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McDonald's
 

McDonald's Corporation () is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants.

The company began in 1940 with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald, but it was their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 that established the principles of the fast-food restaurant. However, the company today dates its "founding" to the opening of CEO Ray Kroc's first franchised restaurant, the company's ninth, in 1955.

Corporate overview

McDonald restaurants are found in 118 countries and territories around the world. They serve nearly 50 million customers each day. The famous company operates other restaurant brands, such as Aroma Café, Boston Market and Chipotle Mexican Grill, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. Until December 2003, it also owned Donatos Pizza. It also has a subsidiary, Redbox, which started in 2003 as 18-foot (5.5 m) wide automated convenience stores, but as of 2005 has focused on DVD rental machines.

Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer both counter and drive-through service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating. Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, Pay and Drive or McDrive as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two steps are frequently combined. In some countries "McDrive" locations near highways offer no counter service or seating. In contrast, locations in high-density city neighborhoods often omit drive-through service. There are also a few locations, located mostly in downtown districts, that offer Walk-Thru service in place of Drive-Thru.

Specially themed restaurants also exist, such as "Rock-and-Roll McDonald's" 1950s themed restaurants. Some McDonald's in suburban areas and certain cities feature large indoor or outdoor playgrounds, called "McDonald's PlayPlace" (if indoors) or "Playland" (outdoors). The first PlayPlace with the familiar crawl-tube design with ball pits and slides was introduced in 1987 in the USA, with many more being constructed soon after. Due to lawsuits over kids playing and getting hurt, however, many of these are no longer in use.

The McDonald's Corporation's business model is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinary franchise fees, supplies, and percentage of sales, McDonald's also collects rent, partially linked to sales. As a condition of the franchise agreement, the Corporation owns the properties on which most McDonald's franchises are located. The UK business model is different, in that fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois.

According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's. The book also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, potatoes, and apples. The meats McDonald's uses vary with the culture of the host country.

History

McDonald's founders' (Dick and Mac McDonald) first venture into the food business was in 1937, when they opened a hot dog stand in Arcadia, California. They opened the first McDonald's restaurant on May 15, 1940, in San Bernardino, California. Hamburgers proved to be their most popular product, so in 1948 the brothers introduced their "Speedee Service System," a streamlined assembly line for hamburgers that allowed them to produce burgers quickly and inexpensively. Their cheap burgers were very successful, and in 1953 they began to franchise McDonald's restaurants. Entrepreneur Ray Kroc visited the first restaurant in 1953, and sensing its potential, he convinced the brothers to put him in charge of franchising. He later purchased the brothers' interest in the company, and oversaw its worldwide expansion.

Criticisms

McDonald's faces varying problems. Some of these are unique to franchising. As one of the world's largest and best recognized franchise systems, it must endeavour to successfully deal with matters of internal cohesion between the interests of its franchisees and that of the franchisor. At the same time, its global reach and broadly standard product line and level of service have led to McDonald's becoming the target of anti-globalization protests, and as the highest-profile fast food company, it is often blamed for obesity and excessive packaging waste. Its moves to protect its reputation and trademarks have at times been seen as heavy-handed.

As the world's largest restaurant chain, McDonald's also finds itself a target for external criticism. Even though its foreign franchise locations are usually locally owned and use locally-produced foods, the company is seen as a symbol of American domination of economic resources. Urban legends about the company and its food are plentiful and it is often the target of unusual lawsuits.

McDonald's has been the target of criticism for allegations of exploitation of entry-level workers, closing down stores once the workers unionize, use of sweatshop labor to produce "happy meal" toys, ecological damage caused by agricultural production and industrial processing of its products, selling unhealthy food, production of packaging waste, exploitative advertising (especially targeted at children, minorities, and low-income people), and contributing to suffering and exploitation of livestock.

Legal cases

See Legal cases of McDonald's.

Global impact

McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred as the "Mcdonaldization" of society. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac index" (the price of a Big Mac) as an informal measure of purchasing power parity among world currencies. Because McDonald's is closely identified with United States culture and lifestyle, its international business expansion has been termed part of Americanization and American cultural imperialism. McDonald's remains a target of anti-globalization protesters worldwide.

Thomas Friedman observed that no country with a McDonald's had gone to war with another. His "Golden Arches Theory" has since been disproved, first when the U.S. invaded Panama (which has had McDonald's restaurants since the late 70s) in 1989, and later when NATO bombed Serbia in 1999.

Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets it enters. A group of anthropologists in a study entitled Golden Arches East (Stanford University Press, 1998, edited by James L. Watson) looked at the impact McDonald's had on East Asia, and Hong Kong in particular. When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions.

In addition to its effect on business standards, McDonald's has also been instrumental in changing local customs. By popularizing the idea of a quick restaurant meal, Watson's study suggests, McDonald's led to the easing or elimination of various taboos, such as that on eating while walking in Japan. McDonald's also flattens the social strata during dining -- there is no problem of losing face for certain customers (who might be embarrassed when someone else ordered a more expensive item in a restaurant; as the food at McDonald's is all similarly priced, this ceased to be an issue).

