Do Go On - 12 - McDonald's

Episode Date: January 12, 2016

How much do you know about the history of those infamous golden arches? Well this week Jess will subliminally make you stop for a cheeseburger on the way home as she explores the history of one of the most successful fast food chains on the planet! Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amana, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Hello, you are listening to Do Go On our Little Comedy Podcast with me. Dave Wonki, I'm here with Matt Stewart. Little Comedy Podcast, is it? Well, I'm trying to be humble, Matt, since we've taken over the world.

Gold Records. What am I talking about? I'm here with Jess Perkins. Hello, Golden Jess. Oh, that's the best nickname I've had so far. I know you've had a few shockers so far. Are you going well? I'm going very well, thank you.

How are you guys? Matt, are we good? I'm pretty good. I'm going to speak for you. Yeah, I'm pretty good. He's told you off in the past for speaking on his behalf. Yeah, that's right. I don't do that ever again.

I will not do that again. I'll tell you what, who's going to be doing most of the speaking this episode? That is you, Jess Perkins, because we take it in turns to write a little report on this little comedy podcast about something that we find interesting. And then try and regale the other two people and hopefully you, the listener as well. And it is your turn, Jess, to talk the talk, walk the walk, walk, squawk the squawk. And I don't mean to pull back the curtain too much. But I feel a little underprepared this time. But everything's going to be a-okay.

So in comparison to your three previous reports, how are you feeling? Look, this time, just kind of thinking, ooh, maybe we could have spent a little more time on this. But it's fine. Everything will be fine. It's all about confidence. And it's going to be absolutely fine. Chalk the chalk is another one. Thanks, man.

That's what he's been thinking about. I looked at him just before as I was talking. His face was blank, and I didn't know where he was, and he was just trying to think of other things. You're trying to think of any word that rhymed with... Dork the dork? Yeah, all right. Yeah, that makes sense.

Technically, these are words that, yeah, rhyme with talk. Did you say stork the stork? No, but we can't. That's one that actually works. You're like hunting one of them birds with the babies. Thank you for that. All right. A specific comment there, Matt.

A bird with a baby. Are you back in? Are we all together now? Are we here? Is there any birds and babies in this report? No. Well, in a way, I guess. Oh, is it about the band The Eagles?

It is. No, it's not. I'm asking if I guessed it by accident. Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. It's about the stalk. Well, we usually start with a little question to lead into the report. Yes. And you were feeling off air a bit dubious about your question, have you?

I just feel like it's going to be too obvious, so I'm just going to make it kind of a bit more broad, right? Matt looks like you're still trying to think of words that rhyme. Spork the Spork, you know, spoon fork. I was so close to getting that one. Cork the cork. Oh, man. He's good.

He's good. Mohawk the Mohawk. I'm going a bit out there now. I won't play the game. That makes more sense, yeah. Damn it. No, please, but do go on. I do.

And Matt, let's try and. I'm trying to concentrate on the report rather than words that run with Walk. Okay. You can have one more over the next hour. Oh, I got it. I won't waste it, I promise. Do try to pay a little bit of attention as well. Okay, so the question is, what would you say is the most popular or successful restaurant in the world?

Popular or successful restaurant? Well, clearly La Porcetta. Obviously. The Italian. And that's what we're talking about. We're not talking about La Pocaeta. La La La Pocareda. Wow, la la la paqueta.

Hey. La La Paquetta. Yeah. La La La La Pocareda. No, I think he's just having a stroke there. Is that a... That's their jingle. I don't know many of the words.

I'm not sure how national or international La Poquetta is, so it's like quite a family-friendly... La Paquetta means the red door. No, it does not. No. It's quite a family-friendly... It means the... Family restaurant. Porcetta.

Correct. All right. It's not Lapa Kna. Okay, let's move on. It's got to be... Is it a fast food place? Is it Mickey D's? It is Mickey D's.

It's. It's at McDonald's. We're talking about McDonald's. Okay, well, great. Right. It's one of those things where I think we've said this in the past. It's one of those topics where you think you know a lot. But in actually looking at it, I didn't know much.

Probably for the best. Oh, really? It's one of these eye-opening reports. No, not really. It's interesting in a way. From like a business point of view, it's quite impressive. But I don't want to praise them too much. This show is all about business too, isn't it?

So we'll be very impressed. This little comedy trivia business podcast of ours. All right. Here's what I know. Junior Berger's. Big Macs. Cheeseburgers. He fucked it.

I was trying to get through other things I knew. Oh. Oh, sorry. Now I don't know if I knew cheeseburgers. I don't know. I don't know if that was my brain or... I know. It's confusing.

Happy meals. Slurpees. Nope. No. Oh, well, they do the frozen coax, I guess. Yeah, it was not called a Slurpee though. Jackie Chan. That's...

Nope, we're not talking about Jackie Chan. Phoenix Suns. All right. Johnson and Friends. I'm really worried about him. I know. It's been quite hot the last week. Is it going to your head?

Potatoes are using the thick shakes. The fact that Australian beef is just a branding thing, not really Australian, but these are the myth of bits. Okay. Okay, good. There's one in a train in Cheltenham. There's one, what? I think there's a train McDonald somewhere.

What? Maybe in Cheltenham? Inside a train. Oh, have I made that up. Oh, have I made, you know what, now I regret not looking up like, weird places that McDonald's have been, but there are some weird ones. Themes McDonald's.

Oh, like in Richie Rich's house? Yes. And as a kid, you were like, oh, sick. Now, I definitely don't want this to be an ad for McDonald's. Because the food is shithouse. It is, like it is. It's addictive shithouse, but it is. In Australia, they've just debuted all day breakfast,

which is fantastic. Oh, Mama. Because I can have hash browns any time of the day. Well, I'm going to have to balance you guys out because it feels like you're slipping into advertorial. Yeah, so we won't be doing that. Which we're not allowed to do on this podcast, where we answer to literally fucking no one.

Yeah, we can do whatever we want. I'm just making it very clear there will be no subliminal messages. Big Mac, Big Mac, Big Mac, Big Mac, Big Mac. Who said that? Who said what, Dave? I'm hungry for a... You want to get something to eat after the podcast? Let's balance it out and talk about how good KFC tastes.

No, please. McDonald's, I don't really know... I feel like... How long has been around, but I know, yeah, I would totally agree that it is the most, probably in my opinion, successful restaurant chain. It's pretty popular. Though I believe, in fact, that there are more subways in the world than McDonald's.

Oh. I did not know that. Hey, Jess, can I ask you this question. Of course you can, Matthew. I think Dave might have written it for a trivia night. Has there ever been a conflict between two countries that have McDonald's stores? What? So there's this rumour.

I don't know if you came across this, that countries with, it's like a capitalism thing, countries with McDonald's have never been to war with each other. But it's not true. Yeah, they can't possibly do. It's the state of Georgia and Russia. It's happened to clients, according to Dave. That's right.

I can't remember the other example, to be honest. But what about the world wars? I think currently, because they didn't at the time. Oh, yeah, it's not retroactive. It's not like, just because France and England fought in the 100 years. wore 200, I mean, like a thousand years ago, the accounts, yeah. I was also thinking that McDonald's opened much earlier than it did.

