Reading 1

Unit 7- Reading 1

Page 98

The Fast-Food Revolution

Maurice and Richard McDonald made a lot of money with their restaurant, but they grew tired of the stresses of ownership. The brothers were tired of searching for replacements when their cooks and waitresses quit. They were tired of replacing broken dishes and glassware and lost silverware. Before abandoning their successful business, however, they decided to try a new system of preparing and serving food.

A NEW KIND OF RESTAURANT

Their remodeled restaurant contrasted with the original. It served just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, and drinks. Paper wrappers and paper cups replaced the dishes and glassware. Silverware wasn’t needed because the restaurant didn’t serve any food that required a knife, fork, or spoon to eat. The professional cooks were gone, too. instead, food preparation was divided among several workers, each with a specific task.

One worker fried the hamburgers; another wrapped them in paper; a third cooked french fries; and another poured drinks. There were no servers. Customers ordered food and paid for it at a counter. Then they carried their own food to a table. This new system was like a factory assembly line.

Increasing the speed of food preparation increased the kitchen’s output and lowered its costs. The system revolutionized the restaurant business and introduced the term “fast food.”

ANOTHER FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT IS BORN

Carl Karcher heard that a nearby restaurant was selling cheap, albeit top-grade hamburgers for 15 cents. He was charging 35 cents for burgers in his own restaurant. when he visited the McDonald’s restaurant, he was astonished to see dozens of customers waiting in line to buy 15-cent so burgers while the assembly—line kitchen staff efficiently prepared their food. He acknowledged that this new restaurant system was a good business model. In 1956, Karcher opened his own fast-food restaurant and named it Carl’s Jr.

Around this time, Ray Kroc, a salesman who sold milkshake machines to restaurants, also visited the new McDonald’s restaurant. Kroc was impressed by its food preparation system. He persuaded the McDonald brothers to sell him the authority to build more McDonald’s restaurants across the United States. By 1960, Kroc had opened 250 of them. A decade later, there were nearly 3,000 restaurants in the McDonald’s restaurant chain, all owned by one corporation.

THE GROWTH OF A NEW INDUSTRY

The fast food industry grew because it was born at the right time. One factor was that the U.S. economy was expanding. The young people in the 1950s were an optimistic generation. They were Inclined to believe that they would be successful in life if they worked hard. Another important factor that led to the enormous growth of the fast food industry was the automobile. New technology had made automobiles dependable, affordable and easy to drive.

People bought new automobiles and wanted to go places. A national highway system, expanded during the 1950s, enabled U.S. families to drive long distances. They needed gasoline stations where they could refuel their vehicles and restaurants where they could eat. In time, hundreds of new gasoline stations were built along the highways. These were complemented by new fast-food restaurants where travelers could eat a quick meal.

THE MODEL SPREADS

The McDonald’s food service model was widely copied in these new restaurants, often by inexperienced owners who wanted to get rich quickly- Some of the new restaurants failed, but many succeeded. Like McDonald’s, some even expanded into nationwide chains with hundreds of restaurants throughout the country. Among the
contemporary start-ups in the 1950s and 1960s were Burger King, Wendy’s, Domino’s Pizza, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

These restaurants and others that copied the McDonald’s system revolutionized the food-service business. The successful chains of restaurants that were created soon inspired other kinds of retail businesses to form their own national chains.

Clothing stores, movie theaters, car rental agencies, bookstores, shipping services and hotels are just a few of the businesses that established nationwide chains. By the 1970s, the chain store business model was rapidly spreading overseas to other countries. where domestic companies created their own nationwide business chains.

Although many people worldwide rejected the idea of globalization, business chains were soon overlapping their national borders. National chains became international chains. By 2010. overseas businesses had become common in many countries around the world. A model for fast-food restaurant service helped to revolutionize business throughout the world.