corp., he was ready to take on the world.

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.

Other fun facts -
- In 1962 the first indoor seating is introduced to McDonalds restaurants
- In 1963 the first Fillet O-Fish is introduced to build volume with the Roman Catholic customers (not sure why though??)
- In 1967 the first international restaurants are built in Canada and Puerto Rico
- In 1968 the first Big Mac is introduced
- Also in 1968 McDonalds first becomes involved in the Olympic movement by 'airlifting' hamburgers to US athletes in France, who were homesick
- In 1969 the 'Golden Arches' logo is introduced
- In 1973 the first Quarter Pounder is introduced
- In 1975 the first drive-thru is built in Arizona
- In 1984 Ray Kroc dies

Today McDonalds has over 33,000 restaurants, employs over 420,000 people, has a net income of over $5.5 billion per year and assets of over $32.9 billion.

To finish off and as this is ATS I thought I would throw out a conspiracy related item too. Below is a link to a blog by someone who claims that Ray Kroc confessed that he was a member of the Satanic Church and that he donated most of his money to them. The blogger claims he made this confession live on TV (the Mike Douglas Show) in the 70's but can't find anything on the internet that confirms this.

Did you see this show? or can ATS find anything to confirm this? I have no idea if this is true but the way the blog is written makes me feel this guy believes what he is saying -
www.safesaskwater.org...

I'm hungry now....

reply to post by RiverRunsFree


Let me be the first to give you a Star and Flag!
McDonalds is an evil entity, if you ask me.
From it's scandalous Kroc(crook) owner to the current scheme...
It has helped in making cheap, fatty foods accessible to vast amounts of people.
Also., it's been proven that there are little to no actual healthy foods there.
But we all have a choice on what to eat...even if it's the worst thing for you.

Even with all the garbage spewed from the ads and marketing.
Their food is able to sit in a dish for years and never mold...
Yet people still eat there.

Conspiracy?
You bet!


*S&F*

This image sums up all of ATS:

Roman Catholics eat fish (not beef) during Lent, some for the whole 40 days and others on just Friday's of Lent. Some eat fish every fridayof the whole year., Anyways this gave Roman Catholics and other "eastern" christians a non meat option.

Here is a funny story for you. I have always been kind of fascinated by the fast food technology/industry. Maybe it was because of the McDonalds Playdough playset as a kid? Or the Travel/History Channel specials on it.

Anyways, even though I have a regular "corporate" job, we have had some increased bills, so I took a part time job and the one that was close to work and will work with my main job was McDonalds! So for a couple of hours a night, a couple of nights a week I am workin' the MAC. And I have had a few surprising moments.....

I was a little worried, being in my upper 30s, about working with a bunch of kids, plus all the horror stories I have heard about fast food.

HOWEVER: most, of the kids (late teens/early twenties) are either college students, and doing this part time and/or wanting to get in on some of the various McDonalds management training programs to put on their resumes for when they get out of college, or to move up within McD's. Full store managers make pretty good money, and they have an "owner/operator" plan....which several are wanting to do. It takes about 10-12 years, but if you start at say 17 and 12 years later OWN a franchise, you did pretty well. So the coworkers, young they maybe, are for the most part pretty hard workers and want to do a good job. A couple of them i told them to apply where I work.

Second, the one I am at is a Franchise operation, not a "corporate" so it seems to run pretty well and the owners are very flexiable people. They started working there as teens, got married, and now own 6. Not bad.

The food, while not healthy...LOL, is prepared well and clean, and while most comes from McD corporate, some comes from local supplies. Also they are offering more and more healthier options. The grilled chicken BLT Ranch sandwhich is only 380 calories...which is what I eat often when I do eat there.

It's just extra money for me, but it's actually been fun and educational.

Good info you wrote.

Oh....to add. I work in one of the McCafe', which is more adult themed, no playground, with the lounge type lobby with big screen TVs, WiFi, and stuff.....We probably serve as much coffee, fraps, fruit smoothies, etc as we do "regular" McD stuff. I am getting pretty skilled at the coffee, which the wife likes. LOL

reply to post by havok


Thank you, I tend to agree with your post.

The thing that I realised when looking into this was how the McDonald brothers seemed like genuine guys who innovated the food industry. It's a shame that it was taken over by Kroc and turned into something sinister, yet the McDonald brothers name is still all over it.

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

- In 1963 the first Fillet O-Fish is introduced to build volume with the Roman Catholic customers (not sure why though??)

