Topic > McWorld: the globalization of the food industry empire

McDonalds. What started as a humble, family-owned drive-through has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry. Everywhere you go, there are reminders of how surprisingly mainstream this company has become, whether seeing McDonald's famous golden arches on a billboard or hearing the catchy tune "I'm Lovin' It" in a commercial. But above all, McDonalds has become part of our global identity: our McWorld. In 1940, McDonalds was not the multi-million dollar industry that people recognize today. In fact, it started as a small drive-in style barbecue restaurant, owned by Dick and Mac McDonald, in San Bernardino, California. However, in 1948, the entire operation of the restaurant was changed, making it the dawn of the McDonald's empire. This new drive-in, like other drive-in restaurants of its time, struggled to make large profits, due to selling low-priced food using traditional, often labor-intensive and expensive methods. But the McDonald brothers solved this problem by reducing the 25 menu items to nine: hamburger, cheeseburger, soda, milk, coffee, chips and a slice of cake. Their staple product, the 30-cent hamburger, accounted for 80% of total sales. The brothers later adapted production to that of the Fordist assembly line to make the entire operation fast and efficient, halving the price of their items, including their prized hamburger. (http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_history_timeline.html?DCSext.destination=http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcd_history.html).When, why and where McDonalds was born globalize?In 1954, Ray Kroc, a multimixer salesman, came across the McDonald brothers' restaurant and was inspired to join the bu......middle of paper......October 1, 2013..Doctor, Vikram . "Think globally, act locally | Features | Search." Research-live.com: News, analysis and jobs for market researchers. Np, October 2001. Web. October 26, 2013..Roy, KNp, n.d. October 21, 2013..Von Worley, S.. Np. Network. 10 Nov 2013.Vignali, Claudio. "McDonald's: “think global, act local” – the marketing mix." British Food Journal 103.2 (1899): 97-111. Network. November 17, 2013..www.personal.psu.edu. Np, nd Web. 5 October. 2013. .