1954, they hired Ray Kroc to handle the franchising, and he built it
into an empire. He eventually bought the whole company. The idea of using assembly lines and franchising caught on like
wildfi re. In the fi rst few years of the 1950s, a whole slew of people
went to check out the new McDonald’s and imitated it. Burger
King was founded in 1953, Wendy’s appeared shortly thereafter,
and other restaurants selling different kinds of foods followed the
same model—including Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and
Domino’s Pizza.
About 90 percent of all new jobs in the country are created by
McDonald’s Corporation. In fact, one in fi ve people in the United
States have worked at a McDonald’s. Annually, McDonald’s
hires about one million people, which is more than any other
corporation—public or private. In 1968, they had 1,000 restaurants,
and now they have 31,000 worldwide and open about 2,000 new
ones every year.
McDonald’s is also the
nation’s largest purchaser
of beef, pork, and potatoes,
which means that if you
want to sell potatoes, you
have to grow the kind that
work in McDonald’s fryers—
Russet Burbanks, which are
the same spuds you see in
every supermarket.
McDonald’s is the largest
owner of retail property in
the world, and they make
more money on rent than
on selling food. They also spend more on advertising than any
brand. A survey of American school children showed that 96
Fast-food hamburgers are often
associated with the American way
of life.© Stockbyte/Thinkstock.