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Lindsay Fukui
Prof. Glen Silva
English 5-26
21 May 2009
McDonaldization is Not Worth the Cost of America’s Health
Fast food is still something new to America. Fast food restaurants began less than a
century ago and continue to boom across the United States. Fast food restaurants began with the
idea of a hot dog stand on the side of the road. People were able to buy a cheap hot dog on the
road and eat it in their car. The idea of a fast, cheap and easy way to eat gave the idea to start a
new way of eating. There are many advantages to the McDonaldization of America, such as the
increase in jobs, uniformity, convenience, and cheap prices, but the toll it is taking on America’s
health and our nation’s character outweighs all of the positive effects McDonaldization has on
America to grow in the food industry.
Fast food restaurants did not start as giant corporations. Surprisingly, boys who dropped
out of school to start their businesses started the famous fast food chains known to America
today. The famous fast food restaurants of today began in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. Carl
Karcher, the founder of Carl’s Jr., dropped out of school in the eighth grade to work full-time on
a farm. When Carl Karcher turned twenty, he moved to California. He opened a drive-in
barbeque in 1945, and the first Carl’s Jr. Restaurant in 1956. In 1937, Richard and Maurice
McDonald, the founders of McDonald’s, opened a drive-in restaurant in Pasadena, California.
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s dropped out of school at the age of fifteen and served as a
cook until he later opened a restaurant called Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers. Harland
Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, dropped out of school at the age of twelve.
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Harland Sanders had various jobs from working as a farm hand to selling insurance, but in 1952
after the age of sixty-five, he opened the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Fast food
chains began to stretch across America between 1960 and 1973 (Schlosser). The founders of the
fast food nation have shown us that no previous business skills are necessary to startup some of
the largest corporations known today. The success stories of these men prove that an education
may not be the most important key to achievement. The founders of the famous fast food chains
knew business and knew it so well they were able to change the way Americans eat.
Franchises have been expanding ever since the idea of chains of companies was
introduced. Franchises are growing swiftly, “although accounting for less than 10% of retail
businesses, over 40% of all retail sales come from franchises and they employ more than 8
million people” (Ritzer Reader 2). Franchises are popular in the United States and are so
rampant that a new franchise opens every eight minutes. Starbucks is a great example of fast
expansion. By 2003, Starbucks had increased the number of their shops more than ten times in a
matter of nine years. Not only are companies expanding in the United States, they are expanding
outside the country, globally. McDonald’s has a huge presence outside the United States, “over
half of McDonald’s restaurants are outside the United States…well over half of McDonald’s
revenue comes from its overseas operations” (Ritzer Reader 3). McDonald’s is now located in
118 nations and serves about 46 million customers each day. Japan alone has about 4,000
McDonald’s restaurants (Ritzer Reader). Fast food restaurants are becoming a big part of
society, especially in the United States. Approximately 280,000 fast food restaurants exist in the
United States, and as a whole, Americans will spend over $150 billion at them (Takeaway).
On the plus side of McDonaldization of America, there has been an increase in
employment. The fast food franchises have provided employment for all kinds of skill levels,
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which may include crewmember, head cashier, general manager, store supervisor, and owner.
Employees have all kinds of skill levels because it takes low to high skill levels to run the
different tasks. The point of a franchise is to be fast and efficient, “The universal aim of
McDonald’s and Burger King is for each employee to become proficient in every station and
auxiliary task so that workers are interchangeable” (Talwar 76). Fast food restaurants have made
the tasks of working easy to reduce the cost of labor and allow anyone to open and run a
restaurant alone. Just like the goal of fast food restaurants is to provide cheap food, they also run
the restaurant at a cheap price, “food service managers and supervisors are among the lowestpaid managerial positions” (Talwar 152). According to a study researched in New York, the
average weekly wage of managers is $286, while managers of retail stores and gas stations are
paid an average weekly wage of $552. Fast food chains do not provide a large enough salary to
last a lifetime but they do create jobs. Most managers of food service are not above the age of
forty (Talwar).
One advantage of McDonaldization is the uniformity of the franchises. Anywhere you
travel along the highways of America, there is a guarantee that there will be a Carl’s Jr., Burger
King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell or McDonald’s. The benefit of uniformity among each fast food
chain is the assurance that the products will be consistent from restaurant to restaurant. The
prices are the same, the quality is the same, and the efficiency is the same. Along with the
predictability of the product, there is also the predictability of hours of operation. Fast food
chains are open late for the midnight munchies and still sell the same product then as they do at
noon (Ritzer Reader). Taco Bell is known for their slogan of the fourth meal, between dinner
and breakfast, and is open until one in the morning or later. Wendy’s is known to be open until
one in the morning. Not only are fast food corporations easily accessible, they have joined to
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increase business. Kentucky Fried Chicken joined with A&W, Carl’s Jr. joined with Green
Burrito and Togo’s joined Baskin Robbins.
