Are burgers and fries a product of the profound social changes of the past 50 years, or were they to a large extent responsible for them The author of this diatribe against multinational restaurant brands opts for the latter explanation. "There is nothing inevitable about the fast food nation that surrounds us," he concludes. "The triumph of McDonald’s and its imitators was by no means pre-ordained." But it happened nevertheless and. in his view, it is to be blamed for many of the evils of modem America and their global spread. The emergence of the corporate colossus, followed inexorably by its deionization, is a familiar pattern in American business history. The modem phenomenon of fast food originated in California just before the Second World War. Its first manifestation was kerb service, with meals delivered to motorists by handsome young carhops. Richard and Maurice McDonald. who ran a drive-in burger bar in San Bernardino near Los Angeles, became tired of having constantly to replace their carhops and wash up crockery and dishes. In 1948 they decided to make customers serve themselves, while restricting the menu to items that could be prepared by unskilled cooks and eaten without plates, knives or forks. The McDonald brothers were soon bought out by the entrepreneurial Ray Kroc, who franchised their name and techniques so successfully that there is now scarcely a comer of the world that is free from their trademark golden arches, invariably spawning a cluster of rival chains selling hamburgers, pizzas, or fried chicken, handed out by smiling teenagers willing to accept minimal pay. They are cheap, cheerful, popular, and children love them. So just what is Mr. Schlosser’s beef Apart from his nutritional reservations—too much fat, salt and sugar—he proves how. as the chains expanded, they were able to dictate terms to the suppliers of potatoes and ground beef, their staple ingredients. This caused an upheaval in agribusiness, as a few large suppliers quickly forced less efficient producers out of the market. The drive to keep down costs and increase the speed of production led to the employment of cheap unskilled labor and. to the widespread toleration of dangerous and unhygienic practices among growers and processors, which regulatory bodies have failed to police. Mr. Schlosser, who is a skillful and persuasive investigative reporter, sees all this as a damaging corruption of the free market. He is especially angered by promotional techniques aimed at impressionable children. A 1997 giveaway of Teenie Beanie Babies increased the sale of McDonalds’ Happy Meals from 10m a week to 10rn a day. And a survey found that 96% of American schoolchildren could identify Ronald McDonald, the chain’s mascot. Only Santa Claus scored higher.
Are burgers and fries a product of the profound social changes of the past 50 years, or were they to a large extent responsible for them The author of this diatribe against multinational restaurant brands opts for the latter explanation. "There is nothing inevitable about the fast food nation that surrounds us," he concludes. "The triumph of McDonald’s and its imitators was by no means pre-ordained." But it happened nevertheless and. in his view, it is to be blamed for many of the evils of modem America and their global spread. The emergence of the corporate colossus, followed inexorably by its deionization, is a familiar pattern in American business history.
The modem phenomenon of fast food originated in California just before the Second World War. Its first manifestation was kerb service, with meals delivered to motorists by handsome young carhops. Richard and Maurice McDonald. who ran a drive-in burger bar in San Bernardino near Los Angeles, became tired of having constantly to replace their carhops and wash up crockery and dishes. In 1948 they decided to make customers serve themselves, while restricting the menu to items that could be prepared by unskilled cooks and eaten without plates, knives or forks.
The McDonald brothers were soon bought out by the entrepreneurial Ray Kroc, who franchised their name and techniques so successfully that there is now scarcely a comer of the world that is free from their trademark golden arches, invariably spawning a cluster of rival chains selling hamburgers, pizzas, or fried chicken, handed out by smiling teenagers willing to accept minimal pay. They are cheap, cheerful, popular, and children love them. So just what is Mr. Schlosser’s beef Apart from his nutritional reservations—too much fat, salt and sugar—he proves how. as the chains expanded, they were able to dictate terms to the suppliers of potatoes and ground beef, their staple ingredients. This caused an upheaval in agribusiness, as a few large suppliers quickly forced less efficient producers out of the market. The drive to keep down costs and increase the speed of production led to the employment of cheap unskilled labor and. to the widespread toleration of dangerous and unhygienic practices among growers and processors, which regulatory bodies have failed to police.
Mr. Schlosser, who is a skillful and persuasive investigative reporter, sees all this as a damaging corruption of the free market. He is especially angered by promotional techniques aimed at impressionable children. A 1997 giveaway of Teenie Beanie Babies increased the sale of McDonalds’ Happy Meals from 10m a week to 10rn a day. And a survey found that 96% of American schoolchildren could identify Ronald McDonald, the chain’s mascot. Only Santa Claus scored higher.
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