Episode 25 - The Founder with Steve Penfold

Off-Campus History

On today’s episode, we’re talking about the history of fast food! Specifically, our conversation today focuses on the 2016 film The Founder. The film follows the early years of McDonald’s as a fast food chain in the 1950s, with Ray Kroc employing cutthroat business tactics to transform the restaurant into a huge chain and achieve what he views as success. Michael Keaton stars as Ray Kroc; Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Laura Dern, Linda Cardellini, and B.J. Novak all also star in key roles.

Today we dig into the history behind The Founder. Why do fast food franchises take off when they do, after the Second World War? How does the fast food industry fit into the bigger picture of the history of capitalism? How innovative was McDonald’s in its business model and system of food production? And what do we make of this historical film genre that traces the biography of a successful businessperson?

To discuss all this with me and much more, I’m joined by Steve Penfold. Steve is a Professor of History at the University of Toronto whose research interests include the history of fast food, as well as capitalism, car culture, and consumerism in Canada. For anyone interested in a fascinating case study in fast food history, read Steve’s book The Donut: A Canadian History (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008)! For those interested in learning more about the history of McDonald’s and fast food generally, check out Steve’s chapter “Fast Food,” in The Oxford Handbook of Food History, ed. Jeffrey M. Pilcher (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 279-302.

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