The new McDonald's in Hinsdale, Ill., shows a fresh look at the past, with the old-style golden arches worked through the building. Facing a crowded restaurant market, complaints about poor service and a depressed stock price, McDonald's Corp. has ordered
CHICAGO — Golden arches have been proliferating around the globe ever since a traveling salesman named Ray Kroc had a vision about the limitless potential of fast food nearly a half-century ago.
Taking over the revolutionary Speedee Service System from brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, Kroc built a burger-and-fries empire on the premise that there can never be too many McDonald's.
Or can there?
After spreading to 30,000 restaurants in 121 countries and more than tripling in size since Kroc died in 1984, the empire is showing widening cracks — in its home nation, of all places.
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