In 1940, Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a barbeque restaurant that helped them realize that most of the profit they got came from hamburgers so they set up a new self-serve restaurant with an assembly line and named it "McDonalds." They then started to open more restaurants in new locations in Arizona and California. Ray Kroc, a man who sold milkshake machines, wanted McDonalds to start a franchise across the country. He was so committed to the idea that he decided to do it himself. In the 1960's McDonalds grew sustainably due to the campaign of the Golden Arches, followed by the sale of the billionth hamburger and the introduction of the clown, Ronald McDonald as the company mascot. Soon in 1968, the Big Mac was introduced. The growth continued into the 70's as sales reached 3 billion. Quickly after, McDonalds introduced fast food breakfast with the Egg McMuffin. In 1974, Kroc acted on his idea of giving something back and created the Ronald McDonald House which provides housing to parents of children who must travel to receive healthcare. With all of the success of the 1970's came competition with competitors such as Wendy's.
Dave Thomas of Columbus, Ohio founded Wendy's in 1969. Wendy's did not have one signature sandwich like McDonalds but they had signature hamburgers, "old fashioned" hamburgers. Dave got the idea for his hamburgers from a restaurant in his hometown in Michigan. In 1970, they created the modern drive thru window. The restaurant was named after Thomas' fourth child Melinda Lou "Wendy" and the sign featured a cartoon like picture of the red pig tailed girl. In 1986, business slowed down and in response Wendy's focused on the gold standard to make the restaurant more competitive to other fast food restaurants. Wendy's was the first to introduce the salad bar. In 2011, Wendy's introduced their first signature sandwich, the "W".
Insurance may be described as a hedge against life's uncertainties. To that end, it can never be taken too seriously. Every year, the person insuring himself bets that he will not be living another year and the insurer is betting that he will. If the person lives, and loses the bet, he pays the insu...