FastFoodSource
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 posted on 4/16/2004 at 10:27 AM |
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Fast-food icon's first franchise opened 49 years ago Thursday
By JAN UEBELHERR
From the April 15, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As we shuffle off to pay our taxes today, it makes sense to try to think happy thoughts. Or even Happy Meal thoughts. For in addition to being tax
day, it is also a very special McAnniversary.
On this date in 1955, the first McDonald's franchise opened in Des Plaines, Ill., setting the stage for Happy Meals, supersizing, Mc-this, Mc-that.
Perhaps we can thank the whir of a busy Multimixer milkshake maker in a San Bernardino, Calif., hamburger stand for starting it all.
The history: Ray Kroc, who held distribution rights to the five-pronged Multimixer, heard of a place called McDonald's that had eight of his mixers
going at once.
He approached the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac, about opening more restaurants. Imagine all the Multimixers he'd sell if there were more
restaurants like the one run by the McDonalds.
And so Kroc opened the first of many McDonald's franchises to come - more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving 47 million people daily.
Today the Des Plaines restaurant is a McDonald's museum. It houses, among other things, the Multimixer.
The McDonald's story is so compelling that it shows up in David Halberstam's 1994 book, "The Fifties." Motivational speaker Bill Lampton refers to the
book in seminars, noting the feisty, savvy nature of the early McDonald's years - even before Kroc bought out the brothers. For example, early
McDonald's workers were asked to park in the parking lot to make it appear that business was brisk.
A hands-on manager, Kroc was known to tell workers, "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean." Kroc himself sometimes swept the lot at
the Des Plaines store.
But there's much more to those 49 years of franchise-hood. Famous people who once worked there, Happy Meals, McDonald's all over the world . . .
McWhat?
McDonald's has demonstrated an ability to change while preserving its meat-and-potatoes attraction in both America and foreign markets. Here's a
sampling of some dishes served up at faraway McDonald's restaurants:
The McHuevo in Uruguay: a hamburger topped with a poached egg
McSpaghetti in the Philippines: pasta in sauce with frankfurter bits
Samurai pork burger in Thailand: pork marinated with teriyaki sauce
Kiwiburger in New Zealand: a hamburger with a fried egg and a beet slice
Maharaja Mac: The Big Mac made palatable for Indians. It has two all-lamb patties - and the rest is the same.
Big Mak: the Big Mac, in Russia
Slogans through the years
McDonald's first motto was "QSC" (quality, service and cleanliness) in 1957. Other mottoes and jingles followed:
1961: "Look for the Golden Arches." The same year, the "All American Meal" campaign featured a hamburger, fries and milk.
1962: "Go for the goodness at McDonald's"
1965: "McDonald's - Where quality starts fresh every day"
1966: "McDonald's - The closest thing to home"
1967: "McDonald's is your kind of place"
1971: "You deserve a break today - so get up and get away to McDonald's"
1974: "Two all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun"
1975: "We do it all for you"
1976: "You, you're the one"
1979: "Nobody can do it like McDonald's can"
1981: McDonald's revived "You deserve a break today," its most successful campaign.
1984: "It's a good time for the great taste of McDonald's"
1990: "Food, folks and fun"
1992: "What you want is what you get"
1995: "Have you had your break today?"
1997: "My McDonald's" and "Did somebody say McDonald's?"
2000: "We love to see you smile"
2003: "I'm lovin' it" - the first global ad campaign in McDonald's history
Would you like fries with that?
By some estimates, 7% to 10% of the American work force first worked at McDonald's. Here are a few notables:
Andrew Dornenburg, chef and James Beard Award-winning author (with wife Karen Page) of five acclaimed culinary books, including "The New American
Chef." He worked at a McDonald's in the mid-1970s, when "the Filet-O-Fish Sandwich was the most exotic thing on the menu."
He notes: "Having my first job at McDonald's definitely taught me how to get organized in the kitchen, and to work fast and as part of a team. It
taught me the importance of a clean kitchen and good work habits."
