QUIZ: McDonald's

QUIZ: McDonald's

When brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald opened their hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California in 1940, it's unlikely that they knew that it would become a titan of worldwide commerce. But when Chicago native Ray Kroc opened his own McDonald's franchise in 1955, he enabled it to become exactly that. He bought up the McDonald brothers' equity and then expanded the business into the globally recognized corporate entity that it is today, and now McDonald's has restaurants in 119 countries, employs 1.5 million people and serves no less than 47 million customers a day.

How much do you know about the most successful fast food company of all time? Take our McDonald's quiz and find out.

Posted 12 May 2010

As of 2008, how many Big Macs has Wisconsin native Don Gorske eaten?

1. 3,000
2. 13,000
3. 23,000
4. 33,000

Anyone who's seen the 2004 film "Super Size Me" is likely to remember Don Gorske, the Fond du Lac prison guard who pilgrimages to his local McDonald's every day to eat at least two Big Macs. His habit started on a beautiful May afternoon in 1972, when he ate three of the hamburgers for lunch, and then returned two more times that same day to wolf down six more. He's been going there every day ever since, and in 2008 he achieved the distinction of having eaten 23,000 of them since that first fateful day during the Nixon administration.

SOURCE: Wisconsin Man Eats 23,000 Big Macs | UPI.com

According to economist Thomas Friedman, if two nations each have a McDonald's, what event will never occur between them?

1. One nation will never boycott the other
2. One nation will never sell weapons to the other
3. They will never negotiate a trade agreement
4. They will never go to war with each other

According to New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman, no nation that has a McDonald's will ever go to war with another that also has one. The underlying logic behind this theory actually makes sense. According to Friedman, when a country "has a middle class big enough to support a McDonald's, it becomes a McDonald's country, and people in McDonald's countries don't like to fight wars; they like to wait in line for burgers." This theory was first put forward in 1996, and it's held up. Israel and Egypt both have their own franchises, each complying with the respective dietary laws of its people, and they remain two nations living in peace to this day. But although India has its own franchise, it remains threatened by the McDonald's-free menace across its border, Pakistan.

SOURCE: Foreign Affairs Big Mac I | New York Times

What McDonald's-related term was first mentioned in the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2003?

1. Hamburglar
2. Mayor McCheese
3. McJob
4. McRib

In 2003, the term "McJob" made its debut in the Merriam-Webster dictionary's 11th edition, where it was defined as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement." The term has its origin in 1990's slacker parlance and was meant to define any entry-level job with lousy pay, but McDonald's executives took it as an exclusive slight against their company. According to Jim Cantalupo, the chief executive officer of McDonald's at the time, the definition constituted a "slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants."

SOURCE: McDonald's Upset Over McJob Title | ABC News Online

McDonald's sales increased in March and April 2010 in part because of what menu item?

1. Chicken McNuggets
2. Chipotle Snack Wrap
3. Premium Southwest Salad
4. Sausage Burrito

During the current recession, no business has been immune to slumping sales, even one like McDonald's that caters to tight budgets. But as the economy has started to show signs of life again, the burger giant's sales have begun to pick up, showing a 4.2 percent increase in March 2010 and a 3.8 percent increase in April 2010. The company credits their new, Starbucks-esque iced coffee drinks and their Dollar Menu items such as Chicken McNuggets for the turnaround. The Dollar Menu, which is also home to such classic items as French Fries and cheeseburgers, has helped to woo customers who have been returning to dining out but want to keep their costs as low as possible.

SOURCE: Coffee, McNuggets Fuel McDonald's April Increases | Associated Press

In California, what has the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to ban from children's fast food meals?

1. French Fries
2. Soda
3. Toys
4. Trans fats

On April 28, 2010, in the Silicon Valley county of Santa Clara, the Board of Supervisors has voted to ban the inclusion of toys with fast food meals for children. Needless to say, this spells certain doom for the McDonald's Happy Meal, which for decades has given little Junior the latest Harry Potter toy to go with his McNuggets. The measure, which passed in April 2010, stipulates that restaurants are prohibited from adding toys to any meal that exceeds 485 calories, 600 milligrams of salt or high levels of fat or sugar. Board president Ken Yeager, who said the toys facilitate childhood obesity by encouraging children to eat unhealthy food, proposed the measure.

SOURCE: It's A Sad Day For Happy Meals In Santa Clara County | Los Angeles Times

Your score:

• Titan
  You are a powerful deity who rules during a Golden Age.
  
  Special in-depth coverage of McDonald's here.
• Titanium
  You need to be alloyed with iron to produce any lightweight alloys.
  
  Special in-depth coverage of McDonald's here.
• Titanic
  You may be big, but watch out for icebergs.
  
  Special in-depth coverage of McDonald's here.