“The Founder” movie, which details the rise of longtime McDonald’s restaurant magnate Ray Kroc, opens in U.S. theaters today.
Oscar-nominated actor Michael Keaton stars in the film, who appears to put his intense, charismatic and fast-talking style to good use. Here’s the trailer for “The Founder”:
The film earns an 80 percent “fresh” rating from the Rotten Tomatoes website, a very good grade.
What’s lesser-known is the first McDonald’s restaurant was started by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California, at West 19th and 1398 North E streets (aka Route 66). At the time of its debut in 1940, it was called McDonald’s Bar-B-Que.
The roots of the McDonald brothers’ restaurants came from their father, Patrick, who opened The Airdome hot-dog restaurant on Huntington Drive (aka Route 66) in Monrovia, California, in 1937.
So the Route 66 roots for McDonald’s are substantial.
The McDonald brothers found out selling hamburgers was more profitable than barbecue, and they rejiggered the operation. The duo made food preparation more efficient, and they rechristened the restaurant simply as McDonald’s in 1948.
The brothers rejiggered the restaurant again in 1952 for more food-prep efficiency and added the now-trademark look of the golden arches and the Speedee mascot, plus a lot of chrome, neon lighting and red and white colors.
This entry in Wikipedia indicates how obsessed the McDonalds were with efficiency:
Further marketing techniques were implemented to change McDonald’s from formerly a sit down restaurant to a fast food chain, they used such things as turning off the heating to prevent people wanting to stay so long, fixed and angled seating so the customer would sit over their food promoting them to eat faster, spreading the seats further apart so being less of a sociable place to dine in, and giving their customers branded cone shaped cups forcing them to hold their drink whilst eating which would speed up the eating process.
The McDonald brothers began to franchise their restaurant in 1953. Kroc eventually took over franchising the restaurants throughout the nation and soon bought out the brothers’ rights.
The McDonald’s corporate office doesn’t seem motivated to acknowledge its history in San Bernardino. However, Juan Pollo restaurant chain owner Albert Okura owns the Original McDonald’s Site and Museum in San Bernardino, which is chock-full of McDonald’s memorabilia. It’s worth a stop just to take a trip down memory lane.
Many roadies dislike McDonald’s because it’s a national chain that symbolizes the so-called homogenization of America.
However, it’s worth noting that other restaurant chains now are viewed with nostalgia by roadies.
Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger in Miami, Oklahoma, once was part of a string of 200 restaurants. It is the only survivor.
Stuckey’s dominated the roadside market during the 1960s. It dwindled to fewer than 100 locations.
At a few locations, McDonald’splayed up its 1950s look, including its Speedee mascot. And the McDonald’s chain has struggled financially a few times in recent years. It’s probably not going away soon, but today’s despised corporation might become tomorrow’s nostalgia trip before you know it.
(Hat tip to Tampa Bay Times; publicity image for “The Founder movie via Facebook)
The Original McDonald’s Museum is definitely worth the stop if you’re in San Bernardino. We were fortunate enough to run into Albert Okura and spent the next 2 hours learning the history of McDonald’s.He’s a great guy and we really enjoyed it.