Several months back I wandered by the neighborhood used book store. Curious to look at the paperbacks they had on sale out on the street, for 50 centers or a dollar, I found a book published in the 1990s about McDonald’s. “Behind the Arches.” I bought it… for 50 cents! Best 50 cents I ever spent.
Such a well-written, well-researched enlightenment on the subject.
We eat at McDonald’s all our lives, but how many people actually know its history?
You can watch the movie The Founder, and though there is definitely some interesting history in there, it is somewhat one-sided to me, as it turns Ray Kroc into a sort of Citizen Kane type oligarch who wins at the mercy of the innocent McDonald’s brothers (who may have been pioneering restauranteurs but were not ambitious businessmen and, in fact, were standing in the way of the growth of McDonald’s).
I very much enjoyed this read because it seemed to treat the subject with respect. The makers of McDonald’s became human, people trying to help their company get ahead. I appreciated that.
Plus, there were numerous constant mentions of the virtues of the McDonald’s team: from the high quality customer service standards (the first in the industry to adopt strict standards) to the loyalty to suppliers, the loyalty to and enrichment of franchisees, many of whom became millionaires well before Kroc himself did.
Also, I appreciated the writer. Every single paragraph was filled with interesting prose that helped elucidate the subject in an interesting way.