''God Bless America and the Golden Arches''-- S.Z.

About the Book

Steve Zafiris was 16 years old when the opportunity arose to travel to the United States as an officially-sponsored immigrant. With the help of an uncle, a brother of his father, he made his way to the Chicago area. While he had never specifically focused on the restaurant business as a career- opportunity, it was there he was introduced to the restaurant business in general . Through friendships he had developed in the local Greek oriented community he met the young woman, Mary, who would eventually become Mrs. Steve Zafiris. It was also very fortunate that he arrived in the Chicago metropolitan area at about the same time as McDonald’s Restaurants were opening their first restaurants in the famous national chain. The events that followed, his love of the United States and the opportunity presented by McDonald’s Corporation are outlined in the book and led to his coining of the phrase “God Bless America and the Golden Arches”. Alan E. Cole, Author’s Assistant

About the Author

Steve Zafiris was born in 1938, into a poverty stricken family in the tiny village of Haravge in the rugged northern mountainous area of Greece about 7 or 8 kilometers south of the Albanian border. The family of mother and father, two girls and five boys, was` relatively close-knit. Their father managed to provide for the family but it was a constant struggle. The children grew up in the midst of World War 2 with their country always caught in the middle of foreign occupation or by competing nationalist forces in what seemed to be a constant civil war following WW2. As the young years passed, Steve became more and more caught up in what he learned in school about the United States. His constant dream was of the day he could go to that fascinating land. The opportunity to go America came about much sooner than he had anticipated. Alan E. Cole, Author’s Assistant