^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

A group of former McDonald's workers returned to their old restaurant in Missouri for a “Class of 1975” reunion to mark nearly 50 years since they worked together.

Nineteen former workers returned to the restaurant in Hazelwood, eastern Missouri, in March, with some traveling from Arkansas, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee, Joan Elhoffer, one of the former McDonald's employees who helped organize the reunion, told Business Insider via email.

“I was reminiscing with some friends earlier this year about how special it is that we've all kept in touch over five decades — and we decided we were overdue for a party,” Elhoffer said. “We had a 10-year reunion a long time ago and we did a 40-year reunion 10 years ago, but we wanted to make it even bigger for our 50th.”

Some of the attendees brought old photos and their McDonald's T-shirts, Elhoffer said. They ate together, talked to actual restaurant workers and even signed yearbooks they had made for the occasion.

Including those who work for franchisees, McDonald's is one of the largest employers in the US and says one in eight Americans has worked at the chain. Its network of over 40,000 corporate and franchise restaurants worldwide has more than 2 million workers.

In October 2023, McDonald's celebrated its claim that over 12% of people in the US have worked at the fast food giant by throwing a lavish party and highlighting outstanding former crew memberslike Michelin star chefs, astronauts and Peloton instructors.

^{Courtesy of McDonald's via BI}

Elhoffer was 16 when she started working at the Hazelwood restaurant, she told BI. Most of the other former workers who attended the reunion were between the ages of 16 and 19 when they started there, with many continuing their jobs through high school and while attending local colleges, she said.

“For almost all of us, this was our first job,” Elhoffer said.

They became close friends while working at the restaurant, Elhoffer said, with some of them playing on the restaurant's softball team. She said “some” of them – including herself – met their spouses while working at McDonald's.

^{Courtesy of McDonald's via BI}

“There is such a strong sense of family and friends within this group,” Elhoffer told BI. “We went to each other's school dances, parents' weddings and funerals. We raised our children, celebrated holidays, vacationed together and continued to enjoy strong friendships for 50 years.”

Elhoffer said she began her career at McDonald's managing the grill area. She was later promoted to second assistant manager in 1978. She went on to attend the University of Hamburg and McDonald's training school and became a store manager.

Elhoffer said she bought her first restaurant in 1991. She now owns seven McDonald's restaurants around St. Louis. Seven of the 19 people at the reunion went on to become franchisees, while others pursued different career paths, such as becoming teachers and accountants, she said.

^{Courtesy of McDonald's via BI}

The biggest change since she started working at McDonald's has been the introduction of drive-thrus, Elhoffer said. She added that when she first started at the chain, orders had to be placed by hand and workers had to add taxes manually.