Special Reports

The industry grappled with government-imposed pricing controls, the result of a nationwide beef shortage and tight supplies of other staples, while vying with other fast-growth industries for new employees.

The restaurant industry faced a critical challenge when President John F. Kennedy posed a hike in the federal minimum wage as a patriotic way of combating poverty and a growing disparity in incomes.

The decade kicked off with an industrywide promotional campaign that would live on for years and whose tagline would ultimately be “borrowed” by the city of Chicago for its tourism promotion efforts: “We’re Glad You’re Here.”