Another advantage to McDonaldization of America is convenience. Fast food is known
as convenience food because a customer only has to drive up to a window and exchange money
for a meal in a matter of minutes. There is no process of going to the grocery to buy the
ingredients, preparing the ingredients, cooking the ingredients, and then finally enjoying the
meal. Convenience food is easy to families constantly on the run. Children have after school
activities like sports practice, band practice, Girl Scouts, etc. Mom has to run her children
around from activity to activity and can conveniently pull up to a drive through window more
easily than cooking at home. Fast food restaurants are also convenient because of their
locations. Fast food restaurants are easily accessible to be even more convenient for their
consumers. Fast food restaurants are located at major intersections, highway interchanges,
malls, near schools, near office buildings, and near vacation spots.
Not only are fast food restaurants convenient, their products are also cheaply priced.
Most fast food restaurants are popular for their cheap prices. McDonald’s has a value menu and
a dollar menu to advertise cheap prices. Four-piece Chicken McNuggets and a side salad can be
found on the dollar menu. College students contribute to a great percentage of consumers of fast
food. College students are on a tight budget, and therefore look for great deals on meals. Not
only do fast food restaurants have great deals on meals, some restaurants have wireless internet.
McDonald’s recently updated some of their restaurants to contain wireless internet so you can
work and eat.
The advantages of McDonaldization can be clearly seen, but one disadvantage may
outweigh the plus side; the health issues that are arising due to the consumption of fast food.
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Fast food restaurants have become so popular because of their convenience, cheap prices and
wonderfully tasty food. However, these are dangerous combinations. Fast food restaurants are
no longer targeting just adults, they are also advertising to children. In a study of children in the
United States, researchers reported that between the years of 1977 and 1978, “children between
the ages of 12 and 18 got 6.5 percent of their total calories from fast-food chains or other
restaurants; in 1994-1996, nearly 20 percent of their calories were consumed in their
establishments” (Takeaway). That is an astonishing 73.5 percent increase of intake of calories
outside the home. Children are innocent when it comes to their intake of fast food because their
parents are responsible for their eating habits and overall health. Americans are now consuming
one-third of their daily calories outside their homes, mainly fast food, and spending half of their
income on previously prepared food (Young). Eating fast food as a part of the weekly diet is
unhealthy and can cause major damage to the body. Fast food consumption aids coronary artery
disease, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Studies have shown that consumers who eat
fast food more than twice a week gain 4.5 kg more weight (Stender).
Obesity is now the second leading cause of death in the United States to smoking. The
rate of obese children has doubled in the past forty years. The rate of obese adults has
Americans has doubled in the past fifty years. Today, America has at least thirty-seven states
that have obesity rates of fifteen percent or higher compared to the four states in 1991.
(Schlosser).
Not only are fast food restaurants creating tasty meals that are high in fat, calories, and
sugar, they are making the portion sizes bigger so the customers do not realize how much they
are consuming. Over the past 50 years, portion sizes of drinks and the food at fast food
restaurants have increased to as much as five times the original sizes (Stender). Among
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McDonald’s Wendy’s, and Burger King, all of their largest hamburgers offered surpass the
amount recommended by USDA. McDonald’s offers an 8 oz. portion of meat, while Wendy’s
and Burger King offer a 12 oz. portion of meat. The 12 oz. portion of meat offered at Wendy’s
and Burger King exceeds the recommended 5.5 oz. portion of meat by more than double. Since
the documentary Supersize Me was released, McDonald’s discontinued their supersizes of sodas
and French fries (Young). Large portion sizes, along with the high-energy density fast food
contains, creates an intake of too many calories. The high-energy density is the ratio of highenergy content to food-weight. The high-energy density causes health issues because “the
energy density of the entire menu at fast-food outlets is typically 1100 kJ/100 g. This is…more
than twice the energy density recommended healthy diets” (Stender). How does America
compare to the rest of the world? American is now one of the most obese countries of the entire
world. McDonald’s knows this as a fact through their use of their marketing schemes. For
example, McDonald’s has restaurants open internationally. Their products are the same from
restaurant to restaurant, yet in Sweden, their largest portion size of French fries and soda are 100
calories less than what is served in the United States (Young). America has the largest portion
sizes, so it is no wonder why Americans are having so many health issues.
Fast food franchises not only create tasty meals, high in calorie intake, with little
nutritional value, they continuously advertise their products to consumers. Fast food restaurants
have advertisements that can be recited by many Americans. McDonald’s slogan before “I’m
lovin’ it” was “put a smile on.” Taco Bell used the Chihuahua to advertise, “yo quiero Taco
Bell.” Fast food restaurants market their products to the tune of a catchy phrase or jingle and
quickly catch consumers’ attention. Children easily fall for these schemes because fast food
restaurants use the idea of kids’ meals. At most famous fast food restaurants, each kids’ meal
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comes with a toy. Children are easily persuaded by fast food companies because the toys in the
kids’ meals are usually from a popular television show or movie. McDonald’s features the
Happy Meal with all kinds of choices. Some of the Happy Meal choices try to make Mom happy
with the choice of apples instead of fries or juice instead of soda. Another scheme that fast food
restaurants use is their advertisement of their play structures. Children get to eat their kids’
meals and then play on the play structure. Play structures also make Mom happy because the
children can easily be supervised while Mom enjoys her meal. However, these influences on
children are negative because of effects they have on children’s health, “a survey of children’s
advertising in the European Union (EU) found that 95 percent of the food ads there encouraged
kids to eat foods high in sugar, salt, and fat” (Schlosser 243). Yes, apples may be substituted for
fries, but they are also served with caramel for dipping. Yes, juice may be substituted for soda,
but most juices are from concentrate and hardly contain real fruit juice. Advertisement only
causes Americans to spend more money at fast food restaurants and decrease their overall health.