That's a worry. I know, I'm the one who wrote the report. Well, that was going to be another thing that I hope that we discover is, I don't know how long it's been around. Well, that's... 1932. No. So, there were these, there are two brothers, and I've just realized I don't have their

first names here for some reason. The McDonald's brothers. Oh, so it is rooted. Wow, and a family name. Yeah, it really is. So in the late 20s, the two brothers moved to California where they opened their first hot dog stand. It was pretty close. Late 20s and 1932 was pretty close.

Pretty close. So late 20s. Well done. Oh, actually, do you know what? They opened their hot dog stand in 1937. So, not bad. Way off. But a hot dog stand.

Yeah. I assumed it was a burger stand. And that's a product that I don't, I know a lot of McDonald's have different things worldwide, but I've never seen a hot dog. No, I don't think I've seen a hot dog either. So it was kind of one of those typical drive-in places of the era where like you parked your cars and the car hops. So like the waitresses on skates or just like, you know, waitresses would come to the car. It was kind of, ooh, but a hot dog stand.

I've never experienced that. Yeah, no, no. It's not around now, but well. They're all in rollerblades. I've had people approach me when I'm driving, but usually I wind the window up. I'm out of terror. Say no thank you. So this is sort of like a timeline

I've got a timeline firstly to sort of go through and it starts a little not slow but just starts with like a basic what you would think a business is going to do but then there's some things that are a bit funny in there so 1940 is when they opened their first barbecue restaurant right so it's just the two McDonald's brothers they've opened their first barbecue restaurant

so they've started hot dogs have moved to barbecue restaurant yeah they like closed down their hot dog stand and they build a a barbecue restaurant but I think it was still also like a drive-in style yeah right so they had one of those in 1948 they closed it for innovations

and when it reopens the menu has nine items that's it and is that a cut down for them or an expansion no it was reduced to nine items it's a cut down so they've gone back to basics they're keeping it simple I like it I like it so do you want to have a guess at what the items would be yeah

cheeseburger cheeseburger big Mac no not yet French fries Uh, kind of potato chips, like potato crisps basically. Okay, um... Like cold potato crisps. Yeah.

A normal burger? No cheese? Like a hamburger, yeah. A normal burger, yes, a hamburger. So we're on three. Three, uh, Coke. So it says soft drinks. So I think there was two or, it must have been three like soft drink varieties.

Sunday. No. I feel like we're on family feud. Any ice cream? No. There is one dessert. Is there a hot dog again? Still hot dog.

Apple pie. A slice of pie, yep. Oh, there's two more to go. What else could you have? A chicken burger? No, no, it's no. Gremus. No.

Gremas. No. Thick shake. No. Water? Nah. Beer? No.

Jesus's blood. Yes. Wine. Oh. All right. Something you might have in the morning. Milk? Milk and something else you might have in the morning.

Coffee? Yeah. Milk and coffee. Well done. And there's separate items. Yeah. Wow. So they must have had like...

Milk and coffee separately. But when was the last time you walked into a McDonald's and ordered a milk? Yeah, I know, exactly. Or anywhere that you ordered the milk. Other than buying a Big M at the survey. Well, there was that country dance I was at that time when me and my mate walked in and we said two long, cold glasses of milk. And we drank those glasses of milk.

And all the other boys, they were drinking their beers. crashed out early but me and my mate we danced all night long and we had our pick of the ladies and pick of the cows no no Dave so sorry Jess

I hope that that is a true story I hope you had a good time at that party yeah it was great yeah I remember it like that's a true story all right um the oh okay so when they had their nine items right I'm just going to move on

their nine items their staple item on on their menu was the 15 cent hamburger. 15 cents. 15 cents for hamburger. What, oh, what's Matt doing now? Maths are having a stroke, I can never tell. Oh, yeah, because that sounds like a really good value. Well, it was in 1948, so, you know, probably a little more expensive now.

But still 15 cents, pretty cheap. Sounds great. Yep, sounds pretty good. So then the next year, 1949, they replaced the potato chips with French fries. And Thick Shakes also made their debut. Ooh. La-de-da. So this is where it starts to get a bit more interesting

because in 1954, a multi-mixer salesman, so like a mixmaster. His name was Ray Kroc. Sorry, a Mix-master? It's a brand. It's like a... Mix-master mic. I was going to say, I thought you were referring to the DJ

from the Beastie Boys. No. No. Some sort of food-prearing mixing device. And he just, is he a travelling salesman? He was a salesman. I just imagine that he's got a big mixer taped to his back. Probably does. That's probably how he gets around. His name is Ray Kroc.

That's a great name. Great name. He visited the McDonald's brothers intending to sell them more mixes. But while he's having a chat to them, he learns that the brothers are looking for a nationwide franchising agent. And he had an epiphany and is now determined that his future is in hamburgers. he's like this is where the future's heading this is where Ray Kroc is going to make it so he goes out to his wife

one night and he's like look I'm not going to be a mix master anymore and she's just oh no no not again Ray no now you're into bloody hamburgers first it was a mix masters now it's hamburgers what came before mix masters do you reckon for Ray probably had a regular steady job like a teacher or something

oh no I didn't quit you threw it in for a mixed master dream a mix master well it worked for him because that's how we met the McDonald's brothers and the very next year he opened his first McDonald's in Illinois. And that's sort of where they start, like the present corporation of McDonald's

dates its founding to the opening of this store. In Illinois. Yeah, because it was only the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. So the brothers had opened eight by themselves. It's just like a really impressive effort for two guys running a business. So they were already eight?

Yeah, yeah, already eight. In the same city? No, I think they were sort of spread out. Okay, yeah, yeah. But not really widely spread, but they were sort of spread. So he opens one in Illinois. And then he later, I'm not exactly sure when,

but he later purchased the McDonald Brothers equity in the company. And he was the one who led it to the worldwide expansion. So I'm not sure if they got much money from their own company. I'm sure they did. They must have. What? So is that where they're saying what a crock comes from? He bought them out.

Must have been. Yes. Must have worked. Ray crock. Yeah. So he kind of like, He compelled them to get out. He was apparently...

More like Crook. Thank you. Ray? Very good. He just got smashed. He just got Warnockied. He's a... He'd better crocodile the cops.

I just wrote down... Cockatile the cops. What did you write? I just wrote down Ray Crook and underlined it like I'm alleged. Nice. Like I'm some sort of thing. Nice. But he spelt Ray Crook.

Like Ray Crook. Yeah, I misspelled it. Great. I actually just wrote his real name. I feel like Ray won that one. Yeah. I'll be back Ray. Oh, we'll get him.

Beyond. He's more about Ray. First year told me that dodgy mix master. Now this. So apparently, yeah, he was quite an aggressive, savvy businessman. So he compelled the brothers to leave the fast food industry. Hold on. So he's like, hey, I think that this is going to fail.

I'm going to keep going, but I want you to leave. Me, the business. I'll go under. I'll take it down. I doubt that's quite how it went. She said he compelled them, like, I compelled. you.

