Blog Entry #5

Blog entry #5

             Children and teenagers alike became an important target for fast food industries, and big companies. Children became fast food industries target for more profit, while teenagers became target for cheap and easy employment. Both Ray Kroc and Walt Disney both realized that a child at an early age could possibly become tied to a company for life. The term used for this is call “cradle-to-grave” (Pg. 43). Brand loyalty can begin at the age of 2; when a child becomes an adult they can become nostalgic and still purchase items from that company.

            When children see cool, inviting commercials of certain objects on TV, it interest them. That’s what companies use to gain profit, these children start to nag their parents for those products. When Ray Kroc and Walt Disney started using these tactics they knew exactly what they were doing. Walt built a whole place centered on inviting children’s’ mind into the place, he knew exactly what would be needed in order to be successful. When I was younger and I saw commercials of Disney I use to beg my mother to take me, it would annoy her, but it got the point across. Walt gave children a world of play, and fun. When Ray Kroc came up with the idea of Ronald McDonald he also knew exactly what to bring to the table, he knew children loved clowns and that it would attract attention. McDonald’s is a cheap and good place to buy food. When I was younger I had all the VHS’s from the McDonald series, one of the main reasons I went to McDonald’s. I had McDonald’s cups, and a collection of McDonald toys.  I never went to Burger King because I never saw a commercial from them; they never seemed fun, unlike McDonald’s. Children can be a heavy impact on a company if they are targeted correctly. Just like children, teenagers can also be easy targets for fast food industries.

            Teenagers are a huge contribution to fast food industries success. They are looking for jobs, and they know that fast food industries hire. Fast food industries hire teenagers mostly because they don’t need to be paid as much as adults and hardly any training is needed in operating the machinery for the food. Teenagers still live with their parents which means they don’t need to make enough to pay for rent, or bills. Most of the money is used for luxury things. Recently there was a strike surrounding McDonald’s and its minimum wage pay, but McDonald’s is supposed to be used as a stepping stone for better employment. McDonald’s is opposing to union because of the fact that certain things will have to change. When I first started looking for jobs when I became old enough to work, places like McDonald’s seemed off limits because just like in the book, McDonald’s was considered as “bottom of the heap” (Pg. 79). Employees are harassed, and physically assaulted; all types of problems happen in McDonald’s.

            Ray Kroc and Walt Disney both became examples on how to make a great profit off of adolescent minds. Both of these people became examples to companies after, like Taco Bell with the little talking Chihuahua. I’ve been eating McDonald’s since I was a kid and I realize that I’ll probably eat McDonald’s until it’s my day to go because it’s something cheap, and delicious. It has become something that can be accessed anywhere because there are so many within a radius, and it is a company that has become dependable because its food is always the same at all their locations. 

Blog entry #4

         In "Your Trusted Friends" Eric describes the technique of Ray Kroc and Walt Disney, the way they attract their customers. Their primary customers became children, and their parents. Ray Kroc, and Walt Disney both knew what would appeal to children, and they also knew that children would nag their parents for such things. Most parents were always working so they felt bad enough to buy anything their children wanted.  Kroc said “A child who loves our TV commercials, and brings her grandparents to a McDonald’s gives us two more customers.” (Pg.41). McDonald’s has things like a playground inside the McDonald’s so that children can play. These things particular absorbed children into the McDonald’s industry. Following McDonald’s, other companies started targeting children as will, creating inviting company mascots like “Joe Camel” (an old mascot for cigarettes). The 1980s became “the decade of the child consumer.” A new advertising strategy came to light called “cradle-to-grave” (Pg. 43). This strategy was basically the “brand loyalty” of child from age two to an adult. This strategy hoped that adult’s would become nostalgic in their childhood memories and purchase these items at an adult age. Studies and observation is conducted to find out what appeals to children. Toys were provided at McDonald’s causing children to drag their parents to McDonald’s. McDonald’s toys proved a great idea with the company selling about 10 million happy meals a day (Pg.47). Both Ray Kroc and Walt Disney knew what they were doing; they became experts in doing so. Long after Walt Disney is gone, children still bother their parents to go to Disneyland, and Disneyworld. Even adults go to the Disney companies just to have fun. In conclusion, this chapter mostly talked about how McDonald’s became the company it is today, through children, great observation skills, and “brand loyalty”.

