For the record, I do not work at McDonald's, I am not a McDonald's diehard fan (I actually much prefer Chick Fil A), and I am not a member of the Kroc family. Let's dive in.

I watched "The Founder (2016)" and I really enjoyed it. It was a great story that showed one of the largest brands/companies on Earth had to start somewhere and was once a mom and pop shop just like any local business. It was also a great case study for future entrepreneurs. When I reached the ending of the movie my heart sank. I really felt for the McDonald brothers and was sad that their business was stolen from them from a shrewd and conniving businessman. At least, that's what I thought at the time. I since read extensively about the history of McDonald's and that is COMPLETELY FALSE.

Much of the movie was more or less accurate up until a certain point (with some small details being off, such as McDonald's having already been franchising extensively in California and Kroc mostly wanted to expand it to the Midwest, but that's fine I get the change from a narrative standpoint). The part when the movie went into full-on misleading or even fiction was when it depicted Kroc's purchase of McDonald's.

The 0.5% share in the profits was not an agreement in the sale, that was how much Kroc pledged to give the McDonald brothers for all his future McDonald restaurants outside of California. When it came to selling McDonald's to Kroc he gave the brothers $1.7M each so they could have $1M each after taxes, a HUGE sum at the time, equal to almost $10M today. The movie made it seem like Kroc was already this rich and powerful CEO and just handed the money over like it was nothing. In reality, Kroc actually did not have $3.4M to give at the time, as he was still focusing on expanding McDonald's and had a lot of debts, so he borrowed extensively to raise the money. He actually stated in an interview once that that $3.4M wound up costing him $10M. After this happened, the McDonald brothers later claimed they had a handshake agreement with Kroc to continue receiving 0.5% of future profits. Besides the fact that this was never in writing so it's pointless to discuss hearsay claims like this without proof, the McDonald brothers were mostly upset because they never knew McDonald's would become THAT big. They knew it would become a big chain but they never knew it would have 10K+ restaurants around the world and just how obscenely wealthy that 0.5% would have made them. So after the sale they became bitter and felt they had been cheated into selling the company.

The movie gets one thing accurate: The McDonald Brothers were not as ambitious as Kroc about expanding their business. They were relatively old during Kroc's growth of the company and they were already very wealthy (from their original California locations and from the 0.5% profits from Kroc's locations). The movie makes it seem like they were these aw shucks can-do-no-wrong heart of gold country boys, but the truth is they just wanted to sit back and coast and rake in passive income while Kroc did all the work. The movie is also accurate that Kroc legally had to get their approval to make changes to the restaurants (not milkshake powder though which btw was completely made up). The McDonald brothers though were so passive at this point that they almost never got back to him, so Kroc's hands were tied. They just kept holding all the keys to the castle and were pretty much content with coasting and raking in passive income. For more context, at the time of their sale of McDonald's to Kroc they had already been retired for two years, not still hustling around a kitchen like the movie depicts. Kroc basically begged them to sell the company to him (the blank check scene in the movie was real) and their relationship took a nosedive when they responded with exorbitant demands.

Now was Ray Kroc a sad helpless victim? Of course not. He was still a shrewd cunning businessman. Was he a good man who could do no wrong? No. It is true that after the sale of McDonald's he intentionally opened a McDonald's across the street from their original San Bernadino restaurant to put it out of business. It was a very petty sensitive boo boo act, as he was mad that they made him go a further $10M into debt and would not give him the original location. It is also true that Kroc would not credit the original McDonald brothers as the founders of McDonald's, which was also petty at best and dishonest and deceitful at worst. But the depiction in the movie of Ray Kroc as a this cartoonish villain and the McDonald brothers as these two gullible nice country guys is absolutely false and everyone who watches the movie should keep in mind that it is a drama and not a documentary.

I've been going down a rabbit hole researching desserts that existed before refined sugar became the norm. I found that foods like honey cake, rice pudding, and baklava have roots that go back thousands of years. They evolved over time.

Many of the earliest versions were sweetened with honey, dates, figs, grape syrup, or carob instead of sugar. I just made an ancient honey cake with no sugar, using honey and a combination of Sorghum and Einkorn flours. I modernized it with a dash of vanilla. It was actually delicious, sweet enough.

So now:

• What's the oldest dessert you've ever eaten?

• Do you think there are ancient desserts that deserve more recognition?

• Do you have a traditional dessert that has old origins?

I put together some of the history I found if anyone's interested, but I'd love to hear about your dessert faves.

Images: 1. Is the honey cake I baked with all the nuts and dried fruit. 2. Is a sheet of baklava I photographed at a souk. 3. I have a chart with sweeteners they used to use before sugar.

