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McDonald's Corporation
Company typePublic (NYSE: MCD)
IndustryRestaurants
FoundedMay 15, 1940 in San Bernardino, California
HeadquartersOak Brook, Illinois, United States
Key people
Dick and Mac McDonald, Founders
Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's Corporation
Jim Skinner, CEO
Michael J. Roberts, President/COO
Ronald McDonald, Corporate Mascot
ProductsFast food, including Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and sundaes
RevenueIncrease$20.460 Billion USD (2005)
9,371,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
Increase$2.602 Billion USD (2005)
Total assets52,626,800,000 United States dollar (2020) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
45777 (2005)
Websitewww.mcdonalds.com

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

The company was founded 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's restaurants are found in 119 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 and Boston Market, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill through the spring of 2006, when it was in the process of selling its stake. 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. Some PlayPlace playgrounds have been renovated into "R Gym" areas, which emphasize physical activity. [1]

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.

MCDONALDS MAKES YOU FAT AND FAT IS GOOD

Criticisms

McDonald's has tried to shore up their environmental image.

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[citation needed], 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), and contributing to suffering and exploitation of livestock.

In the early 1990s, two British activists, David Morris and Helen Steel founded a group opposed to McDonald's and distributed leaflets making similar charges against the company. Allegedly, McDonald's sent dozens of spies who intercepted and monitored their meetings. Later, McDonald's exploited Britain's libel laws (which place a burden to prove a claim is true on the person making the statement as opposed to requiring the claimant to prove it false or malicious, as in the American system) and sued Morris and Steel. McDonald's hired a strong legal team, while Morris and Steel represented themselves. What followed became known as the "McLibel Case," where McDonald's advertising techniques and business practices were scrutinized in the High Court of Justice in London. In June 1997, the justice presided over the case ruled largely in favor of McDonald's, but also agreed that some of the claims made by Morris and Steel were true and justified. An appeal made by Morris and Steel saw the first ruling changed at the expense of McDonald's.

In 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included scathing criticism of McDonald's' business practices. Among the critiques are allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast-food industry) uses its political influence to increase their own profits at the expense of people's health and the social conditions of its workers. The book also brings into question McDonald's advertisement techniques where it targets children taking advantage of their innocence. While the book does mention other fast-food chains, it focuses primarily on McDonald's.

In June 2004, the UK's Private Eye reported that McDonald's was handing out meal vouchers, balloons, and toys to children in pediatric wards. This was especially controversial as the report was made within weeks of a British Government report stating that the present generation may be the first to die before their parents due to spiraling obesity in the British population.

Also in 2004, Morgan Spurlock's documentary film Super Size Me produced negative publicity for McDonald's, with allegations that McDonald's food was contributing heavily to the epidemic of obesity in American society, and failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. For 30 days Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's (supersizing whenever asked) and by the end of the month Spurlock reported mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and had gained 24.5 pounds (11.11 kg). Subsequent to the showing of the film at the Sundance Film Festival, but before its cinematic release, McDonald's phased out its Supersize meal option and began offering several healthier menu items, though no link to the film was cited in this decision. They also began a practice of putting all nutritional information for all menu items in light grey small print on the reverse of their tray liners. The company is currently fazing in nutritional labelling in clear black print on the actual packaging of its food items. Several other people later similarly ate only at McDonald's for a month, but by choosing menu items more judiciously and exercising frequently, showed no ill effects[citation needed] (Spurlock ate everything on the menu at least once, always accepted upsizing requests of McDonald's employees, and continued to eat after he was full. At the same time he conciously attempted to get little or no excercise.). Merab Morgan, a North Carolina woman, was even able to lose weight [2]. She claimed that the transparency of nutritional information made it easy to control her daily caloric intake.

Main article: McDonald's legal cases

McDonald's has been involved in a number of lawsuits and other legal cases, most of which involved trademark disputes. The McLibel case, in which the company won a pyrrhic victory in a British libel suit is probably the best known.

Global impact

Countries with McDonald's stores

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-1970s) 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.

File:Mcdonalds drive in.JPG
A typical McDonald's Menu
Main article: McDonald's menu items

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

Main article: 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.
  • The first McCafe store in the world was opened in Melbourne in 1993
  • 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.
  • The volume of food used annually by UK McDonalds Restaurants according 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

  • McDonald's Canada incorporates a maple leaf into the Golden Arches logo.
File:McDonaldsgroup.jpg
From left to right: Hamburglar, Ronald McDonald, Grimace and Birdie the Early Bird (as they appeared in a series of commercials for McDonald's).

See also

Documentaries about McDonald's Corporation

Parodies

  • In the 1973 film Sleeper, Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) stops at a McDonald's from the year 2173, whose sign showing the number served to date as a '1' followed by fifty-three 0's.
  • 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 arcs" rather then "arches" and his signature hamburger was the "Big Mic (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 fast-food restaurant called WcDonald's. Its logo is a "W" which is identical to the golden arches of McDonald's, except it is upside-down. In another anime, Please Save My Earth, a restaurant with a similar logo appears.
  • In the animated series Beavis and Butt-head, the duo works in a fictitious fast-food restaurant called Burger World with a golden upturned arches as a sign.
  • In the video game series Space Quest, a recurring location is the fictitious fast-food restaurant called Monolith Burger which has a more pointy version of the golden arches as its sign.
  • On an episode of Robot Chicken, Mayor McCheese is a real mayor.
  • In the cartoon Invader Zim, there is a fast food chain called McMeaties
  • In the anime series SuperGALS, the McDonald's Arch Logo can be seen, however it's flipped upsided down.

Gitmo's fast food

In 1986, Guantánamo became host to Cuba's first and only McDonald's restaurant, as well as a Subway.[1] 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.[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to McDonald's.
Look up mcdonald's in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ Warner, Margaret (2003). "INSIDE GUANTANAMO". Online NewsHour. Retrieved 2006-03-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Corera, Gordon (2006). "Guantánamo Bay's unhappy anniversary". The New Nation. Retrieved 2006-03-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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