Geography of the Big Mac Essay Example for Free

Geography of the Big Mac Essay McDonalds has been around since 1940, when it was created by Nick and Mac McDonald in Bernardino, California. Since then McDonalds has only grown around the world in popularity and business. There are currently more than 33 thousand restaurants around the world in 119 countries. The chain has remarkably gone form offering just a few items on its menu to a wide range of over a 145 diverse items on its menu. Needless to say McDonalds has embedded itself within the world’s society. The way McDonalds runs its business has many different components. These different items include geography of a location, Weber’s model, development, and mass consumption. One of McDonald’s most successful items on its menu is the big mac. Worldwide it is known for its flavor; however, many do not understand how that burger gets to them. The ingredients are not merely picked up at a local store, but shipped across miles of land and sea. There are many different factors for why this happens. The three main reasons for why this occurs are due to geography, weber’s model, and development. Geography plays a big role in where things grow for instance if one looks at the United States corn grows better in the Midwest. This then affects what farmers will grow in a certain climate, because they need to meet the needs of the plant they are growing. This pattern is seen in Europe with the ingredients needed to make a big mac and largely affects where certain places receive certain items. The buns used to create a big mac are produced in Germany, America, and Canada. The climate in Germany is a moderate climate with a good amount of rain throughout the year. This makes it an ideal place to grow wheat which needs the climate to be mild and not too cold. There are also many places throughout the United States and Canada that classify as this climate. The pickles are needed to be raised in a warm atmosphere. This is why the pickles for the big mac are grown in Spain and Turkey. Spain has a Mediterranean climate with dry summers and relatively warm winters, and Turkey has hot and dry summers and mild winters. The beef is nurtured in Ireland. This is mainly due to the fact that Ireland has sporadic weather that is not necessarily spectacular for growing crops. This means that they are not losing money by not planting a crop but using the land instead is used for cattle ranching. The dairy farmers often need a cool climate to run their farms. This correlates with the fact that Germany and Ireland are the suppliers for the big mac’s cheese in the United Kingdom. Both climates have relatively cool atmospheres almost year round. The lettuce for the big is grown in Spain due to the fact that it needs a warm climate to grow in. The last item on the big mac is the onions and these are found in Holland. Holland has cool summers and mild winters which make it the optimal place to grow onions. Onions need temperatures to be at a happy medium between hot and cold for them to grow well. All of these places and items grown are directly related to the McDonalds in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom gets all of its ingredients for its big mac from different countries. The reason they do this can be described by Weber’s model. Weber’s model centers on three main ideas such as transportation, labor, and agglomeration. Transportation in today’s modern world is fast and inexpensive meaning that it is a viable option to ship products to different locations that may be far away. The fact that there is cheap transportation makes it easier for countries, such as the U. K. , to get products that they do not have the capability of growing as well. Labor is a much more important component of Weber’s model today. This part of the model is classified as the most costing part of an organization. This means that companies will look for a cheaper labor pool. The U. K. follows this pattern for the most part. The United Kingdom has a minimum wage of $9. 83 in U. S. dollars. Some of the main suppliers for the items in the big mac for the U. K.are Germany, America, Canada, Turkey, and Spain. All of these places have less of a minimum wage requirement than the United Kingdom. This means that it is cheaper for the United Kingdom to pay workers in other countries to grow their products rather than grow them in their own country. Lastly, there is the matter of agglomeration. Agglomeration is often when businesses that produce the same product locate around each other to reap some sort of benefit. This directly relates to all 1,200 McDonalds in the United Kingdom. Many of these restaurants are located around other fast food chains. The main idea behind this is to potentially steal costumers from other fast food restaurants. McDonalds can also benefit from other fast food chains advertisements if they are located near them. McDonalds tends to symbolize development in countries. Every developed country in the world practically has a McDonalds. Most people credit McDonalds for being the innovator of the development of the fast food industry. The food chain has developed a well-oiled machine for creating the same products. They have people located at certain areas to do specific jobs such as grilling burgers, adding dressing, frying fries, getting drinks, and cashiering. This may sound similar to another model that gave birth to the auto industry. This model being the Ford model. Ford was the first to develop an assembly line, which basically gave workers a specific job that they only did. This maximized production for Ford made it so they could produce cars in a more efficient time frame lowering prices. Due to the fact that McDonalds runs their business similar to Ford’s is the reason why their prices are so affordable. Many different companies have shaped their businesses around McDonalds. This is why there are so many different types of fast food chains. Since there are so many McDonalds worldwide there are bound to be negative side effects centering on the issue of consumption. McDonald’s food is very high in sodium and fats. This type of food is not very healthy for the average person’s diet. This means that the food consumers are consuming at McDonalds can contribute to obesity if they eat there too frequently. The obesity rate in the United States is 35. 7% of all adults. These statistics show that obesity is a huge issue. There is currently 550 million big macs sold in the United States each year. This is not a very healthy product. The fact that so many people are buying and eating it could contribute to their unhealthy weight. There is also a matter of how much virtual water is used to make the beef patty in a big mac. There is 4-18 thousand gallons of water used per beef patty in a big mac. The reason this number is so high is due to the fact that it takes a lot of water to grow grain for cows to eat and cows drink a lot of water. Water seems like a substance that can be found on a whim. However, it is actually a relatively hard thing to find. For instance, people around Texas are actually mining water. They are mining in the Ogallala Aquifer which is basically a huge underground supply of water. The fact that people have to mine water just adds to the fact that there is not an abundant amount to be wasted like is being seen on the production of a meat patty. There is also the matter with the idea that the more McDonalds that are spawned in certain areas there is less of a culture in areas. This is the idea of placelessness. Areas lose their own culture due to the fact that everything starts to look the same. The more demand for McDonalds means more stores and less of a cultural background in places.