Here Is My Idea to Make Fast Food Great Again

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Did I ever mention that I finally finished my quest to eat at all of our great nation’s top 50 fast food joints? Well, I did, except for eight places that don’t have any outlets in Southern California. However, every one of them seems to have set up shop in Phoenix, so someday maybe I’ll have to spend a week there to truly cross off my entire list.

This whole exercise probably sounded like a dumb idea to most of you, and I guess it was. I can’t say that any of the new places I tried really entranced me—not even internet fave Chipotle. However, it did provide me with the inspiration for a whole new chain of restaurants. Here’s a mockup of the menu board for my idea:

You see, it turns out that a burger is a burger. I know many of you will howl in disagreement, but you’re wrong. The difference between the best burger I tasted and the worst burger was barely worth worrying about. However, the fries were all over the map. Some were horrible. Some were OK. A few were fairly good. But none of them was truly great.

So what we need is a place that specializes in fries and really does them right. For the health conscious among you, order the shoestrings cooked in canola oil. For the rest of us, who understand that health conscious people shouldn’t eat at fast food burger joints in the first place, we can order something better, cooked in beef tallow and topped with whatever strikes your fancy.

There will still be burgers and other stuff, of course. My restaurant just won’t make a big deal out of them. It’s a burger. Or a hot dog. Or a sandwich. Or whatever. It’ll be fine.

Anyway, I offer this idea free of charge to anyone who wants to become a millionaire. My only condition is that the first outlet open in Irvine, California. Everything else is up to you. Any takers?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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