McDonald’s
Fast-food restaurants are very popular in the United States. They are popular because the service is fast and the prices are low. Of all the fast-food restaurants, McDonald’s is probably the most famous and the most popular.
McDonald’s is popular for several reasons. Customers can get the same food at any McDonald’s in any state or country. The employees are helpful and polite, and the tables and floors are clean. Ray Kroc, past president of McDonald’s, believed that helpful employees, a clean restaurant, and good food were necessary.
McDonald’s customers do like the food. They like the sandwiches, the milk shakes, and the French fries. Of all the items on McDonald’s menu, the French fries are probably the most popular. They are good because of their special preparation.
Richard and Maurice McDonald, the original owners of McDonald’s, had their own special preparation of French fries. In 1948, they opened their first self-service restaurant in San Bernardino, California. People would come from everywhere to buy their French fries and hamburgers. Workers would buy their lunches at McDonald’s because the hamburgers and French fries tasted better than their lunches from home.
By 1960, the McDonald brothers owned 228 self-service restaurants. Then, in 1960, Ray Kroc, a 56-year-old salesman, bought the name and most of the restaurants for $2.7 million.
He then began to build new restaurants, and by 1982, he owned about 7,063. Of those restaurants, about 1,283 were in other countries.. Japan, West Germany (at that time), England, and Australia. That same year, McDonald’s Corporation earned about $7 billion.
McDonald’s is a big business, but it is not too big or too rich to help ordinary people. For example, owners of restaurants participate in special community programs for children or senior citizens. Other owners have carnivals (游艺会) to get money for medical research.
The corporation owns special houses near children’s hospitals. These Ronald McDonald houses are for sick children and their parents. Sometimes a child has to stay at a hospital for several weeks or months. Then the child’s parents can stay at a Ronald McDonald house. Staying at these houses is cheaper than staying at hotels, and the atmosphere is friendly and more homelike.
People go to McDonald’s not because of community programs or Ronald McDonald houses. They go because of food, the fast service, and the low prices. They are like David Green. He says, "McDonald’s is my favorite place to eat in the whole world. I wouldn’t move to any town that didn’t have one".
McDonald’sThe McDonald’s Corporation earned less money in 1982.