The larger McDonald's grows, the more vulnerable it becomes to negative customer perceptions. In light of this, McDonald's has shown an unusual level of desire to cater to varying cultural requirements, such as by customizing its menu to each country. The introduction of the Filet-O-Fish to cater to Catholic abstinence is one example of this. However, the company at one point also became involved in controversy when it was revealed that french fries were cooked in non-kosher and non-halal beef tallow, which greatly upset Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and vegetarian customers, to whom it had been claimed that the fries were in fact kosher.

In other cases, the firm has shown itself ready to adjust its business practices. When environmentally damaging packaging and waste produced by the company's restaurants became a public concern, McDonald's started a joint project with Friends of the Earth to eliminate the use of polystyrene containers and to reduce the amount of waste produced.

Menu

McDonald's offers a variety of fast-foods, desserts, and beverages. Some items are only specific to certain regions. In the beginning of 2006, McDonald's started printing Nutrition Facts on the packaging of their products after pressure from concerned individuals to include them on the packaging, citing that the often hidden nutrition charts and pamphlets were not comprehensive enough.

McDonald's TV campaigns and slogans

To date, McDonald's has used a total of twenty-three different slogans in United States advertising, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions.

Trivia

  • In Oak Brook, Illinois, where the company headquarters is located, is the first Hamburger University, a school for future executive managers of regional franchises. Adjacent to the building is a McDonald's-themed hotel. Similar "Hamburger U" training schools have been set up around the world.

  • McDonald's is well known for its sponsorship in American sports. It is the official fast food of the U.S. Olympic Team, and has former NBA superstar Michael Jordan as a spokesperson. McDonald's is also famous for its longtime sponsorship of Bill Elliott's NASCAR team. Kasey Kahne now carries the Golden arches on his #9 car. McDonald's also sponsors Sebastien Bourdais' #1 car in CART Champ Car competition.

In the 1980's, the New York Mets had a player in their farm system named Ronald McDonald. Unfortunately, he never made it to the major leagues.

  • The volume of food used annually by UK McDonalds Restaurants accordign to the McDonalds Area Management Guide:

Beef: 32,000 Tonnes Chicken: 21,500 Tonnes Potato products: 86,000 Tonnes Eggs: 100 Million Buns: 667 Million Milk shake and sundae: 40 Million Litres Cheese: 7,250 Tonnes

See also

McDonald's Canada incorporates a maple leaf into the Golden Arches logo.

Documentaries about McDonald's Corporation

  • The emergence and evolution of McDonald's business in Japan is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in America.
  • Morgan Spurlock's diet of nothing but McDonald's for 30 days is documented in Super Size Me.
  • McLibel 2005 (remake of 'McLibel - two world's collide' (1997)) from Spanner Films http://www.spannerfilms.net/?lid=161

Parodies

  • In the 1973 film Sleeper, Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) stops at a McDonald's from the year 2173, whose sign shows dozens of 0's on it.
  • In one Calvin and Hobbes strip, Calvin refers to "McZargalds, over 75 Million Earthlingburgers served."
  • In a skit on his popular show, Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle portrays a young black man (Calvin) who gets a job at the local WacArnolds.
  • In the movie Coming to America Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall go to work at a franchise called McDowell's, which is so similar to McDonald's that the owner is constantly shooing off people taking pictures of the place and accusing him of copyright infringement. Apparently his "differences" were the "golden archs" rather then "arches" and his signature hamburger was the "Big Mick (or Mc)" which distinguishes itself from the Big Mac only by not having sesame seeds on its bun.
  • In the anime series InuYasha Kagome, a main character sometimes is seen eating at a restraunt called "Wacdnards." Its logo is a W which is identical to the golden arches of McDonalds, except it is upside-down.
  • In the animated series ''Beavis & Butthead, the duo works in a fictitious fast food restaurant called Burger World with a golden upturned arches as a sign.

Gitmo's fast food

In 1986, Guantánamo became host to Cuba's first and only McDonald's restaurant, as well as a Subway. These fast food restaurants are on base, and not accessible to Cubans. It has been reported that detainees showing good behavior have been rewarded not only with dates, pita bread and even Twinkies, but also 'Happy Meals', hamburgers or Filet-O-Fish sandwiches from the McDonald's located near the Navy Exchange.

Gallery

Image:McNew_York_Times_Square.JPG|McDonald's in Times Square, New York Image:McMoab.JPG|McDonald's + Drive Thru in Moab (Utah) Image:McDonaldspittsburgh.jpg|McDonald's + Drive Thru in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Image:SGMcD.JPG|A McDonald's restaurant in Singapore. Image:McAmsterdam.JPG|McDonald's in Amsterdam

References and external links

1940 establishments | Dow Jones Industrial Average | McDonald's | Fast-food chains of the United States | Fast-food franchises | Fast-food burger restaurants | Fortune 1000 | Multinational companies | Companies based in Illinois

مكدونالدز | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald’s | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | 맥도날드 | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | מקדונלד'ס | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | マクドナルド | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | McDonald's | Mcdonalds | McDonald's | Мекдоналдс | McDonald's | McDonald's | แมคโดนัลด์ | 麦当劳公司

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "McDonald's".

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