Economy: NO McDos?

The Automat would still be a generally viable business model! :D

(in the West; I'm fully aware that in Japan the Automat never went away)
 
In the UK Wimpy would probably be a much larger concern than it is now. It started in the 50s but was squeezed badly by McD in the 80s then bought out by the then owners of Burger King.
 
I think that sooner or later someone would have bumped onto the concept either by chance, careful innovation or just trial and error.

The McDonalds brothers themselves started franchising before Ray Kroc became a stakeholder in the business. They were however far more conservative than he was and consequently their nationwide expansion would have been slower, perhaps slow enough to lead to a more fragmented and competitive market overall.

Ray Kroc was a genius in the sense that he implemented very simple and yet very effective principle which made the chain successful. Simplicity, costumer service, cleanliness and chiefl friendliness among others.

They sound very simple, but a lot of corner Fish and Chips shops in the United Kingdom don't even apply them for example especially as far as consistency and cleanliness are concerned.

If McDs expansion abroad is far slower, then an overseas competitor might emerge. I always find it fascinating that a franchised chain of Fish and Chip stores never started off in Britain for example.
 
And as to the question of 'fast food without McDonald's', well Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was already into the whole franchise thing first. So KFC would be the one that gets emulated, at least until a successful burger chain (A&W, Burger King, White Castle, etc...) takes off sometime in the mid-50s.

Well, the prototypical fast food joint - well, at least the one that was most prominent - was the classic A&W, which functioned like the drive-in theatre of fast food. The classic A&W is certainly different from the A&W that still exists in Canada today, but the classic A&W model would certainly be one to emulate.
 
The Automat would still be a generally viable business model! :D

(in the West; I'm fully aware that in Japan the Automat never went away)
Don't they still exist a fair bit in Belgium?

They do in the Netherlands

Here, i thought you were trying a portmanteau of MsDos and PcDos. Or horrors, a pc os produced by a hamburger chain.


Ja, ja. Most of you whippersnappers have never used dos. Sigh.

LoL that was my first thought too
 
I always find it fascinating that a franchised chain of Fish and Chip stores never started off in Britain for example.

Actually, a lot of Harry Ramsden's outlets are franchises. They're not on the same scale as McDonald's of course, but I don't see any hard and fast reason why they couldn't expand further.

Personally, I like the idea of Wimpy expanding to occupy the niche left vacant by the non-appearance of McDonald's - I used to like those Half-Pounders they did in the late 80s. :)
 
Actually, a lot of Harry Ramsden's outlets are franchises. They're not on the same scale as McDonald's of course, but I don't see any hard and fast reason why they couldn't expand further.

Personally, I like the idea of Wimpy expanding to occupy the niche left vacant by the non-appearance of McDonald's - I used to like those Half-Pounders they did in the late 80s. :)

Interesting find but it looks like they are still divided between fast food branches and traditional restaurant branches.

Wimpy could have broken through with less competition, but from what I gather they were also divided between fats food branches and restaurant branches.

I am pondering an ongoing 1960s to today "Fast food war" in my TL between US joints and Anglo-French joints.
A Big Mac with Coke and Fries or a Géant with Irn Brun and Chips anyone?
 
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