Rahul Gandhi adds Indian flavour to McDonald’s, Coke stories

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday cited the examples of successful American entrepreneurs to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. The analogies he used to describe the founder of Coca-Cola as a ‘shikanji seller’ and that of McDonald’s as a ‘dhaba wala’ have stirred up a debate. Here are his comments alongside corporate history culled from the internet and company websites.

RAHUL GANDHI
“Everyone must have heard about the Coca-Cola company. Who started this company? Who was he, does anyone know? I will tell you who he was. The person who started the Coca-Cola company was one who sold ‘shikanji’. He used to sell ‘shikanji’ in America. He used to mix sugar in water. His experience and talent was honoured and he got money and started the Coca-Cola company.”


THE COKE STORY
In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist Dr John S Pemberton created a flavoured syrup, took it to his neighbourhood pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water and deemed “excellent” by those who sampled it. His partner Frank M Robinson is credited with naming the beverage “Coca-Cola” as well as designing the trademarked, distinct script.

RAHUL GANDHI
“You must have heard about McDonald’s company, which is seen everywhere. Who started it and what did he do? He used to run a ‘dhaba’ (roadside restaurant). You show me that ‘dhabawala’ in India who has created a company like Coca-Cola. Where is it?”

THE MCDONALD’S STORY
In 1937, Patrick McDonald opened ‘The Airdrome’, a food stand, on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the Monrovia Airport in California. In 1940, his sons Maurice and Richard (‘Mac’ and ‘Dick’) moved to San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was renamed ‘McDonald’s Bar-B-Que’. In October 1948, the brothers streamlined the system with a simple menu of only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potato chips, coffee, soft drinks, and apple pie. Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955, and in the same year launched the McDonald’s Corporation, eventually buying out the McDonald brothers in 1961.