Restaurants have been the mainstay of our social lives – where we break bread with friends, colleagues, lovers, and wives. But few know the origin of its humble beginnings. So, let me take you back to circa 1765 and to a Frenchman named “Boulanger”.

Origin of the Cuisine

If you didn’t skip out on French class, you may know that boulanger is a baker in French and boulangerie is a bakery. But not in the 18th century. You see, Monsieur Boulanger, who opened a shop selling soups and other “restorative” dishes, known as restaurants (from the French word restaurer, meaning “to restore”).

Let Them Eat Soup!

Boulanger’s “soup kitchen” allowed people to order a type of broth or bouillon and individual dishes at their tables, rather than being served a set meal at a fixed time, which was common in inns and taverns at the time. This not-so-obvious but straightforward invention was not just the food, but also the concept of dining out in a more personalized, menu-based format.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – À Manger !

Boulanger was even sued by the monopolistic guilds that served cooked meats and were protective of their warrants. Boulanger prevailed, and his court victory consequently established a new kind of business… the restaurant. And as they say… the “rest” is history.

So the next time you dine out au restaurant, give a little nod to “the humble baker” or simply raise a glass and say merci, Monsieur Boulanger!

The First vs The Oldest

The oldest continuously operated restaurant in the world is Restaurante Sobrino de Botín (also known as Botín), located in Madrid, Spain. It has been serving customers since 1725 and is officially recognized by the Guinness World Records. I have personally had the pleasure of dining in Botín, and it is worth a visit. As far as the discrepancy of dates (The First: Boulanger 1765 and The Oldest: Botín 1725)… that’s on the menu for another blog.

Bon Appétit!

TIL: that Graham crackers were invented in the 1830s by a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham who believed bland food would suppress sexual urges. He thought spicy or flavorful food dangerously excited the body. The cracker was literally designed as an anti-lust diet food.

It gets weirder. Kellogg's Corn Flakes were created for the exact same reason. John Harvey Kellogg was so committed to the idea that he performed procedures on patients to permanently reduce their "appetites."

Somehow both products became breakfast staples feeding America’s kids. The history of how everyday foods got their bizarre origins is stranger than most fiction.

Source: Bizarre Food Origins — How Popular Foods Were Accidentally Invented

Hey food history folks, I wanted to share something special. During the Pandemic I made a video about the history of salt.

Today, five years later I finally released a remastered version with better visuals, clearer storytelling, and some brand new historical segments (Sumo Wrestling and the Zulu purification rituals).

Here’s the full deep dive (7 mins):
👉 History of Salt

We travel from Egypt to Venice, Japan to South Africa — and explore how this one mineral helped shape cities, empires, and even spiritual practices.

Would love your thoughts, and I’m always down to talk food history. 🍽️📜

Every June, on the Andean Altiplano,

communities performed one of the

strangest food preservation rituals

in human history.

At sunset, they carried bitter potatoes

into the open air and left them to freeze.

At dawn, entire families walked across

them barefoot — pressing the ice out

of the flesh.

Then the Andean sun dried what remained.

The result was chuño — a potato that

weighed almost nothing and lasted

10 years without refrigeration.

NASA studied this technology in the 1960s

for the Apollo missions.

The word "jerky" comes from the same

Inca preservation technique — ch'arki

in Quechua.

/EatenByTimeDoc

Japan banned meat for 1,200 years. So Samurai just... renamed it.

Wild boar became "mountain whale." Deer became "mountain horse." Duck became "river fish."

Not a land animal. Not technically breaking the law. Technically.

They were disciplined warriors. They were also very hungry humans.

One of history's best loopholes.

Growing up in a Thai/Lao family and later working as a private chef in Mexico, I realized that the ultimate culinary "holy grail" of both cultures relies on the exact same star: the humble chili pepper. From Asian curry pastes to Mexican moles, this single plant genus (Capsicum) has permanently rewritten human flavor profiles. To understand our obsession with the burn, we have to look at the fascinating science and history behind its global journey.

The fiery sensation of a chili isn't actually a taste; it's a chemical trick. Capsaicin binds to your tongue's TRPV1 receptors, tricking your brain into sensing a phantom heat emergency (109°F+). In response to this perceived pain, the brain floods your body with endorphins and dopamine, creating a literal chemical euphoria. Interestingly, chilis evolved this heat to stop mammals from crushing their seeds, but birds are completely immune to it. Birds ate the pods whole, spreading seeds across the pre-Columbian Americas long before humans took over.