The reason :

Contemporary Roman legislation is rooted in the 1966 Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, Paenitemini, and codified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Abstinence is required throughout the year on Fridays, though the bishops' conferences in some areas allow other penitential acts (e.g., prayer, abstinence from another food, giving up an unhealthy or unnecessary habit)

The Catholic practice of abstaining from meat popularized the Friday fish fry.

Source

Hope this answers your question.

On a side note, I never realized how Kroc was such a greedy a**hole.
Thanks for your informative thread.

ETA : Sorry for re-iterating what SRWingCommander posted. I am slow to post.

Great post, OP.

Even this day, 15 cent burgers sound yummy (even though I'm Hindu and vegetarian).

Though you should also look at why McDonald's quality has went down the drain- Back in the day, you knew you were getting real ground chuck beef and now we're paying $3-5 for some grey mystery product between two starchy buns.

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...

What a Kroc - LOL

Thanks OP. I knew some of this previously but you filled in many details nicely.

BTW - One more small tidbit on info...
The Multi Mixers Kroc was selling were manufactured by Sterling Multi Products in Prophetstown Illinois. I ran an industrial engineering and repair business in the Chicago metro area for 25 years. One of my customers gave my name to the head of maintenance of Sterling and they became my only out of town customer. I used to go there about twice a year and spend from 3 to 5 days working on their CNC and manual machinery. While they are famous mostly for their Multi Mixers that was really only a small part of their business. While they still sell the Multi Mixers, mostly to retro restaurants now, most of that business was taken over by the soft serve machines. They were mostly a contract manufacturing house and still are.

reply to post by happykat39


Wow! Can't believe I actually saw something about P-Town on ATS! My family lived there back in the early-late 60's. Never heard of this company, but I was just a kid back then. Sorry I went off topic, but was just surprised to see Prophetstown mentioned. Small world!

Originally posted by RiverRunsFree
McDonalds is famous the world over and to some, it represents what people love or hate about America.

Dont you mean infamous? Its like a corporation that you just cant get away from because its everywhere now. I disagree that it represents America though. I dont think of Thailand when I have thai food. I dont think of Japan when I have sushi. McDonalds make hamburgers, mediocre ones with pretty bad taste but because the restaurants are everywhere and people have limited time to eat, its convenient.

I realize you have looked at the American culture part of McDonalds but you should check into the meat. Thats where the nightmare start. I heard from someone who works at one of their slaughter houses that they have to prod the cows just to get them up the ramp to their death. Because they only buy the worst cows they can find. They are cheap and people dont care about quality meat at McDonalds. They want cheap meat.

To me, the yellow M against the red background represents a yellow greasy M against a bloody red background. Like a picture from the floor on one of their slaughter houses.

If I lived in America, I would be more proud of having had Luther King living there once.

i'm curious when did they officially start poisoning the American people and also when did they start putting edible plastic in their burger??

Wow, do I have trouble with this entire post. ALL the facts are distorted. And I love how everyone is piling on the "McDonald's is evil" campaign. Exactly what is evil about this company?

The OP seems to be upset that Mr. Kroc wanted to include the entire family in his business model. What's wrong with that? If I owned a restaurant I would want the entire world to eat there. I want to have the maximum clientele humanly possible. Are you wrongly equating obesity with McDonalds? You actually want me to believe that if every McDonald's restaurant disappeared tonight that the whole nation would be skinny by the end of the month? The obesity problem would be solved?

Food additives? Is that it? Funny...just about every food manufacturer uses them but you're just crying about McDonalds. How come McDonalds is evil when they use them but nobody else is?

The claim that he drove the McDonald brothers out of business? So what!? When the McDonald brothers were content with a few franchises, Kroc wasn't. That's the business world. How many businesses have come and gone? Are you crying over Woolworth's, Kodak Film, American Motors, and TWA? They were driven out of business - why aren't you calling the corporations that did that evil too?

McDonalds is a shining example of efficiency, streamlining, and standardization. Their techniques are studied worldwide. They spend millions on research and development to give their customers what they want at the best possible profit, yes profit, that nasty word that seems to drive this board insane.

I understand where this animosity comes from. It's the stupid Occupy mentality. Corporation makes money therefore Corporation is evil. No mention of their charitable works whatsoever. No mention of their effect on the economy. Just knee-jerk reactionary bleating of the sheep.

People can criticize the food and/or business practices all they want, but there are still plenty of people spending money there, and it is still a great American success story! Personally, I don't think the food is very good quality, but I still eat there from time to time. I don't go there looking for a gourmet meal, and I don't go there looking for an organic meal, I go there looking for a $1 McDouble! I buy two of them, throw away one bun, and I have a low carb, efficient, cheap 4/10ths of a pound of something similar to beef, LOL! It serves its purpose.