The power of crock compels you. And they bailed. Yeah, so he opened his first one. And this is also where this particular store had the golden arches. But it was different to what it is now. It was like, so imagine like a rectangle or square store and there was like an archway on either end. And from a particular angle, if you viewed it from a particular angle, it would make an M. But otherwise it just looked like two sort of like semicircles.

And do you think that that's a coincidence or a design? It was designed by Stanley Meston in 1953, so a couple of years earlier. He designed it that way. Isn't that pretty cool? That's one of those things that if you're an architect, you probably think it's cool, but deep down you know, no one's ever going to notice. Yeah. But this one actually took off.

And that's pretty cool. And now we all know the Golden Arches. He designed the Golden Arches in a way. So he opens his first McDonald's in Illinois, and the sales on that first day was $366.12. Wow, well, 15 cents goes into that a lot of times. Yeah, well, that's true, yeah. And, I mean, they've still had those nine items.

I'm sure they had more by this stage. This was like 10 years. This is a while later. It goes into it about... Well, thick shakes were there now, I believe, and also French fries. And actually French fries, that's right. And this is where things start to go really quick. So, like, okay, he's opened, there's nine stores as of 1955.

By 1958, they'd sold, they celebrated selling their 100, 100. A hundred millionth burger. What? A hundred million burgers. In like three years later. And then by 1959 they celebrated opening their 100th restaurant. So they went from nine in 1955 to 100 in 1959. That is amazing.

And also the fact that they celebrated 100 million burgers before their 100th restaurant, which means that each stores sold more on average than a million hamburgers. Yeah. Is that not really? ridiculous? Like, it doesn't make sense. It seems like a lot. Even at 15 cents, someone's getting rich, and I bet it's that bloody crock.

I reckon it's crock. Croc's making a real, a lot of money. A real crock of money. A real lot of money. This is an interesting one. So in 1961, Hamburger University opens. Yep, let's move on from that. No, we shall not move on from that.

Hamburger University. Sorry, have you just looked up Hamburgurg University in Germany? No, no. Hamburger. Hamburger University. What's that? It is a school. in Illinois, and actually there's several of them now.

It was started in 1961. I'll read you a bit of information about it. So since its inception, training at Hamburger University has emphasized consistent restaurant operation procedures, service, quality and cleanliness. It has become the company's global centre of excellence for McDonald's Operation, Training and Leadership Development. You can go to Hamburg University and you leave with a bachelor in hamburgerology. Are you kidding? No, I'm not kidding.

That's a real thing. Isn't that incredible? How long does a standard three-year course? No, I don't think it's that long. Three and a half hours. Here's your bachelor's, sir. I can't actually remember it. I think I did say somewhere there.

Yeah, we're going to learn flipping. What else? Grilling. How to turn on the microwave? Turn on the microwave, yeah. Turn off the microwave at the end of the ships. Yeah, you'll do that. Got to do that.

Turn the lights off as you leave and lock up. Lock up. It's pretty complicated. It's pretty tricky. You've got to, yeah, figure out. how to take the 15 cents, put it somewhere safe. Lipped probably in a safe. Yeah.

That's probably where you'd put it. Hey, I like it. I've worked in retail for 10 years, so I know about that. I need none of this. So I feel like I'm learning, like I'm at the actual Hamburger University. Well, even Hamburg University is really expanded because their first class was 15 students, and they graduated in Feb of 1961. Today, graduated.

Today, more than 7,500 students attend Hamburg University each year. So are they McDonald's employees? They're McDonald's employees. And how do you get picked? Well, I think there's sort of a process within the McDonald's itself. Like a scholarship. No, I guess in a way, like there's some in-store training, and then you kind of go off to university. Everyone who works.

Not everyone, no, but I think it's like career progression-wise. Right. Right. Yeah, it's pretty great. In 1983, McDonald's invested $40 million into Hamburgur University. Which is pretty crazy. It's an 80-acre campus in Illinois. That's massive.

13 teaching rooms, 300 seat auditorium, 12 interactive education team rooms, three kitchen labs and a state-of-the-art service training lab. And today there are seven... Does that just mean like a set that looks like a McDonald's? Is that all that is? Oh man, I hope so. Like a fake McDonald's. Yeah.

So good. Step into the interactive training centre. You mean the McDonald's? Yes. There's one in Sydney. There's one in Sydney. We have one here. A Hamburg University.

We had a Hamburg University here. Of course Sydney would have it. Yep. Munich, London, Tokyo, Shanghai. I think not putting one in Hamburg was a definite oversight. Yeah, agreed. A couple of that Munich got it. Agreed.

Very disappointing. I also like to just imagine the people that work. It's bad enough that you go there for the three and a half hour course, whatever it is. But if you are a professional hamburgerologist teacher. I think it's like, I think there's intensive classes. I don't think it's a one-day thing. I think it's an ongoing program. I could not think of a way to waste your time at this earth more than being a teacher at Hamburg

University. Right? So are we on board now with the theme of McDonald's? Yeah, that's someone I didn't expect to hear about. I think a lot of the listeners are going to be with me on this. When are you going to get to the mascots? I want to hear about Grimmis's story. We're literally, we're getting there very soon, my friend, very soon.

But I've got to go in chronological order. I'm doing a timeline here. Okay, that's totally fine. Okay, so we're up to 1961 Hamburg University opens. So 1962, first store to have indoor seating was in Denver in Colorado. So before that it was just drive-ins. So you just sit in your car. And they thought that they'd set up a university before a restaurant.

Yeah, I know. And then, so 1963, oh, I just press the wrong button. 1963, 500th store opens. So they went from 158 to 63, 500 stores. So it's 100 a year is opening. Yeah, that's crazy. Is that not ridiculous? It's like they're just opening so fast.

Okay, 1960. Matt, first television commercial, first appearance of Ronald McDonald's. So, Ron, 60, he's the original. That's hard to say. Do you find him scary, Matt? Yeah, it's a clan. It's like old-school clan.

Yeah, I think everyone finds that scary. He was a raging success. People just loved him straight away. I find him creepy still. Yeah. What creeps me out is those benches where he's permanently sitting there. And I'm always scared he'll move. He looks like he'd grope, yeah.

He would. He's got his eyes. He probably would. No doubt about it in my mind. We've already profiled him. Don't drop your guard. 1967, first international chains open. Where do you reckon they would have opened overseas?

Canada. Correct. And? Mexico. Puerto Rico. Well, that is an American territory. Hmm. There you go.

Good work. Good work, Dave. Possibly why they... Captain Kildroy. Oh, sorry, guys. Puerto Rico is still exotic. It's just that it's ten. Technically not a country.

Okay. Technically not a country. I didn't know that. Puerto Rico's not a country. 1968, Big Mac is introduced. Now, this is what's kind of interesting, and this happens quite a bit through their history. So it was actually created by an owner-operator

of a franchise in Pittsburgh. His name was Jim Deligati. So he was going wild. He was going rogue. He was just like, he was making something of his business. And he was like, well, let's do something a bit different. Let's have a Big Mac. It was being successful.

So they rolled out across the national menu. So I reckon he probably got called into the office by Kroc to explain himself for going against the nine menu key items. And then he explained these, well, I've sold 10,000 of these last week. And Kroc was like, I'm not a crock and idiot here. Yeah. Let's roll the shit out. We own these. We own these.