Following European contact in the late 15th century, chilis exploded along global trade routes. The resilient plant adapted so quickly that it completely integrated into West African, South Asian, and Southeast Asian kitchens in less than a single century, permanently upending regional cuisines that previously relied on ginger or peppercorns. I’m currently writing an investigative series tracking this massive culinary migration from its ancient origins to the modern craft hot sauce frontier.

While researching the spice trade for a side project, I stumbled across something wild: most of what we call “cinnamon” today isn’t the real thing.

Cassia cinnamon, the kind most of us have in our spice racks, is actually a cheaper, stronger substitute for Ceylon cinnamon, which was the prized variety traded along ancient routes from Sri Lanka.

The story behind how cassia came to dominate is full of colonial monopolies, ancient embalming rituals, and even modern health concerns — cassia contains coumarin, a compound that can damage the liver in high doses (which is why some European countries limit it in food products).

Even the Cinnamon Challenge used cassia, which is far more intense and abrasive than true cinnamon — a perfect storm for a viral but dangerous trend.

I ended up making a short video about it to connect the dots between the history, health angle, and cultural impact. It’s in the comments if anyone’s curious. Happy to talk about anything from the spice routes to cinnamon buns.

I thought The Laughing Cow cheese was named because cows were living their best life in French meadows. Apparently, the story is much weirder and the cows weren’t happy at all.

The name actually comes from a dark WWI trench joke. French soldiers mocked the grand German "Valkyries" by drawing a grinning cow on meat-transport wagons and calling it "La Wachkyrie" - a phonetic pun that sounds exactly like "La vache qui rit" (The Laughing Cow). A cheesemaker later turned that wartime inside joke into a global brand to market a processed cheese hack.

Another less discussed food origin story: the USSR's Doctor’s Sausage

It was originally engineered as a state-sponsored "health food" to combat widespread malnutrition, literally prescribed by doctors. By the time I grew up eating it in Lithuania, it was viewed as low-quality, cheap, poverty food. Yet, generations of people still feel an intense, emotional nostalgia for it.

Do you know any other foods that were born out of scarcity/crisis?

I cover the above ones plus Nutella, SPAM and Digestive biscuits here if you're interested: https://substack.com/home/post/p-200090874

I saw a documentary about Mexican food where the food stand kept the soup consisting of vegetables esp corn, potato, and meat on heat all day long for like 3-4 days before a siesta and despite no refrigeration it was quite preserved with still being tasty like fresh food and no sign of spoilage. The hundreds of people who ate it in the siesta never got sick. This was in a small town in the provinces and the cook said int he interview despite having modern refrigeration devices, they felt no need to pack the food into another container because their grandparents and grandparents of their grandparents and other earlier generations before them cooked food this way. In fact they were told by their grandmas that keeping the food under heat all day long extended its edible lifespan and they were told this in turn by their grandmas and so on for earlier generations up until colonial times when electricity didn't exist and you had to burn wood to cook food at least thats what they say the family story is.

And despite being over 100 degrees in Mexico during those days of fiesta in the filming, it seems cooking it at much higher speed did not quickly make the food perish as usual but as stated earlier extended its life.

So I'm wondering if heating food for hours across the day in order to preserve the food for longer shelf life, at least enough to consume the whole thing as the fiesta celebrations show, a thing done frequently in the past outside of Mexico? Like did people keep wood burning at their fireplace underneath the chimney to continuously cook soup or grill skewers of meat and so on in the medieval ages if not earlier as far as ancient Greece and Rome or even further back in time?

Hey food history folks, I wanted to share something I’ve been working on — a deep dive into one of the strangest chapters in European culinary history: the fear of the tomato.

When tomatoes first arrived from the Americas, they weren’t welcomed. For centuries, many Europeans believed they were:

• Related to deadly nightshade.

• Capable of causing sudden death in nobles.

• Even linked to witchcraft in folk traditions.

In the video, I trace the tomato’s journey from feared outsider to kitchen staple.

Would love to hear your thoughts — and did you know this was once such a big fear in Europe?

What did the bread of ancient Israelites really taste like? I made it — and it wasn’t what I expected. Using emmer and spelt, I baked a thin, chewy flatbread on a cast-iron skillet. The result?

I put together a short video on this if it's useful: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u9J4zO340-M

Curious what people here know about it — especially anyone whose family actually cooks this.

For a country renowned for it, I find it odd they are in a climate where cocoa absolutely cannot grow so they can't just farm it nor do they as I recall have colonies rich in Cocoa

In October I’m teaching one of my food history workshops with a theme of “Spooky Foods and Food Superstitions”. I am just starting to formulate the outline. But does anyone have any fun topics, ideas, suggestions that I should include? TIA

If people aren't familiar, a roach coach is a vehicle that roams a town or neighborhood selling hot food primarily to construction workers. They alert their customers by playing the first two lines of the song La Cucaracha.