People say Taco Bell is not real Mexican Food too. Of course not, I don't go there looking for a gourmet Mexican Meal, I go there for a a fast and cheap Taco.

GREAT THREAD!! Best job I've ever had was working at McDonalds! It taught me a ton of stuff about life, careers, the public, women, etc. I can trace a lot of my successes in life back to my year at McDonalds as a bright-eyed 17 year old.

reply to post by Foundryman


nah, we pretty much distrust and dislike all mega corporations who sacrifice human health and life to the all mighty buck. quit saying it's okay and lots of people still eat there, it's not okay just because we are surrounded by corporate slugs, don't just eat there because it's cheap and convenient, it's fugging killing people on the manufacturing and consumer side.

time for us to say "no it's not okay just because all the big companies are like that" quit being so damn lazy and make a stand while we still can.

reply to post by LittleBlackEagle

don't just eat there because it's cheap and convenient, it's fugging killing people on the manufacturing and consumer side.

People have a choice. McDonald's isn't killing people, their own choices are. If someone thinks it is appropriate to eat every meal at McD's, or feed their kids every meal there, or choose food based upon toys or movies, then natural selection comes into play. Let them kill themselves to free up the gene pool for better decision makers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a company making a profit. They are what they are. People need to be responsible for their own actions. I don't always have time to prepare an organic meal for a lunch, although I try to do it as much as possible, but on those days where I need some protein on the go, McDonald's serves a purpose.

Don't criticize the business for the actions of its irresponsible customers.

Hi OP
great thread, im salivating all over my keyboard now

just throwing this in there to add to your thread

Missing Lunar Tapes Found in Abandend McDonalds!

Originally posted by darkhorserider
reply to post by LittleBlackEagle

 

don't just eat there because it's cheap and convenient, it's fugging killing people on the manufacturing and consumer side.

People have a choice. McDonald's isn't killing people, their own choices are. If someone thinks it is appropriate to eat every meal at McD's, or feed their kids every meal there, or choose food based upon toys or movies, then natural selection comes into play. Let them kill themselves to free up the gene pool for better decision makers.

i have to strongly disagree there is plenty wrong with companies knowingly harming people whether their customers know about it or not.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a company making a profit. They are what they are. People need to be responsible for their own actions. I don't always have time to prepare an organic meal for a lunch, although I try to do it as much as possible, but on those days where I need some protein on the go, McDonald's serves a purpose.

Don't criticize the business for the actions of its irresponsible customers.

i will criticize the business for unscrupulous actions and no people aren't just responsible for their own actions, we are all responsible for each other and looking out for people who do not know about the rampant cashing in on the backs of human lives.

you can eat all that crap you like, but do me a favor and don't tell people it's okay because you don't care about your health. you could say to someone asking you about Mcds food, "it's garbage and bad for you" but i don't care so i eat it anyway.

Originally posted by Foundryman
Wow, do I have trouble with this entire post. ALL the facts are distorted. And I love how everyone is piling on the "McDonald's is evil" campaign. Exactly what is evil about this company?

The OP seems to be upset that Mr. Kroc wanted to include the entire family in his business model. What's wrong with that? If I owned a restaurant I would want the entire world to eat there.

Hi Foundryman, you are more than entitled to disagree with my OP, but I have to disagree that ALL the facts are distorted, I haven't distorted one fact, I've just posted facts with little or no personal opinion, it's just a summary of the history of McDonalds. Feel free to un-distort the facts you feel are wrong.

I'm not upset that Mr.Kroc wanted to include the entire family because it was originally the McDonalds idea.

Originally posted by Foundryman
McDonalds is a shining example of efficiency, streamlining, and standardization. Their techniques are studied worldwide. They spend millions on research and development to give their customers what they want at the best possible profit, yes profit, that nasty word that seems to drive this board insane.

As my OP stated it was the McDonalds that revolutionized the efficiency of fast food by studying Ford, Kroc wanted in on their ideas and business, eventually he took them out of business, this is the issue I was highlighting and all I said was Kroc doesn't seem that nice for doing so, one personal opinion of two stated in the entire OP, I think.

I'm not too sure where your getting the idea I'm against profit and business either, feel free to quote me, in fact I kept saying how much of a success their ideas were. For the record though, I am against profit when ethics are thrown away to achieve them, but that wasn't the point of my OP.

reply to post by GezinhoKiko


Thanks for the link.

That's crazy and funny at the same time, I'm loving it