Just make it clear with you, we own Big Macs. Yeah, that's a good point. I was kind of thinking, because I've watched a lot of undercover boss. And I really like it when the... Undercover Kroc. I really like it when the boss. bosses see something that the staff members have done and take an initiative and then they like support them with that.

But you're right, it's probably more just like, well, if you're making money off it, then we can all make money off it. I'm going to make more money off it. Yeah, and he, I bet you he didn't buy the idea off him. Well, yeah, I highly doubt it. And then the same year, so 1968, the hot apple pie was developed as well. And it was also created by a franchisee in Knoxville, whose name was Litton Cochran. And that's added to the national menu as well.

I was reading about, you know, what's that big donut franchise from her? Krispy Kreme, yeah. And there was someone had, I think it was there, someone had run out of the ingredients that they get delivered. And it's like secret ingredients sort of stuff, like the herbs and spices and the secret sauce McDonald's. Sure. So they just made up some of their own,

and they got sued by the company. What? Because they're just like, oh, we've run out of stuff. We're going to improvise some. And it's like. I got sued. Yeah, they fucked them up. Great.

I was going to say that you couldn't do that anymore, could you? Yeah, no, it just wouldn't later. The local Brunswick McDonald's. It's like, yeah, your contract says you have to sell these specific things. Absolutely, I'm sure it's much more tight now, but this is back in the 60s. No, actually, these days you have that design your own burger thing. True. So if you design a burger, do they technically own it if it is awesome?

Like, if you're some sort of chef. But, like, how would other people order it, you know? I don't know, but maybe. You're the only one who knows it's awesome because you're the one who ate it. Somehow the manager, because they've got to make it sort of backstage, if you will. In a kitchen. You're such a... I heard these words.

He's a showman. He's a showman. I don't know what they're in show business my whole life. I don't know what you, you hostility people are you backstage area? The green room, is it? I don't know. Literally never had a real job. Anyway, so backstage, they're making it.

And they're like, oh, this looks good. Guacamole and chicken. No one's ever thought of that before. Copyright. Like, is that technically a thing? Because I know that if you work for Apple in the Apple store, you can't design apps while you work for them. Even if you don't design apps, if you just work in the Apple shop as one of those genius people, you sign a contract saying that because you work for Apple, if you design an app, they own the app.

That's kind of fucked. Is that crazy? So if you design something amazing at McDonald's, I don't know. Does Croc own it? Who knows? Well, I mean, we should ask, you know, Lytton Cochran. and Jim Delegati, because they'd know, but they're probably long dead, Dave. Any other great ideas, Dave?

Too many Big Macs. Oh, here's another great thing from 1968. This is so good. It ties into a previous theme that we've talked about as well. So, in 1968, McDonald's airlifted hamburgers to the American athletes competing in the 60th Olympics in France. They airlifted them. They were homesick. Oh, I miss home.

So, hey, we'll be some hamburgers. I know, how would they even bring it to them? Airlifting, of course. Athletes. Reminds me of how Shane Juan used to get baked beans. Big beans. But once again, I don't think our athletes these days anyway would be allowed to have victims. Yeah, well, that's what all I was thinking is well.

Their diets are so closely managed by nutritionists as if they'd be allowed to have a handbook. But if you look at the records, I reckon that that was probably the best ever Olympics in terms of medal per athlete ratio. Probably. All right, Dave, you're the one who's great at maths. 1963, we had 500 stores, right? Yes. Now, 1968, 1,000 stores. Doubled.

Still going 100 per year. He's good maths. He's good of maths. Guys. Is that not ridiculous? It's crazy. That's a lot of... So a thousand in the 60s.

We've got a thousand stores now. Since 1955, it's now 1969. A thousand years. A thousand years. A thousand years. A thousand stores. The McDonald's Reich has risen. A thousand year Reich of McDonald's.

Oh, it's really hard with lots of numbers. All right, Matt, here we go. Here we go, Maddie. I'm the maths guy. What's Matt? I'm the mascot guy. There he is. There's one.

New mascot. So we're all about you. Here they are. There's Grimmis. There's the hamburger. Yep. There's Bertie, but she probably came later. Came later.

They need to appeal to women. Is that it? Grimis. Grimis. Grimis. He said Grimis. He said Grimus. said grimace.

I think there are some American ones that we didn't know because there's one that's Mayor McChese. Oh, yeah, I remember Mermec Cheese from childhood? Please tell me about him. He wears a top hat and he's just like his head is a hamburger. So he's got like cheese coming out. Oh, is that Mayor McCheas? Oh, I did remember the ham.

Captain Crook. Oh, I wonder if he's named after Croc. Oh, I thought you were all thinking he's named after Captain James Cook. Probably not. I would have thought Captain Hook. Probably not. Captain. Was he a sidekick to the hamburger?

Maybe, but there's also one called Big Mac. Oh, yeah, he was another hamburger head. Oh, they're not very, yeah. Just give him more hamburger heads. Yeah. But yeah, that's when they all joined Ronald, because he was obviously lonely. It's all by himself.

Wow. So now he's got mates. That's good, man. Weird and wonderful world. That we live in. I know. 1971 was also a big year because that was when Australia got our first McDonald's.

1971. Any idea where it was? Sydney. Bloody Sydney. It was Sydney, but it was in like a suburb in Sydney. Newtown, no, that wouldn't be it. It would be in... Leaderville.

Dudengatter. No, that's, I don't know what that is. Ogdenville. Ogdenville. Put them on the map. Nor Heymanbrook. Would we have heard of this place? Yuguna.

Yeah. They've got a lot of weird names. Yaguna. Yuguna. Do we sound like three of the most Melbourne people right now. Yuguna. Yuguna. I think I was going to say they do have weird suburbs.

but we definitely marabin and... Yeah, if you don't... If you think about any word too long, it becomes very strange. That's very true. They're great. I think a lot of them

go back to like their indigenous words. Yeah, which is good. Some cracking ones. And often they mean meeting place. Hmm. There we go. Don't... You're nodding dramatically on a podcast.

Well, Matt. Stop doing it. People write you off as the mascot car, but you're also the meeting place guy. Yeah. And I like that. I like that about you. you. So, Yaguna gets the first one in the 71. 71, in Sydney. They get their first.

73, quarter pounder is added to the menu. Welcome aboard, quarter pounder. It's not that exciting. And is that invented by some sort of store road? Doesn't say if it's invented by anybody in particular, whether they're doing, you know, head office kind of inventions now. Who knows? And that is like, that is a burger that weighs a quarter pounder? Yeah, I think the meat is a quarter pound of flesh. They do half pounds. or full pounders. No. It's a quarter pounder, is that big?

Is that bigger than a big Mac? No. Why is that the only one where they talk about the size of the meat? I don't know. I don't have, I don't know. That's an interesting point though, isn't it? It is something to think about. It really makes you think about meat.

