I’m starting a new job today – I am SO excited! And it’s made me think about my first job. Like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and pop singer Pink, my first job was working at McDonald’s. If you were 16 and growing up in Wapakoneta, Ohio in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, McDonald’s was a great place to work because the managers there worked around your school schedule. Given that I was in band, show choir, chorus and the high school musicals, flexibility in my work schedule was a must!
But I digress, since McDonald’s was my first employer, here are some fun facts about the Golden Arches you may not know:At any given time, McDonald’s employs over 400,000 people. The book “Fast Food Nation” estimates that 1 in 8 people in the United States has worked at a McDonald’s at some point in their career.
- At any given time, McDonald’s employs over 400,000 people. The book “Fast Food Nation” estimates that 1 in 8 people in the United States has worked at a McDonald’s at some point in their career.
- While Mickey D’s is an iconic American company, a greater percentage of their total sales happens in Europe than in the U.S.
- If you think McDonald’s is a restaurant business, you’re only partially right – they’re actually one of the biggest real estate companies in the world. That’s right – McDonald’s owns the land under a huge percentage of their restaurants. So they actually have multiple income streams: sales at company owned restaurants, royalties from franchised restaurant sales and rent for the land/buildings they own and lease to franchisees.
- It isn’t cheap to become a McDonald’s franchisee – start up costs are in excess of $2 million!
- The average transaction in a McDonald’s drive thru takes 3 minutes. Someone should tell the McDonald’s in my neighborhood because they’re NEVER that speedy!
I loved working at McDonald’s to help put myself through college – but I hope I never have to work the fryer there again!
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