April 27, 2018 ▸ Corporation, People

Episode 292: McDonalds: Ray Kroc and That Mind-Controlling Clown

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we put the family in the car and hit the ultimate drive thru discussion to rap about discuss McDonalds. Staring out as a small drive through in the 1940s, this mega-corporation has become one of the largest on the planet. An estimated one in eight Americans have worked at a McDonalds, and they are so large that they account for 4% of all egg use in the US. So how did this small, brother-run operation become the biggest restaurant franchise ever?

It all started with a salesman named Ray Kroc. Kroc was an ex-ambulance driver from WWI who sold milk shake machines in Southern California. He ran into a small, clean drive thru run by Richard and Maurice McDonald and saw something different. The McDonald brothers had turned a burger joint into an efficient, clean, family friendly place where people could get a quick burger on their way home from work. Kroc immediately saw the potential and opened the second ever McDonalds and started to pursue ways to spread the restaurant as a chain.

Within a handful of years, there were drive thru McDonalds spots popping up in multiple states, and it had become very successful. Kroc ran the franchising with a fascist eye, making sure every restaurant was uniform in recipe, clothing, even color scheme. When the original founding brothers were found to be breaking Kroc’s rules, he even bought them out and shut them down.

So what’s there to talk about with McDonalds? How about marketing to children and ways they manipulate customers with their interior decoration? How about the largest lawsuit ever to happen in the UK, known as the McLibel suit? How about ridiculous McItems at foreign restaurants? How about the problem with them lying about beef in their French fries? Listen, laugh, learn.

Every Second at McDonalds: http://www.everysecond.io/mcdonalds

How to Get Free Fries: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a19866607/how-to-get-yourself-free-fries-at-mcdonalds-this-month/