Country singer Shania Twain. She was 14. In a series called "My First Job" in Reader's Digest, she told writer Daniel Levine that her manager's trust
in her led her to take on new responsibilities.
"I learned tons about the meaning of service there," Twain once said.
Punky pop diva Pink. In scenes that corporate types would probably rather not imagine (smoking at the drive-through window, handing out free fries to
pals), Pink describes her drug-hazed days at a McDonald's near Philadelphia.
"I was horrible," she told The bottomociated Press last year. "I would open (the restaurant), because I'd be tripping on acid . . . and I would
say, 'Could I have bathroom duty?' And I would sit in the bathroom and watch the tiles."
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Of his high school job at a McDonald's, he told fastcompany.com in a 2001 interview: "I learned that it's really
hard. I was a cook. They wouldn't let me anywhere near the customers. This was my acned-teenager stage. They were like, 'Hmm, why don't you work in
the back?'
"One of the great gifts I got from that job is I can crack eggs with one hand. My favorite shift was Saturday morning. The first thing I would do is
get a big bowl and crack 300 eggs into it."
Ladies and gentleman, the hamburger!
The first McDonald's hamburger was a basic 15-cent deal: Bun, one patty of meat, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions. In 1963, Ray Kroc served the 1
billionth McDonald's hamburger on "The Art Linkletter Show."
That same year, Lou Groen, the owner of a restaurant in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, came up with the Filet-O-Fish
Sandwich. It was the first addition to the original menu.
In 1967, McDonald's agreed to allow one of its restaurant owners to test the Big Mac: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,
onions on a sesame-seed bun. By the end of 1968, it was a regular on the national McDonald's menu, as was the Hot Apple Pie.
McDonald's gave kids another reason to smile in 1979 with the introduction of its Happy Meal box dinner. In honor of this year's 25th anniversary of
the Happy Meal, the Happy Meal Experience program will offer more variety in Happy Meals available all over the world. This includes yogurt smoothies
and flavored water in France, organic milk in the United Kingdom, 1% milk and apple dippers in the U.S. and Fish McDippers in Japan.
Other additions:
1972: The Quarter Pounder
1973: The Egg McMuffin
1985: The McDLT
1987: A variety of salads
1996: The Arch Deluxe. It was dubbed a more "adult" hamburger, but it fell short of expectations. Also part of this Deluxe Line was the McLean Deluxe,
a lower-fat burger. By 1998, the company was phasing out the line.
2001: The Big 'n Tasty
2000: Chicken McGrill and Crispy Chicken Sandwiches
2003: Premium salads and McGriddles (breakfast pancake sandwich)
Soooo big!
Supersizing began in 1994, and what a deal! For just a little more money, you got a lot more food. And calories. And fat.
Nearly 10 years later, it all caught up with McDonald's - and everyone else. Amid growing public health concern about obesity, McDonald's announced
last month that it would phase out supersizing.
Its latest marketing slogan: "Eat Smart, Go Active."
Sources: McDonald's Corp.; "McDonald's: Behind the Arches" by John F. Love; http://www.fastcompany.com/online/43/bezos.html; http://www.policyreview.org; bbq.about.com/library/weekly/aa070597.htm; http://www.forbes.com; http://www.cnn.com.
Fast Food Source - Where happiness comes in a paper wrapper!
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Anonymous
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![[*]](./images/oxygen/default_icon.gif) posted on 9/30/2004 at 08:27 PM |
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big tasty rule and i love them u cn burp in3 hours time and still tast it.
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ashleycolt
Small Fry
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Registered: 12/13/2009
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| posted on 12/13/2009 at 08:21 PM |
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Simulation pret immobilier
Supersizing began in 1994, and what a deal! For just a little more money, you got a lot more food. And calories. And fat.
Nearly 10 years later, it all caught up with McDonald's - and everyone else. Amid growing public health concern about obesity, McDonald's announced
last month that it would phase out supersizing.
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