Seventy-place. Meeting places. Meeting places. Quarter-pounder, that's what it means. In 1974, the first Ronald McDonald House opens in Philadelphia. because there's lots of those as well. I don't know how many there are actually. That would have been something good to get a number on,

but lots. All around, there's Ronald McDonald's houses. That's for a tax right off, I think. Oh, big time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1975, the Egg McMuffin has added. Now, that one was the brainchild of a guy called Herb Peterson, who was an owner-operator in Santa Barbara.

Running that down, because I like that a lot. What year? Is this, Herb Peterson? 75, and he created the Egg McMuffin. It's strange that you have so many public holidays, but none that recognize the great work of Perth Peterson for 40 years. We could have celebrated that this year. 40 years of egg and baking McMuffins. He probably did.

Is that the first one that started the craze of putting muck at the start of their products? Probably. Have we even mentioned Big Mac here? Yeah, Big Mac was around. Big Mac was a bit earlier. But is, you know, the McFlurry, McChicken, McFish. Yeah, they also would come later. And do you know what's really funny too?

I want to talk about some of their funny lawsuits later. They're like all to do with Mick. Pretty much. It's ridiculous. Oh, people are just trying to be like, yeah, buy your Mick Nikes or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would have been more like existing brands. We're already around Mick's something.

They're like that. We own Mick. No, you're fucked. Get out. Yeah. But I am. My name's Mick. McDonald's and I've been making McDonald's sheep farming since 1807.

That's literally it. Sorry, mate. Really? Yes. Sorry, mate. It's quite ridiculous. Yes. 1975 as well was the first drive-thru.

Oh, I love 1975. That was in Arizona, but do you know why they invented the drive-thor? Oh, if it was in Arizona, is it too hot to get out of the car? No. But there was an army fort just down the road. They weren't allowed to go in in their uniform. Correct. They weren't allowed to get out of their cars in their army fatigues.

That's great. That was part of the fort wouldn't let them. They weren't allowed. So McDonald's solved the problem by installing the first drive-thru. Like, don't worry about it, lads. Just drive on up to the window. Isn't that ridiculous? And now drive-thrues are everywhere, and every single fast food chain has drive-thrues.

So they also have like a helicopter landing pad. Not a bit staged. The Air Force are getting jibbed. The Navy are pretty pissed. What I like about the drive-thru is, because you're normally feeling a shame. Oh, big. So a drive-thru cuts that out. And also, people who go to these places are gross.

I'm put off my food if I see people inside. to McDonald's, so I don't want to eat it anymore. So the only time I would ever eat McDonald's... Your fellow customer? Yeah, people like me. The only reason... I mean, I don't really eat it at all, but if I was going to, it would be in a dri-thru under the cover of darkness.

I don't want to see the gross losers eating McDonald's. Because I would seriously lose my appetite, watching those fucking disgusting swabs. Anyway, yeah. That's why I think drives me. This is the side of a matter of never seen before. No way, I like it, though. That's why drive-thrues it. I'm, because I often wish there was a drive-thru like 7-11,

but I'm also very glad that there isn't such a thing. Because sometimes I just really want like a Mars bar, but I can't be able to getting out of the car for it. So I just drive home. I just keep going. That's good, isn't it? It stops you. Because if there was one, I would spend so much money on just shit, just junk.

It is a great business idea. It's a great idea, but I hope they never do it. If 7-Eleven are listening, and I'm sure they are, please, for the love of God, don't do it. It would be a great business. opportunity if you don't do it. You'd make millions, but don't. Seriously, don't you guys have seen in Fitzroy on Nicholson Street, there's a drive-thru

pizza shop, which doesn't make sense to me because you drive in, you have to wait 10 minutes, like in the car while they get the garlic bread hot enough. Seems very strange. Is it one of those made-to-order pizza shops, or would it be like they've just got pizzas and you buy slices? Oh, maybe that's the business model. I love slices. That's the best when you can go on, just buy a slice.

Yeah, that's great. So good. Pizza's my favourite. food. Well, I remember that. Yeah, I'm a pizza and pasta guy. Yeah. I'm a pasta and pizza guy. No, actually, I like pizza. Pasta, I'm imbevolent.

Okay. I won't take it. I might leave it. Fair enough. Hey. Don't pressure me. You're a modern man. You can make your own decisions. I wonder if they'd do McPastor in Italy. I didn't see it when I was in Italy, but I was going to talk as well about some of the international dishes. Oh, we can get to that. I'm excited to talk about it.

my experience with that. We're getting towards the end of the interesting stuff on the timeline too. So, okay, 1978 now, the 5,000th restaurant opens. All right, let's do a quick recap of how far it's spread. So the last count was 1,000. The last count was 1,000, and that was in 68. Now we're in 78. So 10 years, there's 5,000.

5,000. So now we're operating an extra 500 a year. Isn't that ridiculous? Which is more than 1 a day. And this 5, yeah, shit. and there's 5,000 so it's opened in Japan. So they're spreading a lot through different countries now. That 10 a week.

10 a week? Is it? A bit less than, but yes. Very good, man. Well, that's about 10 a week. Yeah, fair enough. Because, you know what? Because, like, some weeks it would be maybe 11,

and the next week they might only do 8. It's a new maths boy in town. Yeah, all right. Look at my little maths boys. I love mascots too. Do you say math scots? Yep. It's very good.

Sorry to tread on that again. I just wasn't sure. No, thanks. Good for picking me up on it. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. A lot. 1979, happy meals make their debut.

Now, that is a license to print money. Right. 1980, so this is only two years after 5,000 stores. 1988,000 restaurant opens. So in Munich, in Germany. So it's still operating at 500 a year. 500 a year. And now they're in...

That's about 10 a week. Still correct. Still correct. Still about. Yeah, the about is a really important distinction that you make, so that's great. So that seems like... Two weeks holiday. By this time, by this time it must be a craze.

Like, people around the world are waiting for their Maccas to arrive in Europe. People must know about it. It's amazing. Apparently they don't call it Macas overseas. They do not. That's why our, on the McDonald's Australia is at Macas. That's why they can get that. Oh, cool.

Because no one, I don't think anyone else knows what you're talking about. And a lot of stores have changed their signage now. They actually say Macas. If you are overseas, we call it Macas. I don't know why. We shorten everything. I don't know why. Sorry, but not sorry.

1983. McNuggets are introduced. So they're fairly young. The McNuggets? That's why they're so little. They're growing. Can you imagine how small they were? Every now and then you just give it way too much.

That was quite funny. But not like, Matt and I just awkwardly looking. When he said Mathscott before, nothing. I know. Mine was better. I agree with Jess. So you just took me by surprise and you know I'll, oh, bloody, I'll love to have a good laugh. You're very strange than that.

You like to laugh. It's very strange. Put that in my too. It's off pudding. Yeah. One of my friends called me a laugh slut. So I'll just laugh at anything. Not true.

Not Math Scott. Yeah, exactly. You won't laugh at anything. Wasn't that funny? Neither are you fucking laughed at Math Scott. Yeah. Well, make a joke about it. Nuggets being little. All right, I'll try and get one back.

All right. Moving on. So in 1984, Ray Crocks passed away. Sucked in. You got cropped. 1984. So by this, is he still involved until that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's like a billionaire by then. Must be. So he was, at this stage, his title was founder and senior chairman of the board of McDonald's.

