Chapter one
of Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser focuses on the story of
Carl N. Karcher. This man came up from humble beginnings, He was born on a farm
in Ohio and his father was a sharecropper so the family had to relocate every
few years. One year his uncle Ben Karcher wanted Carl to travel west to
California for a job. He accepted and moved to Anaheim, California, which was a
small town with a lot of farms that grew oranges, lemons and tangerines. He worked
with his uncle at a feed and seed store for a while. After returning from a
trip to Ohio he started to work at a bakery as a driver for bread deliveries. Which
in turn, made him interested in being a hot dog vendor where he had some
success.
At the time California’s culture was
taken over by the rising use of automobiles. When cars became more affordable people
switched from trolley transportation to personal automobiles. With that change
in transportation the states culture changed in a matter that revolved around
cars, where everything had to be fast and mobile. Thus, rose the highly successful
drive-in restaurant chains. At the end of 1944, Carl still worked for the
bakery and owned 4 hot dog carts. Until he made an investment In a restaurant. After
world war II the economic boom was especially prevalent in California, that’s when
Carl’s restaurant business soared.
California’s car culture continued
to be an effective catalyst in profiting businesses. McDonald’s opened the
first drive-thru restaurant that did not require any carhops and was the
fastest way to buy food. Carl Karcher saw the success of the McDonald brothers
idea and emulated his restaurant in the same fashion.
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