Besides the decrease in health, what does the future of McDonaldization hold in store for
us? The franchises that are able to keep up to date and produce high-quality products will take
over those that cannot keep up. For example, Starbucks is a franchise that is McDonaldized and
still produces high-quality products. Starbucks is still predictable in what products they offer,
yet they offer a high-quality cup of coffee which people are willing to pay for (Ritzer Reader).
The future of McDonaldization is left in the hands of the consumers. Whether they will still love
that McDonald’s hamburger that has not changed since the company opened, or they want
something new and customized. Consumers will either fall into the hands of uniformity or
individualism.
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Uniformity is a great idea for America if consumers want consistent and predicted
products. However, uniformity puts small businesses out of business and takes over. Family
businesses will no longer exist with home cooked food, fresh ingredients and family recipes.
Rather, Americans will be eating McDonald’s hamburgers and Taco Bell nachos. Take
Spenger’s in Berkeley and Long John Silver’s for example. Long John Silver’s is a restaurant
that serves reheated frozen seafood. Long John Silver’s gets frozen seafood shipped to their
restaurants and then it is quickly fried or reheated and served to customers. On the other hand,
Spenger’s is nothing but fresh food and is conveniently located in the bay so they can serve the
fresh catch of the day. Spenger’s menu is fresh because it is changed daily depending on what is
in season and what was caught that morning. Spenger’s serves seafood, steak, along with fresh
baked bread. There is a seafood market right next to the restaurant that sells the fresh catch of
the day, clam chowder, and fresh sourdough bread. Spenger’s is one of a kind. The restaurant is
partly made out of parts of a boat that was used to catch fish. The entrance to the restaurant has
the steering wheel of the boat as handles of the front doors. In this example, individualism
defeats uniformity.
Uniformity does not go against what the founders of the fast food chains believed in. The
founders wanted to create a fast and easy way to eat on the go. They succeeded in their goal.
Fast food chains are fast and easy to eat, however this convenience came at a price. Making food
fast to prepare and easy to eat only creates a less nutritional and an empty calorie meal. The
founders also achieved their goal in giving their consumers choices. There are so many options
and ways to eat now, from fast food restaurants, to sit-down restaurants, to preparing meals at
home. The founders also believed in conformity with American times. The founders of
McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. both closed down their original barbecues to reopen as drive-in
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restaurants. This new change was to conform to the new American way of the automobile.
Schlosser spoke to Carl Karcher about what fast food restaurants are today,
I looked out the window and asked how he felt driving through Anaheim today, with its
fast food restaurants, subdivisions, and strip malls. ‘Well, to be frank about it,’ he said, ‘I
couldn’t be happier.’ Thinking that he’d misunderstood the question, I rephrased it,
asking if he ever missed the old Anaheim, the ranches and citrus groves. ‘No,’ he
answered. ‘I believed in Progress.’ (Schlosser 28)
Carl Karcher believes that business today is exactly what he dreamed, opening more franchises,
progress toward bigger and better things. The founders would be happy with what fast food
restaurants have become today because the dream was to have the franchises grow to the biggest
they could be. Fast food is going to reach the most consumed food if it has not already.
America is currently in the age of individualism. Look at the current teenagers of today.
Teenagers are dressed in styles from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, all different types of dress.
Alongside the individualistic style in dress, Americans also have the individualistic style in food.
Americans do consume a lot of fast food, as statistics show, but they also consume a lot other
types of food. McDonaldization has yet to take over, and there is a reason why it has yet to take
hold of the entire food industry. Americans like individualism and if Americans knows what is
good for them they will not let uniformity take over the nation. McDonaldization will continue
to grow, but it will not take over the nation.
All of the advantages of McDonaldization of America are great for the progress in the
fast food industry, but the toll it is taking on American’s health and our nation’s character
outweighs all of the rewards. Americans need to go back to home cooked meals and stay away
from fast food. The processed foods that fast food restaurants may eventually become so
processed and scientifically changed, consumers will return to the natural process of produce.
Simple food products are now genetically modified such as, tomatoes, potatoes and corn (Food).
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In the end, the natural process of growing food is the safest and healthiest way. Fast food
restaurants have changed the way Americans eat and as a result changed Americans’ overall
health. However, Americans will learn a new way of eating and along with the new changes will
come more progression in the fast food industry.