That's a pretty great name. Wow. Board of McDonald's. And then. He used to be just a Mixmaster. I know, he's a founder and chairman. Now he's a senior chairman. It's crazy.

That his wife feels silly. Yeah, he's bloody doubting me. Barbara. Don't ever doubt me. So then the next year, so in 1985, that first store that he opened in Illinois, I think it had previously been like changed over. It wasn't a McDonald's anymore,

but they restored it to its original form, and they reopened it as the McDonald's store museum. So there's a museum out there for anybody who wants to have a look at that. Wow. I mean, it's weird enough that we're talking about. it, but to go to a physical building and learn these pointless facts that you're telling us about today. Well, I don't, like, I don't get it.

We do a lot of research behind the scenes here. Dumb enough that we're even talking about it. We do a lot of research behind the scenes here, and what you won't know is that Jess has actually been to that museum to research this show. Yeah. Just yesterday. I don't half ask these things, guys. You're severely jet-lagged.

That's how much... I didn't research this in my pajamas today, okay? No way. I've been working on this. All the way to Illinois. Saw the golden arches, tried to do that weird thing with your eyes, whether they match up to make an AM or something like that. I'm dedicated to this podcast, and the listeners should appreciate that.

That's right. Okay. Okay. I don't mean to get so threatening. I don't mean to take it down, but I'll find you. No, I won't. Nope. All right.

She will. I do think so on two stars on fucking iTunes. Who gave us two stars? Are you serious? Do we go to two stars? Some anonymous person. We went to Illinois for you. What a prick.

Let's just focus on all the full. five stars we've got that are mostly me. In 1988, I did give us five stars, obviously, because I think this is a great podcast. I'd thoroughly enjoy listening to it. That's right. I'll accept your five, but only if they're genuine. Yes.

Do you really think this is a five out of five podcast? Yeah, I do, because I treasure both of you. Hey, she's not going to Illinois for no reason. Yeah, I'll do the work. I'll accept it then. Shall I move on? I shall. Do go on, please.

1987. Salads added to the menu. See, I would have thought that was much later, right? No. I thought that was like a recent edition. No. Yeah, the healthy choices. Yeah, so that's definitely more recent, like late 2000s, but, um, maybe not late,

but, uh, yeah, they did have salads in the late 80s. I think, I don't think they were that popular. Or maybe there was only like one or two options. Yeah, it's an option just to try and. Yeah. But, yeah, we're trying. It's all marketing, right? Yeah, it's just going, no, look, we're, you don't have to feel bad for coming in.

You know, still, if people see you walking in, you can just say, we'll get in a cell. Get a cell. But at the same time, don't fucking order the cell. I don't know. Yeah, what are you doing? No one ever has. They've been sitting there for so long. Yeah, wow.

Technically, it'll do more harm to your body than that big Mac because it's six years old. They're just following the trends, right? Like, those healthy choices came in when there was a real push for all these healthy, all the healthy reality TV shows and that sort of bullshit was coming out. And then there's like a kickback against that, not a kickback, push back against that. Yeah. And they're like, and then they're like, yeah, we're going to, and then KFC comes out with that double chicken thing. Oh, so gross.

And then there's a push back against that and they go healthy again. They're just playing us like chumps. Chumps. I feel, like fools. I never knew, and I feel like an idiot. Don't. Don't feel like an idiot. Thanks.

You've been played, Dave. I know. Here I was stuff in my face with a salad one week. The next time eating that chicken thing with the buns was made of chicken. Oh, so gross. So, okay, so 1978, we had the 5,000 restaurants, right? now, 1988, another 10 years later, we're up to 10,000 restaurants. Still 500 a year.

Wow. Which is, Matt, how much is that? How much is that a week? That works out to be about 10 a week, approximately. Approximately. Still correct. He is still spot on. Isn't that that is fascinating that they can grow more than a restaurant a day for like 20

straight years? It's ridiculous. It's amazing. It's terrifying. So then in 1990, the founder Ray Kroc again, he was named by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century. I was sure you're going to say he was exhumed, but that's probably better. Yeah.

It was exhumed and his body was put on display in the museum. The museum, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was put on display in the science class at the Berger University. At the Hamburgatorium. Wouldn't it be great if they, like, expanded the... the university to not just McDonald's, but then they actually took on, like, medicine students. Yeah, yeah.

But their degree still had, like, the hamburger on it and stuff. Yeah, and all that. The stampers were, like, just, like, they were all painted to look like Ronald McDonald. Or man, ma'amick cheese or whatever. Now, the rest of the timeline was kind of boring stuff, so I just decided to move on. Here's one thing that's pretty interesting. So this is kind of cool, actually. So to accommodate the current trend for high-quality coffee

and the popularity of coffee shops and cafes and stuff like that, McDonald's introduced a McCaffey, so like that cafe style that goes with the McDonald's restaurant itself in the style of a Starbucks. Now, what you may not know is that McCaffee is a concept created by McDonald's Australia and actually started in Melbourne in 1993. What? So they've been around that long Mick Cafes?

I don't, I think that's sort of a concept that started. And now, like, most in Australia will have a Met Cafe, but that's pretty exclusive to Australia. So there's no Mick Cafes overseas? I think they're, like, starting to pop up, but nearly every single one in Australia has one. There's only a few that don't. And it would be, like, the ones in shopping centres and stuff like that,

that don't have them. Are there coffee any good there? No, but at least it's barista made rather than just a button. Why do you ask the question? Yeah, silly question. I was curious. Fine. And it's really interesting as well because...

Because I don't drink coffee. I don't know. No idea. No idea. It says most McDonald's in Australia have macafes. And in Tazzie, every single McDonald's has a McAfee. And the rest of the states are following suit. And after upgrading...

So Tasmania is leading the McAfee chart. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, they probably have fewer stores. So they're following... Yeah, they've got two stores. And they've got two macfas. Yeah. But what's kind of interesting is that some Australian stores notice up to a 60% increase

when they upgraded to them at cafe style. Because we are such coffee snobs. So, Matt, this is once again what you say. It's just a gimmick to get you in. And once you're in there, you get you make a Mick Cafe, but you're also like, well, I'll get a Big Mac while I'm here. Absolutely. I'm not an idiot.

I'm not going to make two stops. I know, it's so weird, isn't it? So I just thought that was kind of interesting that it started. I had no idea. It started in Australia. Bloody love it. Makes your brow. Brow brings a tear to my nationalist eye.

international menus do you want to talk about that so have you you've both travelled do you to Tasmania and I was impressed with the amount of big cafes I saw Wow there you go

Actually that's the one state I've never been to There you go Have you been to McDonald's somewhere else in the world Yes I went to one in Japan A couple of weeks ago And they were serving minestronee soup

Yes I was going to say Quite a few of them particularly in Asia Serve soup What I was I didn't try it But I was enjoying the novelty of that Yeah. Matt, have you been to, because you're not big on McDonald's anyway, are you? No, I don't think I ever have.

