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The Special Sauce
McDonald’s Fast-Food Breakthrough
Remember Ray Kroc, the happy Model T driver from chapter 5? Fast-forward to 1954. The spread of the automobile and the growth of reliable roads connecting cities transformed where people lived and how they lived. It gave rise to what we now call the suburbs and created new phenomena, like the drive-in restaurant. With its temperate climate and extensive highway system, California became the natural center of the drive-in.
Customers, typically teenagers, would drive to a restaurant, order food, and wait for it to be delivered to their cars. Restaurant owners competed by offering ever-more-elaborate menus and ever-more-creative ways to deliver food to cars, such as servers (then overwhelmingly ...
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