^{This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.}

A bunch of former McDonald’s employees went again to their previous restaurant in Missouri for a “Class of 1975” reunion to mark practically 50 years since they labored collectively.

Nineteen former employees returned to the restaurant in Hazelwood, japanese Missouri, in March, with some touring in from Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee, Joan Elhoffer, certainly one of former McDonald’s employees who helped arrange the reunion, informed Enterprise Insider over e-mail.

“I used to be reminiscing with a couple of associates earlier this 12 months about how particular it’s that we have all stored in contact over 5 many years – and determined we had been overdue for a celebration,” Elhoffer stated. “We had celebrated a 10-year reunion way back and we did a 40-year reunion 10 years in the past, however we needed to do it even larger for the 50.”

A few of the attendees introduced in previous photographs and their McDonald’s softball jerseys, Elhoffer stated. They ate collectively, spoke to the restaurant’s present employees, and even signed yearbooks they’d made for the event.

Together with those that work for franchises, McDonald’s is without doubt one of the largest employers within the U.S., and says that one in eight People has labored on the chain. Its community of over 40,000 company and franchise eating places globally has greater than 2 million employees.

In October 2023, McDonald’s celebrated its declare that over 12% of individuals within the US have labored on the fast-food large by internet hosting a lavish occasion and highlighting notable former crew members, like Michelin-starred cooks, astronauts, and Peloton instructors.

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s through BI}

Elhoffer was 16 when she began working on the Hazelwood restaurant, she informed BI. Many of the different former employees who attended the reunion had been aged between 16 and 19 once they began there, with many persevering with with their jobs all through highschool and whereas attending native schools, she stated.

“For nearly all of us, this was our first job,” Elhoffer stated.

They turned shut associates whereas working on the restaurant, Elhoffer stated, with a few of them enjoying on the restaurant’s softball workforce. She stated “a number of” of them — herself included — met their spouses whereas working at McDonald’s.

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s through BI}

“There’s such a powerful sense of household and associates inside this group,” Elhoffer informed BI. “We went to one another’s college dances, weddings, and fogeys’ funerals. We raised our youngsters collectively, celebrated holidays, vacationed collectively, and continued for 50 years to get pleasure from robust friendships.”

Elhoffer stated that she began her profession at McDonald’s by managing the grill space. She was later promoted to second assistant supervisor in 1978. She went on to attend Hamburger College, and McDonald’s coaching college, and change into a retailer supervisor.

Elhoffer stated she purchased her first restaurant in 1991. She now owns seven McDonald’s eating places round St Louis. Seven of the 19 individuals on the reunion went on to change into franchisees, whereas the others pursued completely different profession paths, corresponding to turning into lecturers and accountants, she stated.

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s through BI}

The most important change since she began working at McDonald’s has been the introduction of drive-thrus, Elhoffer stated. She added that when she first began on the chain, orders needed to be rung up by hand, and employees wanted to manually add tax.