Because for the most part, they don't do vegetarian and stuff. Yeah. But I don't remember ever going to one on purpose. I remember hearing, like, a lot of the overseas stores have a license, which is kind of different. A lot in Europe will sell beer. In New Zealand, McDonald sells meat pies because the local affiliate partially reliant. launched the Georgie Pie fast food chain that it bought out in 1996. So like a Macca's had bought out a pie shop.

You can get a pie. You're going to meet pie. Oh my God. Dave, new bucket lists. If you haven't, listener, I am obsessed with, that's my food. I don't do it pasta, but I'll do a pie all the time. Why is that the one state I haven't been to? The state, New Zealand.

Oh, sorry, I was thinking, I think you said Tasmania. No, you're still thinking Tasia. This is New Zealand. Oh, New Zealand. Well, I'll still not that far away. I'll go. It's like a state. Yeah, do it.

So, yeah, and you know what, when I was traveling, I didn't even, I don't think I even tried anything too fancy. I love that. When it was traveling, I no longer travel. When I traveled in my, in my youth. But, yeah, so sometimes they'll, the local, the deviations from the standard menu, it's, it's, sometimes it'll be because it'll abide by, like, a regional food taboo, such as, like, in India, exactly. You can't have a beef, so they don't have beef. So I think you can get a good veggie burger in an Indian.

Indian one, Matt, if you're interested. You can get the McRice in Indonesia. What's that? It's McRice. Maybe it's fried rice. Is this thing true? I think I read this recently that, you know, Coke is the big. Is there anything about Coke on here?

Because they're like, I reckon that's a big part of their successes that they locked in. They teamed out with the biggest. Yeah, with the biggest. Whereas the other's like KFC's Pepsi stuff. Pepsi Max, yeah. They jumped on the loser. Do. But apparently...

Pepsi car was pretty massive, yeah. Well, yeah. They were in the... Yeah, they overtook them in the ages or something. But Coke, apparently, they've got a secret ingredient as well, like all these bullshit things do. And in India, I think, there's a local law that you have to... You can't have any secret ingredients. So instead of telling the Indian government what the secret ingredient was, they pulled out of India.

What? Is that true? That's the truth. Wow. I'm pretty sure that's a truth. I didn't know that. I love that. That's pretty cool.

I'll check that before you edit this. I'll let you know whether or not to edit it out. Same with that crispy cream thing. I'm doubting that now. No, never doubt yourself. It's okay. Killer fact. I've got a few more, like there's a few more fun facts.

And like I mentioned before, I wanted to talk about a couple of lawsuits that happened. But obviously, you can't really talk about McDonald's without talking about the 2004 film, Super Size Me. Oh, yes. Do you remember that movie? Yes, I do. Oh, well, it's not a movie. It's a documentary. What's his name, Evan?

Morgan. Morgan, Spurlok. No, that's someone else. Who's Morgan Freeburn? That's like Morgan. Lawrence Fishburne and Morgan Freeman in one. Morgan Freeman, that's what I was saying. No, this is Morgan Spurlock, who's a documentary maker.

He ate at McDonald's restaurants three times a day for a month. It was part of his... And he would only... He would supersize, but only if offered. So he has to say yes. Is that the rule? Yeah, if he's offered supersized, he has to say yes. Otherwise, he can just have like a standard-sized meal.

He consumed 5,000 calories. I never know. Is that a lot? Well, an intake of around 2,500 within a healthy balanced art is more generally recommended for a man of his size. So it's twice what he would be recommended for him. Okay, and he, as a result, he gained 11.1 kilos in a month, a 13% body mass increase, increases cholesterol, and experienced mood swing, sexual dysfunction and fat accumulation in his liver.

And it took him 14 months to lose the weight. Wow. But what people don't know is that he was still eating McDonald's three times a day in the 14 months after, which at first they didn't tell him that that was the problem. He just increased his exercise. He wasn't noticing a correlation. Also, not long after they released the film, McDonald's got rid of the supersized option. Oh, is that gone now?

It's gone. I hate that that guy took that away from me. As if you weigh 52 kilos. Exactly. I should be allowed to have any size meal I want. But as if you could get through it. I should be encouraged. They should say, I'm sorry, sir, you can't have a small meal.

You'll have the super size. I'd pay a lot of money to watch you eat a super size meal. So what is supersized? That's bigger than large. Bigger than large. Right. We never had that here. I think, I vaguely remember it's very, very briefly.

I think it's bigger than Jesus is the technical. Yeah, that's the technical term. Yeah. Wait to describe the meal. You know I love to finish on some fun facts. Maybe I'll save that fun fact for the end. I will talk about just a couple of... Fun fact lawsuits.

Well, there's a couple of lawsuits, and then there's one fun fact that I just think is a little bit ridiculous. And also kind of ties in with past episodes. I love when this happens. So there's kind of an interesting one. So remember how McDonald's have always done the McDonald's Monopoly game? Yeah, that seems to happen... It happens several times a year.

Yeah, it happens quite a bit. I always get... I start doing it and then I lose them. Oh, yeah. and I never remember. So there was this subcontracting company called Simon Marketing, which had been hired by McDonald's to organise and promote the game. So that was kind of their job.

Now, they failed to recognise a flaw in its procedures. So the Chief of Security, his name was Jerome P. Jacobson. He was able to remove the most expensive game pieces, which he then passed on to mates. So he's a chief of security wear? Of the company, Simon Marketing. Oh, right. So this is, oh, sorry.

He's not for McDonald's, he's for like their subcontracting company. They were like, we've stuffed up, and they sent the security guard into every McDonald's to try and get all the cups back. No. Get the blue properties. He was taking the most expensive game pieces, giving him to his associates or his friends, who would then redeem them and share the proceeds.

So he's pocketing all the big bucks. So what was the thing that they missed that they could have stopped that? I'm not really sure. It just sort of says that, like, they made... They did see-through or something. Yeah. So I'm fairly sure the way they... control it is. Say, for example, you want

Mayfair and park lane and you get the holiday. So they print 10,000 Mayfares, but only two park lanes are in existence. Yeah, yeah, it's something like that. That's how they control it, so there's only two possible winners, but it sounds like they may... A lot of people who feel like they're halfway there. Yeah, so, but it sounds like they may,

or, you know, two out of three of them. But it sounds like they may have stuffed up and printed 10,000 and a few years. And they did this for a long time. So between 1995 and 2000, they won almost all of the top prizes. So they did it five years in a row and no one noticed at first. Well, yeah, because he was probably using quite a few different people.

It wasn't just one person constantly winning. Jesus goes lucky. Yeah, then they'd obviously twig a bit earlier. Well, the security guard has really moved into a bigger house every year for the last five years. It's pretty bad. His partner must be working very hard. He's moved into a bigger house ten times a week. Roughly.

Roughly. They scored $24 million. dollars in prize money. And so then they finally realized, they figured it out, they get back to this guy and they arrested him. But then what's kind of weird as well is that in 1995, St Jude's Children Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee,

received an anonymous letter postmarked Dallas containing a $1 million winning game piece. So somebody had like anonymously sent a million dollars basically to this children's hospital. Now, the game rules prohibited the transfer of prizes, but McDonald's waived that rule. Yeah, thank God because they'd be the worst people ever. And so they were giving a payment of $50,000 annually just until you got to a million.

