Blog#3

Kangil Heo

In “Chapter 1: The Founding Fathers” in Fast Food Nation by Eric Scholosser, the author focuses on Carl Karcher and the progress of the fast food industry. Carl was born in 1917, on a farm in Ohio. He later dropped out of school and accepted a job offer in Anaheim, California. While working at the Feed and Seed store in California, he met his wife Margaret Heinz and began his own family. Later on, Carl bought a hot dog stand for sale because he realized the number of hot dog stands opening and the number of buns being sold. Margaret ran the hot dog stand with her children while Carl was working for the Armstrong Bakery in Los Angeles. Eventually, Carl opened his own Drive-In Barbeque. This was around the time where the United States entered World War 2, which led to the population boom in California as well as the automobile business. After seeing success at McDonald’s, Carl also decided to open his own self-service restaurant called Carl’s Jr. Other fast food chains soon followed, the familiar ones are Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, Dominos, and etc. The author also talks about other people other than Carl and how they started their own fast food chains. But the author mainly focuses on Carl and the general progress/evolution of the fast food industry. Carl had a lot of ups and down but Carl’s Jr. was an overall success. In the end, Carl was asked if he missed the old times and the old look of Anaheim, California but he said “No, I believe in progress.”