Marcia Chatelain

A wonderfully researched book on the love/hate relationship between the Black community with McDonald's as well as other fast food franchise outlets. Starting in the 1960's over the years McDonald's has been portrayed as both a savior and a bane to the wealth and empowerment in Black America. Good because some Black entrepreneurs became successes in the franchise game and the inner city Black community does receive some benefits. The downside includes failed enterprises and the terrible effects fast foods have had on minority health and diet over the years. A great book.… (mehr)

Franchise is a history of Black franchising in the United States. It is an interesting look at how Black capitalism came to be seen as a panacea for "solving racism" by providing jobs and opportunities to inner cities. I think the book provides very necessary scholarship into understanding why inner cities are packed full of fast food restaurants even in the absence of grocery stores or other retail stores.

My favorite part of the book was the afterward where the author starts scratching the surface a bit more into how capitalism, even if it centers Black people, is not going to solve issues of racism. Capitalism is the reason why Black folks continue to be disempowered with minimum-wage jobs while taxes continue to get cut and social services go unfunded. This is an important discussion, and something that needs to be changed.… (mehr)

All fast food chains, really: Chatelain tracks both how 20th-century America made it possible for white guys like Ray Kroc to get the trust and loans they needed to start franchises and how black entrepreneurs eventually wanted in, only to find that they got the most difficult, oldest, not updated stores in poorer and more dangerous neighborhoods—despite making higher-than-average profits for the franchise in many cases. There’s interesting stuff in here, including on McDonald’s response to the LA riots, but basically it is about how capitalism implicates everyone and there’s no way out individually.… (mehr)