Which is 20 years worth. So they made that last payment towards the end of 2014. And investigations later indicated that Jacobson had admitted to sending the winning peace to the hospital, the guy who got in trouble. Of course, but you'd claim that, wouldn't you? Who's going to come out and say, no, it was me? Oh, shit, I'm guilty. Of course he'd say. So did he go to jail?

I believe he did, yes. Wow. So, yeah, it's pretty great. It's pretty cool because all these lawsuits as well, a lot of them just have to do with Mac or Mick at the start of things. So in one noteworthy case, McDonald's sued a Scottish cafe owner called McDonald, even though the business in question dated back over a century.

Wow. So do they win that kind of case? They've won a few of them, and then there's been a couple that, like, the little guys won, and that's always cool. So there's, let me find some of these. Buy it off me, you jerks. Yeah, you jerks.

So there was one called McCoffey. And in 1994, McDonald's successfully forced Elizabeth McCawphy. So she was in the San Francisco Bay area. They forced her to change the trading name of her coffee shop, McCoffee. To McCawley. She'd had that for 17 years. She'd been running that little cafe. And she's like, it was just an ad.

adaptation of my name. McCawfee. So she's like C-A-U-G-H-E-Y. And they're like, nope. You got a mick in it. It's ours. It's so weird that you're allowed to own, like, a common name. But they shouldn't be able to, but they can just afford the best lawyers.

Yeah, right. They just weigh them out. It's so ridiculous. So there was one called McMunchies. She didn't, there's... Their hash browns are a little bit different. This is run by a lady called Mary, Mary Blanchies. Mary Blairy.

And she just, she didn't sell burgers or chips. She just chose the name because she liked the word munchies and wanted the cafe to have a Scottish feel, which is why she had muck in there. Oh, and see, the thing is like... Can you change it to Mac Monchies? No, but even Mac they won't allow them to have.

You can't have Mac. No, you can't. They've had to go up people for that as well. McDonald said if someone uses the McP prefix, even unintentionally, they were using something that does not belong to them. Isn't that ridiculous? Wow. What a world we live in. I know. But here's a cool one though.

McDonald's filed a lawsuit against McDonald's family restaurant located in Grand Cayman, and the company McDonald's lost the case, and in addition was banned from ever opening a McDonald's in that area. And that still stands today. They can't open one there. Did you know, Dave, that Chris Cross... Jump Jump. Yeah, they lost rights their song Jump Jump Jump because of the line, Mickey-Dem, Mickey-Dem, Mickey-de-Mack, Daddy. They lost to write the whole song.

Is that true? Yeah. I think you're joking, right? I'm too far in now. I've got to just... Commit. Yeah, no, it's dead set. That's definitely just...

Wow. One of them died. Yeah. Blake. Yeah, that's right. Exactly. Behind the scenes, who's... Who knows what happened?

I'm the micitty, mickey, mickey, mickey, Mac, Daddy. That's what he said, sent him of his body. I'm the mickety, mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey, Macon. I can't believe you just said that on this show, we're going to... I'm going to watch our back now. It's pretty terrifying. I've got, so just some facts and then one more fun fact. Okay?

So we have to sit through some shit facts. Well, it's not really a shit fact. It's just interesting. It's just a summary, basically. So McDonald's is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across more than 36,000 outlets. Crazy. Crazy.

And just one last fun fact. McDonald's and NASA explored an advertising agreement for a planned mission to the asteroid 449 hamburger There was an asteroid called hamburger and in the 80s and 90s

NASA considered a spacecraft mission to the asteroid including a tie-in with McDonald's That's great, but they had to abandon it. It was cancelled in called for launch in 1995 but it was later cancelled but how great is that? McDonald's could have gone to the moon

Like that is, that's going to happen one day, right? It's got to. There has to be the first intergalactic McDonald's. It'll happen. I'd love for someone to just get out and copyright Mac in outer space. Oh, so you can't do it on the moon. Yeah, like, sorry, boys, this is ours. So I was already taken.

Yeah, you can call yourself Donald's up there, but. Yeah, McCaffee, Mrs. McCawley. Yeah, she owns the moon. I'm sorry, mate. Sorry, mate. She's already claimed McMars as her own. She's smart lady. She's into business.

So that's McDonald's. Wow. Is this terrible that I feel like eating it now, even though we heard all the bad stuff as well? I didn't even go into people finding rats in their burgers. But, you know, there's horror stories. I just looked at it purely from a business point of view because I am, you love maths, Matt loves mascots.

I'm all about business. Wow. That's what we're all about it. That's what we're well known for. Did you find anything about their ethics being questionable, apart from business ethics, which just sound like they are a bit. There have been quite a few disputes over pay.

I did read quite a bit about that. Yeah. But I didn't, you know, I was just kind of, I was swept up in the magic of it all. I did it today. I produced today. Everything. Every business that becomes that big, the scale becomes hard to manage. Absolutely.

Even rats in burgers and stuff. I suppose if you're making 100 million burgers every day. It's going to happen, isn't it? It's got to happen. 36,000 outlets is going to be one rat, you know. That's right. And his name, it's Ray Crook. Rat crock.

Rat crock. Rest in peace, Ray. Nah, don't. How do we wrap up from here? Well, that was good. I actually really enjoyed listening to that. You looked a little hesitant at the start. When I said McDonald's, you kind of like, your brow furrowed.

Forrowed? Because you made him hungry. He was an hour and a half away from food. Yeah, fairly hungry. But I'm going to go to, get on. on a plane to New Zealand get a pie, McDonald's. That's my plan for the evening.

But thank you. Does he seem like you're going on a plane? Are you going to New Zealand? Yeah, tonight. Are you really? No, what are you talking? We're about to get in the same car and drive to the same stand-up comedy night.

For a second, I forgot. We're all going to perform at the same place. I forgot the pie reference. I was like, is they going to New Zealand for Christmas? That's cool. I was like half listening. I'm sorry. We definitely feel like we're all being on the same wavelength

tonight. Pretty pretty... Really? Really criss-cross. In New Zealand. So we'll probably just leave it there. Thanks so much for listening, guys. If you do enjoy the show and you think it's worth more than two stars,

then maybe give us three, four or five, preferably the five end of the scale. Just go five. It's an even number to say. It's like, it's the same with Uber. It's the same with podcasting. If you like it, it's five. If you fucking hate it, then it's a two. It's got to be the worst shit in the world to give it a two.

if you think it's okay, don't waste your time giving it anything. Like is five. Fucking hate it is two or one. Or just don't. Just don't review it all. And don't bitch to your friends. Just fuck off. No, bitch to your friends.

Who's bitching to their friends? I just heard the worst podcast. Shut up. I don't care. Yeah. Yeah, turn it off. Great. I thought Dave was going to New Zealand.

Oh, wow. We've lost it. But you can get in contact with us. Oh, we're still going. I'm trying to wrap it up here. At do go on pod. That's us on Twitter. But you can find us.

Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, Jess. I'll be back next week to the report. Believe it is my turn. I will go on. But until then, we say adieu and goodnight if you are going to bed. Adieu, go on. Oh, that's very good.

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