Nobody Can Do It Like 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.

And McDonald's customers do like the food. They like the sandwiches, the ice-cream, and the French fries, slices of potato cooked in oil. 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 7063. Of those restaurants, about 1283 were in other countries: Japan, Germany, 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 take part in special community programs for children or senior citizens. Other owners have festivals 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 friendlier and more homelike.

People don't go to McDonald's because of community programs or Ronald McDonald houses. They go because of the 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."

Because McDonald's is a good business, thousands of people apply for restaurant ownership each year. McDonald 's, however, chooses only 10 percent of the applicants. Every year, many business people, doctors, or lawyers leave their jobs to become owners. Guy Roderick, a lawyer, gave up his law practice, moved to Florida, and opened 4 restaurants. He works every day of the week, but he earns "a million dollars in happiness".

It is not easy to become the owner of a McDonald's restaurant. New applicants must first observe and then work in a McDonald's restaurant for about 500 hours. Then they spend 10 days at Hamburger University. There they learn everything about owning a restaurant. They learn how to clean a stove, how much food to buy, and how to balance the books. They graduate with a major in "hamburgerology" and a minor in "French fries".

The applicant's name then goes to the bottom of a list. When each name gets to the top of the list, the applicant gets a restaurant. Applicants cannot choose a city or town, but they can accept or reject a location.

After the new owner accepts a location, he or she chooses the basic design of the restaurant. Most McDonald's look almost the same on the outside, but actually there are about 16 different basic designs. Then the owner designs the inside of the restaurant. The design may have a Western, a sports, or a historical theme. Each design, however, will suit each owner's taste.