WE DESERVE A BREAK TODAY!

By James Banakis

October 30, 2024

There is one thing I share with many Americans. I received my first official paycheck from McDonalds. I was 16 years old, and I was happy and proud to be paid $1.25 per hour, minimum wage. This was 10 years after Ray Kroc opened his first McDonalds in Des Plaines in 1954. I worked at the newly opened McDonalds on Madison in Oak Park. Many of my best friends in the restaurant business began the same way. Rich Melman started out in his family’s business but worked at Henry’s fast-food restaurant in high school. It was one of the many things we had in common.

While I didn’t realize it at the time, I learned a system and business model that revolutionized the hospitality industry and impacted my career. In 1940 the McDonald brothers opened a BBQ restaurant with car hops in San Bernardino California. Like many new restaurants, the menu was too large, the payroll was too high, the staff was untrained, and the layout was chaotic. Out of necessity the brothers paired down the menu to just a few of the best-selling items. They eliminated most of their payroll and laid out the floor space into 4 separate work areas. They brought an American invention, assembly line, to their business and called it “Speedee Service System.”

One day, a few weeks after we opened in Oak Park, Ray Kroc arrived to inspect the new restaurant. I was assigned to the milk shake station. At the time Ray Kroc wasn’t famous, but we knew he was important. We spent all morning cleaning and recleaning our stations. In the lull between the lunch and dinner service Kroc arrived. He was very tan as I remember. The first thing he did on entering, was to put on an apron and his paper hat. When he finally arrived at the shake station, he told me he was going to give me a test.

Each milkshake contained 11.5 ounces of mix which we had to weigh on a scale. He filled one, handed it to me and said, “without weighing this on the scale, tell me how much it weighs.” I lifted the cup knowing it was too heavy and said, “13.5 ounces.” He weighed it and I was correct. He put mix in another cup and asked me again what it weighed. This one was too light, and I told him it was 9.0 ounces. He put it on the scale, and I was right on the mark. He handed me the third cup and I told him just like “Goldilocks and The Three Bears,” that it was just right. After confirming I was correct with the scale, he yelled out for all to hear, “keep this kid on shakes!”

Years later I was part of a group from Lettuce Entertain You that did a joint project with McDonalds, and I shared my Ray Kroc story with their executives and corporate chef. I love and respect McDonalds and that’s why I was anxious to see how Donald Trump was going to fare working the fry station.

Most politicians would never attempt to learn how to work a station in a business. They might show up for a photo-op, smile, take a few bites of a burger, and leave. Trump, much like Ray Kroc, took off his jacket and put on a heavy-duty apron. He introduced himself to the manager and effortlessly greeted all the employees. He allowed the employee at the fry station to explain the entire process.

He paid close attention to the entire procedure, asking meaningful questions. When it came time to work the station, he did so flawlessly, filling the fry containers. Now this might look easy, but I can assure you from personal experience, it’s not. Trump was able to do this I think, because he probably learned all the jobs involved with the construction of his many businesses. He learned the employees’ names and used them instinctively.

He then worked the take-out window and did such a good job sincerely connecting with the customers that it warmed my heart. His teamwork with the other employees was so natural and considerate. SPOILER ALERT! I’m going to vote for Trump, but like many of us he has had cringy moments that had me wondering about his decision-making. I’ve spent my entire life in the restaurant business. I’m able to spot someone who lacks leadership qualities.

Donald Trump is a natural leader who knows how to motivate people who work for him and grow a business. He’s not perfect. We all know this, but what he did at McDonalds I think has won him the election.

If he wasn’t real, it could have exposed him as a phony. He was confident in his ability to do the same thing he does when he builds a hotel. He learns how to master all the positions. Working in a kitchen was not foreign to him. I’m sure like me, he could even car hop if he had to.

He may have gone to McDonalds to shame his opponent, but his instinct has won over so many people who have worked in restaurants. Add to all this no tax on tips, and he has won the hospitality industry segment of the electorate. Trump claims that he got the idea not to tax tips from a server in Nevada. This is exactly how an entrepreneur gets ideas on how to grow a business. You listen to your customers and your employees. It’s a collaborative effort. I doubt that a career politician would be able to connect with the public like this.

This is the reason Trump can relate with Elon Musk. They’ve both built businesses and understand how to solve problems. Together they may be able to reduce government spending and make it more efficient for us the tax paying stockholders. Musk cut the Twitter staff by 80 percent, and it works better than ever. Over the past four years, the Biden administration has spent trillions of dollars without any oversite. Billions to house and feed and support millions of illegal aliens. Billions to fuel wars and inadvertently encourage Iran terror. Billions to erect electric charging stations that have never been built. We voters have become numb to spending, which is the reason we have runaway inflation.

During the pandemic, most government agencies stopped working. Unlike the rest of us, all the government employees continued to receive paychecks while staying at home. We don’t need millions of employees working in government jobs.

Bureaucrats aren’t concerned with saving wasteful spending. So many in the private sector lost their jobs. Just recalling those two years and all the upheaval in the country depresses me. We had to get creative to keep our businesses open. Many closed forever.

McDonalds “Speedee Service System” was created as a necessity to save a failing business. It revolutionized the hospitality industry and the country. Learning the system changed my life. My brief interaction with Ray Kroc was one of the highlights of my career. If I had to lay out that first McDonalds, I could do it today. I went on to learn all the stations and went away to school, opting for a better paying summer job.

This is the same path so many of us have taken in life. It wasn’t easy. That’s why President Trump’s excellent McDonalds adventure was so potentially impactful. Most of us can relate. Sure, it was a political ploy, but he did a masterful job of pulling it off. It had unintended consequences.

This may be the beginning of the public’s understanding the importance of businesspeople running the government. Sometimes it takes flirting with disaster to wake us up. We all deserve a break today!

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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restaurateur.  He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School.  He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.