McDonald's
McDonald's is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. A multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, it began as a modest hamburger restaurant at a single location in San Bernadino, California, run by two brothers, Maurice (Mac) and Richard (Dick) MacDonald. Ray Kroc, a travelling salesman for milkshake machines, was impressed by their highly organized operation during a visit in the 1950s, and hoped that by expanding their operations he would be able to place more of his mixers. Kroc and the McDonalds became partners and began to open new restaurants; the first franchised McDonald's was opened by Kroc himself in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 1955. After that, the business expanded rapidly and Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers' share in 1961 for $2.7 million, well on his way to becoming a billionaire. Today, McDonald's is still best known for its hamburgers and french fries but also sells many other food items.
Apart from selling fast food, McDonald's is also well-known for various controversial claims made by both the company and its critics. For example, the company was singled out by film-maker Morgan Spurlock in his documentary film Supersize Me for selling unhealthy products as a complete "meal"; Spurlock's methodology of eating nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days was vigorously criticised by the corporation, and attempts at reduplicating his experiences have produced mixed results. For several years in England the company was also at the center of the "McLibel" legal action, in which two environmental activists were sued by McDonald's for handing out leaflets in front of their restaurants claiming that their food was unacceptably poor, that the company damaged the environment, exploited workers, and pursued various other unethical practices. McDonald's eventually won its case in a London court but in 2005 the trial process was found to have broken human rights legislation by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that British libel laws were over-oppressive and that the environmentalists were denied legal aid .
External links
- mcdonalds.com - official website
- Supersize Me - website for the documentary film
- McLibel - documentary film