2016 Dead Pool

Quote: Evenbob

Fidel Castro at 90, only the good die young.
If only there was a hell..

Things look better and better for a Trump
presidency. This opens the door even wider
to normalized relations.

Except for the fact that it was Obama's initiative to normalize relations with Cuba, and because it was his idea, Republicans eyes-bugged-out opposed it. They would look like real hypocrites if they supported the same initiatives but with Trump's stamp on them. Of course, being hypocritical pretty much defines a Republican.

You also forget that Trump has no idea where Cuba is and couldn't find it on a map. He has a vague idea that they make good cigars, but since he doesn't smoke them, he has no interest in the place. (Maybe Melania smokes cigars?)

Jim Deligatti, inventor of the Big Mac, dies.

If you like McDonald's or not, he was a legend. Sure, all the Big Mac is really is just a Big Boy knockoff. He also had the idea for breakfast at MCD. He bought the Pittsburgh Metro Market in 1957, just two years after the company (not the first location) was founded. Ray Kroc was probably hard up for cash to let a then-top-10 market go when he was elsewhere just selling single-unit locations. Only a few regional markets were sold like this.

The Big Mac really "made" McDonald's more viable. To get it on the menu was a huge sales job in itself. Why mess with success? The rest is history. It is not the best burger. It is not the best fast food burger. It is the most famous, though.

I met a guy who managed a suburban Pittsburgh location in the 1970s. It was the one closest to my house at the time, we did not go often but if we went this was the one. It was the "classic" one, with a closed area for minimal indoor seating, maybe 10-15 tables if that. It was made for take-out. So of all places I meet this guy on a job in Buffalo! Get to talking where he managed and had one of those WTF-SMALL WORLD! moments.

He said Deligatti paid his managers well, he was making $40K at the time, easily $150-200K in today's dollars.

One of those legends few have heard of.

Quote: AZDuffman

If you like McDonald's or not, he was a legend. Sure, all the Big Mac is really is just a Big Boy knockoff.
.

Went to McD's a lot in the mid 60's.
Would always order 4 and 4 and a
small coke. It was 99 cents. 4 burgers,
4 fries, small coke. That was a lot of
food for a buck. Big Mac was way out
of our price range, I think it was 35
cents. The job I had paid a dollar an
hour, which was decent money when
gas was 19 cents a gallon and cigs were
30 cents a pack. A case of Budweiser was
$5. A haircut was $1.50, hamburger was
3 pounds for 99 cents.

Quote: Evenbob

Went to McD's a lot in the mid 60's.
Would always order 4 and 4 and a
small coke. It was 99 cents. 4 burgers,
4 fries, small coke. That was a lot of
food for a buck. Big Mac was way out
of our price range, I think it was 35
cents. The job I had paid a dollar an
hour, which was decent money when
gas was 19 cents a gallon and cigs were
30 cents a pack. A case of Budweiser was
$5. A haircut was $1.50, hamburger was
3 pounds for 99 cents.

I can't wait to see the Ray Kroc movie next month. Read "McDonald's Behind the Arches" like 20 years ago on a plane trip. Was fascinating. Almost failed many times until they got the real estate formula right. Even then until 1970 they could easily have been taken down. After that there was no stopping them. Today they are perhaps own more real estate than any other non-public entity.

2 all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickle onion on a sesame seed bun.

Still remember that. I also used to know the Preamble to the Constitution but can't get through it anymore.

Where I lived in the 60's and 70's all
the McD's in the area were owned
by one guy, who became a millionaire
with them. I wonder if that happened
elsewhere.

Quote: Evenbob

Where I lived in the 60's and 70's all
the McD's in the area were owned
by one guy, who became a millionaire
with them. I wonder if that happened
elsewhere.

Few franchisees were regional. Most people had to run one store well before they got more. Pittsburgh and Washington, DC, were two rare examples. But if you did well you could get more stores. And the stores were a license to print money. You had to drive sales, but as the new thing that was not hard. Running them was a science. Your rent was set, your costs were predictable. In 1970 the easy days were over but still a ton of cash to be made.

Only one unit totally failed in the early days they say. One.

I know an owner of one franchise (TCYB) and he also has a privately owned business. He looked into owning another franchise, but margins are tight. The company wants its fees whether your store is making money or not. So, it's not hard to go under if sales are too low.

He doesn't have branding in his private business, but he seems to prefer that.

Quote: rxwine

I know an owner of one franchise (TCYB) and he also has a privately owned business. He looked into owning another franchise, but margins are tight. The company wants its fees whether your store is making money or not. So, it's not hard to go under if sales are too low.

Franchises vary. Over the years what happened is the franchisors got to love those upfront fees and many offered little support. McDonald's rents the stores so wasn't out for the quick buck. What I see now is franchises are a sort of "buy a job" deals. Lay out cash and get a decent return but backbreaking work. The glory days are over.

People were nuts for McD's in the 60's.
I mean insane nuts. Everybody went there,
especially for lunch. It was cheap and the
food was decent. HS kids practically lived there
if they had a car.