Happy Meals?

Our Fast Food Nation

Eric Schlosser (2001)Fast Food Nation. New York: Houghton-Mifflin

Morgan Spurlock (2004)Super Size Me. (film)

How the Chains Were Made

• How do founders’ personal histories resemble one another and explain the form of the industry?

Richard and Maurice (Mac) McDonaldCol. Harland Sanders

Who Founded the Chains?

Carl Karcher (born 1917) was from Ohio. His grandparents had immigrated from Belgium. Carl moved to CA and worked at a bakery. Karcher and his wife started a hot dog stand in Los Angeles in 1941, borrowing $311 against their Plymouth automobile and adding $15 from Margaret's purse. Thus began Carl’s restaurants.

Richard (born 1909) and Maurice ‘Mac’ McDonald moved from New Hampshire to CA at beginning of the Depression; their first drive-in was in 1937. By the end of 1940s they’d fired the carhops, closed the sit-down restaurant, and begun their “Speedee Service” system. Ray Kroc (1902-1984) was an ambulance driver during WWI and tried his hand at a number of trades, including selling milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country peddling his wares. He met the McDonalds and bought their business in 1955.

Harland Sanders (1890-1980) left school early, was a farm hand, mule tender, railroad fireman, lawyer (without degree), delivered babies, sold insurance, tires, operated gas station and restaurant in Kentucky. At 65, he began to sell his recipe dressed as a Kentucky colonel; first KFC in 1952

California is the home of Jack-in-the-Box, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Carl’s

Trends and Events• The American West, at least since Lewis & Clark (Pacific

expedition1803/05) and the Gold Rush (1948), has lured settlers

• The automobile industry, beginning with Ford’s Detroit plant (constructed 1917-1928) not only sold cars but promoted the interstate highway system, lobbied against public transportation (especially trams and the railways), and instilled in Americans a deep love for the automobile

• The Great Depression (1929-1941) forced people to travel far from their homes, take up a variety of jobs, and think creatively

• World War II mobilized people at home and abroad. Soldiers met people from all over the country; women went to work in the wartime economy. Broader horizons (geographical, race, gender roles, etc) profoundly changed attitudes and behavior.

Check the Nutrition Facts

http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.html (ingredients)http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/nutrition_info.html (food value)

The first McDonald’s was opened in 1948 in San Bernadino CA; this is the first with the chain’s distinctive architecture, built in 1953 in Phoenix AZ

The Economics of Fast Food• the sensation: p. 3

• 1970 $ 6 billion spent• 2000 $ 110 billion spent–more than on higher ed, computers, cars,

entertainment combined• 1968 1000 McDonald’s• 2006 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5

million people. • 2006 119 countries, six continents• Daily More than 47 million customers around the world served.

• 1 in 8 workers in US has been employed by McDonald’s• McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef, pork, potatoes, 2nd largest purchaser of

chicken, and the largest owner of retail property in the world• majority of profits are in rent• world’s most famous brand (replacing Coke)• 96% of schoolchildren recognize Ronald McDonald

Fast Food’s Long Reach• Diet –obesity, heart disease, food

consumption patterns. One in four adults eat every day at a fast-food restaurant

• Landscape –think about malls and chains

• Economy –in agriculture, minimum wage peaked 1973 and has gone down ever since

• Workforce –hires 1 million, more than any other organization public or private; advantage of the young is obedience; injuries 2x adult level minimum wage (p. 73)

• Taste –“carefully designed to taste good” food additives (p. 125)

• Popular Culture• the car culture: interstate hwy system,

vast parking lots, suburbs, etc• standardization ‘no surprises’• franchises (10% of these federally

backed loans, paid by your taxes, are defaulted)

uniformity “quality, service, cleanliness, value”

What is the Imagery?

The Psychology of Selling to Children

• Franchises in schools, hospitals, toys, etc

• School advertising and kids’ resistance – p. 55

• Ethical concerns: molding lifelong taste, promoting multinationals’ business, etc

Manufacturing Taste: Standardization

• What’s good about standardization? cleanlinessmeets expectationsnearby, good business hourssafe, well lighted

• What’s wrong with standardization?Drives local providers out of businessEmployee rights issuesReduction of the genetic diversity of plants

jeopardizes their ability to respond to new environmental challenges

Long-distance transport of food is wasteful of energyFranchise owners have little control “Have it your

way” = “do it our way”

Control over U.S. Food Supply• Captive supplies and ADM

p. 142-143• Meat packing plants

p. 149• Butchering: the ‘sticker’

p. 171• Line speed p. p. 173• Injuries p. 175• What’s in the meat?

pp. 198, 200• What do the animals eat?

p. 202• How many animals are in

your burger? p. 204

What is Vertical Organization?• “In micro economics and strategic

management, vertical integration is a theory describing a style of ownership and control. Vertically integrated companies are united through a hierarchy and share a common owner. Usually each member of the hierarchy produces a different product, and the products combine to satisfy a common need.”

• http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/vertical%20integration

• vertically organized companies p 40• Several examples of vertical

organization (pharmaceutical and entertainment companies, etc) in Barber’s (1995) book Jihad vs.McWorld

Power over the Global Diet• Fast food and US influence abroad

• example: the Plauen (Germany) McDonald’s p.225, 230

• What is the lure of fast food and fast food outside the US?

American style Modernism, a refreshing break with tradition

• resistance: Jose Bove against bad food (malbouffe), Slow Food movement, organic farming

• health issues: E. coli (McAllister’s) and salmonella

• cultural predation: noodle shops vs. MacDonald’s in Beijing

Politics, Poverty, and Food• The global industrialization of agriculture• Systematic eradication of family farms

Overproduction of food in rich countries is fuelling health problems worldwide

• http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/FoodDumping/Intro.asp • http://www.rxpgnews.com/health/food/article_2938.shtml

• Landraces, source of genetic diversity that ensrues successful adaptation, are threatened by commercial seed companies (example: the Austrian parliament’s decision not to allow the sale of heirloom seeds). A landrace is the prototype of contemporary plants. Landraces have heterogenous mixtures of genotypes that ensure adequate response to stressors. For example, the landrace for corn may be found in the mountains of Tamaulipas Mexico.

• This website reports a victory for Monsanto over a Canadian farmer• http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25740

Canadian farmers' traditional right to save seeds is being threatened by proposals to collect royalties on virtually all such seeds following agribusiness giant Monsanto's victory over grower Percy Schmeiser.

Should ADM Feed the World?

Should ADM Feed the World?

Solar activity contributed to a warming trend in global average temperature from the 1910s through 1930s.

As industrial activity increased following World War II, sun-blocking sulfates and other aerosol emissions helped lead to a slight global cooling from the 1940s to 1970s.

Since 1980, the rise in greenhouse gas emissions from human activity has overwhelmed the aerosol effect to produce overall global warming.

1900 2000

The Global Warming Wars

Is Ethanol a Good Use for Surplus?

Next Steps in Breaking Oil Dependency

• We must think through all the implications

• We must search for new solutions that do not further rely on fossil fuels

• We must consider the global effects of our policies

• We must understand the real costs