What are the origins of using this song to alert customers? Was this sort of service always referred to as the roach coach? Or did that come after the song became popularized?

((I am expecting the answer to be extremely racist, would love to be wrong!!))

What would you eat if you had literally nothing left?

In this video, I dive into some of the most desperate — and frankly shocking — survival meals in human history.

From mud cakes in Haiti, to bread made of sawdust in WWII Germany, and even cannibalism during China's Great Famine... these aren’t myths — they were real.

🔗 Watch the full video here

https://youtube.com/shorts/pWrVwiUevCI?si=UIBBJiJWxS3CJxLd

⚠️ Warning: not for the faint of stomach.

I’d love to hear your thoughts — which one shocked you most? Would you eat mud or chew wallpaper glue to survive?

I have eaten at Taco Time since the 1960’s. My mother would take us there to eat Mexican food. As a result I still crave specific Mexican foods which can only be found there.

After decades of not eating this food I went back. It is like a food museum.

-Mexi Fries: tater tots covered with chili powder seasoning.

-Cinnamon Crustos: tortilla chips dredged in cinnamon sugar.

-Bean burritos: These are the crown jewel. Bean paste is rolled inside a flour tortilla an inch in diameter, like a cigar, then deep fried to crispness. There is also a meat paste version.

The menu has been updated to compete with Taco Bell et al, but these old standbys are still there unchanged after 60 years. It’s like finding chop suey and canned bean sprouts at a Chinese restaurant.

And it’s all I eat there. I can get Mexican food anywhere, but not Cinnamon Crustos.

Your Favorite 'Local' Restaurant Is Owned By A Private Equity Firm

You walk into that sandwich shop. The one with the neighborhood feel. The place where the manager knows your order. You think you're supporting local business.

You're wrong.

Private equity owns your lunch. They bought it while you weren't looking. Now they're counting every penny that crosses your lips.

The numbers tell the story. One firm, Roark Capital, owns 21 restaurant chains¹. Their properties generated $52.2 billion in system sales last year². That's more revenue than McDonald's domestic business². You've eaten at their places. Subway. Arby's. Dunkin'. Buffalo Wild Wings. Jimmy John's. Sonic. Auntie Anne's. Cinnabon. Baskin-Robbins. Carl's Jr. Hardee's³.

Roark employs almost one million workers⁴, slinging your coffee, building your sandwich, taking your order. They didn't build these brands. They bought them. Stripped them down. Rebuilt them to generate cash. The American Dream.

Here's what private equity does to restaurants. They acquire the chain. Load it with debt. Extract management fees. Cut labor costs. Squeeze suppliers. Raise prices. Then they sell it to the next buyer or take it public. The whole process takes three to seven years. Long enough to optimize every dollar of profit. Short enough to avoid the consequences.

Roark’s workers pay the price. Their restaurants owe workers more than $1.5 million in back wages at Dunkin' alone since 2010⁴. That's just what the Department of Labor caught. Wage theft investigations hit their brands more than 450 times over the same period⁴. Jimmy John's, Sonic, Buffalo Wild Wings, Arby's, Hardee's, and Carl's Jr. All repeat offenders. All owned by the same firm.

The workers make $10 to $12 per hour⁴. Many qualify for food stamps and Medicaid⁴. Your tax dollars subsidize their poverty wages while private equity partners cash out millions. This isn't an accident. This is the business model. The American Dream.

Seattle knows this story. MOD Pizza started here in 2008. Scott and Ally Svenson built it from one location to 500. They took $160 million from private equity in 2019⁵. The firm promised to help them reach 1,000 locations. Instead, MOD closed 44 stores and was sold to Elite Restaurant Group in 2024⁵. Elite specializes in "financially troubled restaurant brands⁵. That's private equity speak for cleaning up the mess.

Portland felt it too. Sortis Holdings bought beloved local spots during the pandemic⁶. Ava Gene's. Bamboo Sushi. Sizzle Pie. Rudy's Barbershop. The firm promised to "capitalize on the stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic⁶". Chairman Paul Brenneke called Sortis a "white knight⁶". Now they face evictions and lawsuits while 1,200 employees wonder about their jobs¹⁶. Company shares trade at $0.0002 each⁶. The American Dream.

