Tag: McDonald’s

The Founder does not Flounder the History of McDonald’s

The world can either love McDonald’s or hate this fast food franchise chain even more after watching The Founder.

cezgbkauyaa20xxBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The world can either love McDonald’s or hate this fast food franchise chain even more after watching The Founder.

Myself, I find myself in the position of thinking this company had a huge share of problems when Ray Kroc was in charge during this company’s heydays. The fictional version is wonderfully and perfectly played by Michael Keaton. He oozes sleaze and I kept on being reminded of Donald Trump. When Kroc saw the potential of what Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch) McDonald — the true innovators — tiny operation could do: to provide fast food in a timely and tasty manner. Their expertise set the standards other operations now imitate and nobody can patent the assembly line process (If they could, I’m sure they’d be raking in the dough). Instead of having an expansive menu, they provided the basics and the people of San Bernardino, California loved it.

Kroc was a struggling travelling salesman working for a manufacturer of kitchen aids, Prince Castle. As the story introduces him trying to sell milkshake makers that can churn out eight of them at a time, nobody was interested. His shtick was to show them how progress has to be handled through efficiency. But his snide tactics had many a restaurateur closing the door on him. When a large order came from the McDonald’s operation, he drove all the way from Illinois (using route 66) to see what’s up. When he got there, he saw the potential of how the brother’s operation can become nation-wide.

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Ed’s Pokémon GO Journals — How Can This Game Evolve? (Part One)

maxresdefaultBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

As fun as this game is to catch a new Pokémon for the first time, the quest to catch them all is not easy. There’s a handful which requires travelling far and wide for, and others where the nests have not been identified yet. The latter requires exploring the entire town or city for. To be dedicated, the player has to start keeping a physical or mental journal, recording times when these pocket monsters have been spotted and hopefully returning to catch them on a regular basis. Over time, these critters can be raised and trained to fight other Pokémon.

Each Pokéstop is a landmark to admire. If this game is to evolve, I propose that the company work with museums and national parks to create new gyms and stops truly worth exploring. I do not like the fact it’s tailored for urban centres. The more mobile data being sent is indicative of which Pokémon can appear. I ask what happened to the thrill of the hunt at out-of-the-way places? The promo trailer made going out of urban centres and to large parks exciting!

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Wind up Geek’s Cool Japan: McDonald’s New Commercial, I’m Loving It.

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

McDonaldsJapanTeamI’m going to get this off my chest right now, I’m not fond of McDonald’s, at least not the North American version. It’s not McDonald’s food, it’s their marketing and how they’ve changed from a family restaurant to a cafe atmosphere, If I want to go to a café I would go to one that isn’t operated by a fast food company. That being said, I hear Japan‘s McDonald’s is run a little different from their North American counterpart. In the United States Ronald McDonald commercials may have been pushed out in favour of the “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle (based off the song “I’m Lovin’ It” by Justin Timberlake) in the world but in Japan they are at least creating interesting (and sometimes wacky) corporate commercials.

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