The Founding Fathers

        In chapter one, "The Founding Fathers", Eric discusses how Carl N. Karcher is one of fast food pioneers. Carl was born in Ohio, and dropped out of school in the 8th grade. He worked twelve to fourteen hours a day on a farm harvesting horses, and milking and feeding cows. At the age of twenty, Carl's uncle offered him a job in California.Carl moved from Sandusky, Ohio, to Anaheim, California. There he met his wife Margaret, who he began a family with. Together they bought a hot dog cart. Carl worked at a bakery while Margaret sold hot dogs. The auto industry was rapidly growing, and so was the population. During this time Carl opened his own drive-in barbecue. Being it after the second world war, it gave him plenty of customers.

            

            Sixty miles east of LA a restaurant was known for its high quality hamburgers, selling it for 15 cents each. It was called "Mcdonald's famous hamburgers". Carl went to check out what Mcdonald's was all about, and was amazed by the long lines realizing it was because of self-service. During this time a lot of other restaurants became influenced by the self-service system, placed like Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, and other fast food restaurants opened up and followed the system. The Mcdonald brothers adopter this self serving system because drive-ins were only attracting teenagers with cars, and driving away family business. They figured if there was self-service, people like families would want to walk in. Families walked in and figured they can have restaurant quality food at a cheap price.

           Carl soon opened up a Carl Jr's. which cause him much financial turmoil. He ended up having many financial debts, and got thrown out of his own company. He fought for 2 months to get back his own company, and after putting together a team, he succeeded. When he was interviewed, he was specifically asked how he felt about the changed surroundings. He replied that progress is the way to succeed.

         

The meaning of food in my life

            Food is such an important part of everyone’s life. It is essential for a human body to survive. If a person does not eat, their bones can start getting eaten away to become energy and a heart attack is also possible. Food has become especially important in my health, being busy can make you forget to eat and neglect your body, which did happen to me. Your body starts to absorb your bones as energy, and slowly your body can become equivalent to that of a diabetic. So now not only is food essential for my health, but it has become one of the most important parts of my life.

            I come from a Dominican family, portions are usually large. We eat food like rice, beans, roasted pork shoulder, and different forms of plantains. Coming from a Hispanic heritage, I was taught that food is a very important part of our culture. When we celebrate anything, food is involved. When I was younger if I didn't eat my food, I was force fed. Even now that I’m older when I visit any family members, if I say I’m not hungry, people usually nag me until I do eat. 
         

Is America's Food Supply Safe?

          The food supply safety in America has improved very much within time. We have things like cooking labels on packaging; hotdogs for example have a packaging with a specified internal heat. We have become a place where if you’re applying for employment in a place like McDonald’s or Chipotle, you must know food handling safety. We also have restaurant, and vendor evaluation grades plastered in a place where people can see and decide whether they want to go in, and eat or not.

            Almost every time there is a problem with food it is shown on the media. When there’s an E.coli problem it is stated specifically in what product, and from where it is shipping. Many food products have contamination recently in the past, and those products are then put on recall, and announced. Things like tomatoes have been contaminated and bought to light, and the FDA finds a way to resolve it. Health has become such an important issue in America that even doctors are doing test on their patients. Bacterial infections like H Pylori which is a bacterial stomach infection, have become a normal situation for some doctors. Even though the FDA has inspectors at borders, things like H Pylori are still getting by in tropical food.

            We do things like inspect food at borders, and work with food safety at companies, but sometimes people at their own homes do neglect their food safety. Many people do know at what temperature their food needs to be for it to be safe, but they don’t know how to calculate that temperature. The FDA makes sure that food handling instructions are clearly printed on products. Whether the product needs to be refrigerated, or heated to a certain extent so when people do get sick it’s usually because they neglected some instruction. The FDA is doing everything they can do to ensure our safety.

            The FDA has made people aware of the dangers in foods like peanut butter. Salmonella became a huge issue in Peanut butter. Also E.Coli became an issue in pork. Both of these food products were treated by the FDA with care by finding out where the food product came from, and fixing it. America has one of the safest food supply in the world by ensuring that everyone knows how to take care of their food.