^{This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.}

A gaggle of former McDonald’s employees went again to their outdated restaurant in Missouri for a “Class of 1975” reunion to mark almost 50 years since they labored collectively.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, one among former McDonald’s employees who helped arrange the reunion, informed Enterprise Insider over e mail.

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

A few of the attendees introduced in outdated pictures and their McDonald’s softball jerseys, Elhoffer mentioned. 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 among the largest employers within the U.S., and says that one in eight Individuals 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 big by internet hosting a lavish celebration and highlighting notable former crew members, like Michelin-starred cooks, astronauts, and Peloton instructors.

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s by way of BI}

Elhoffer was 16 when she began working on the Hazelwood restaurant, she informed BI. A lot of the different former employees who attended the reunion have been aged between 16 and 19 after they began there, with many persevering with with their jobs all through highschool and whereas attending native faculties, she mentioned.

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

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

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s by way of BI}

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

Elhoffer mentioned 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 faculty, and turn into a retailer supervisor.

Elhoffer mentioned she purchased her first restaurant in 1991. She now owns seven McDonald’s eating places round St Louis. Seven of the 19 folks on the reunion went on to turn into franchisees, whereas the others pursued totally different profession paths, equivalent to turning into academics and accountants, she mentioned.

^{Courtesy of McDonald’s by way of BI}

The most important change since she began working at McDonald’s has been the introduction of drive-thrus, Elhoffer mentioned. 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.