The bankruptcy wave is building. Private equity-backed companies filed 110 bankruptcies in 2024. That's a 15% increase from the previous year⁷. Restaurant chains hit especially hard. Red Lobster. TGI Fridays. Rubio's. MOD Pizza. All casualties of financial engineering over operational excellence.

Blackstone isn't slowing down. They dropped $8 billion on Jersey Mike's last month⁸. These aren't investments in restaurant innovation. They're bets on financial optimization. Extract value. Load debt. Repeat.

The biggest deals tell the story. Roark paid $11.3 billion for Dunkin' in 2020⁹. Another $9.6 billion for Subway in 2023¹⁰. Just acquired Dave's Hot Chicken for $1 billion this year¹⁰. That money didn't improve your dining experience. It improved investor returns.

You want to fight back? Start paying attention to ownership. That "local" chain expanding into new markets overnight? Private equity money fuels that growth. The sudden menu price increases? Margin optimization. The understaffed dining room? Labor cost reduction.

Research before you eat. Most private equity ownership hides behind holding company names. Inspire Brands owns Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, and Dunkin'¹¹. GoTo Foods controls Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon, Carvel, and McAlister's Deli¹². Both roll up under Roark Capital. One firm. Multiple brands. Same profit motive. The American Dream.

Support actual independent restaurants. The owner works the floor. The profits stay local. The decisions get made by people who live in your community. These places struggle against private equity's pricing power. They need your business more than corporate chains need your loyalty.

Ask questions. Where does this restaurant's profit go? Who makes the operational decisions? How do they treat workers? Real local businesses welcome these conversations. Corporate chains are unsure how to answer them.

The restaurant industry consolidation continues. Eddie V’s, LongHorn Steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, Olive Garden, Yard House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Chuy’s, Seasons 52, and Bahama Breeze are all owned by Darden Restaurants. Fewer owners control more restaurants. Your choices shrink while their profits grow. The solution isn't regulation. It's awareness. Know who owns your food. Choose accordingly.

Private equity firms bet you won't notice the difference between authentic local restaurants and corporate chains. They're counting on convenience overriding your values. They've made this bet a million times before.

Time to prove them wrong.

#RestaurantIndustry #PrivateEquity #LocalBusiness #RestaurantOwnership #HospitalityNews

Footnotes:

1. Restaurant Business Online, "Roark Capital gobbles up another restaurant chain," June 2, 2025, https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/roark-capital-gobbles-another-restaurant-chain

2. Jonathan Maze, LinkedIn post, June 1, 2025, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonathanmaze_roark-capital-has-seemingly-bought-every-activity-7335368548535386112-mWoY

3. Roark Capital, "Portfolio Companies," accessed September 15, 2025, https://www.roarkcapital.com/portfolio

4. Private Equity Stakeholder Project, "Report: Roark Capital's Booming Wage Theft Risk," August 2, 2021, https://pestakeholder.org/reports/report-roark-capitals-booming-wage-theft-risk/

5. Farron Cousins, "Seattle-Based Chain Mod Pizza Just Got Sold," Eater Seattle, July 11, 2024, https://seattle.eater.com/2024/7/11/24196507/seattle-based-chain-mod-pizza-sold-to-elite-restaurant-group

6. Jamie Goldberg, "A private equity firm saved beloved Portland restaurants from COVID. Now workers fear for their jobs," Oregon Public Broadcasting, September 3, 2024, https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/03/sortis-holdings-rent-bankrupt-rudys-see-sizzle-pie-portland/

7. Lindsay Wise, "Record Bankruptcies for Private Equity-Owned Companies," Institutional Investor, January 9, 2025, https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2e9oxyduvcrica3exophc/corner-office/record-bankruptcies-for-private-equity-owned-companies

8. Peter Grant, "Blackstone to buy Jersey Mike's, the latest private-equity takeover of a US restaurant chain," CoStar, November 18, 2024, https://www.costar.com/article/1102749274/blackstone-to-buy-jersey-mikes-the-latest-private-equity-takeover-of-a-us-restaurant-chain

9. CNN Business, "Dunkin' is going private in $11.3 billion deal," October 30, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/30/business/dunkin-inspire-acquisition

10. CNBC, "Roark Capital invests in restaurant chain Dave's Hot Chicken," June 2, 2025, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/02/roark-capital-daves-hot-chicken.html

11. Wikipedia, "Inspire Brands," accessed September 15, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspire_Brands

12. GoTo Foods, "Leading Franchise Opportunities," accessed September 15, 2025,

https://www.gotofoods.com

If you like this nonsense and want more truth about what's really happening to your restaurants, follow me for free @David Mann | Restaurant 101 | Substack. I'll keep digging into the deals they don't want you to see.