The Chum Famine of '59
Facts | |
---|---|
Start | Late November 1958 |
End | Early July 1959 |
Estimated Deaths | Aprox. 120 |
Chum Famine of '59[edit | edit source]
The Chum Famine of '59 was a shortage of chum that hit Bikini Bottom from late November of 1958 to early July of 1959. The Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket were just a few of the companies hit the hardest, many more were forced to close down. These two restaurants were close to closing down, but Mr. Krabs saved his restaurant by recreating the Krabby Patty. Plankton, who was a gentle businessman at the time, changed completely and turned to crime to get his money. Both of these companies are still around today.
History[edit | edit source]
After the war, Mr. Krabs fell into a deep depression. He found food as his passion, serving as a chef in part of the war definitely helped. He purchased an old retirement home across the street from his then friend Plankton. Plankton, who at the time had a booming restaurant, agreed to give Mr. Krabs some chum. Mr. Krabs drastically modified the chum, no one even knew that he had used Plankton's chum. Mr. Krabs and Plankton created the formula as kids, with the help of Plankton's chum.
The Krusty Krab became more popular than the Chum Bucket, and Plankton knew he had to change his restaurant. He kept it a restaurant, but he became better known for his chum, which he used to sell to other companies. Many companies used this chum for all different types of purposes. Plankton created his own chum, but he did buy ingredients from other big companies, and Plankton was the biggest buyer. Knowing this, many of the companies that made these ingredients decided to raise the prices of the chum.
In 1956, the prices of chum ingredients rose drastically, forcing Plankton to use cheaper ingredients. This created a horrible tasting chum, and many companies stopped buying. Mr. Krabs was upset at this, but had no choice and continued to use this chum. Also in 1956, Mr. Krabs had many of his workers work on a new recipe for the Krabby Patty. Many attempts turned out tasting worst than the original recipe with the horrible tasting chum. People became upset at Plankton for his horrible chum, but Plankton couldn't do much about it.
This chum was also super unhealthy and caused many issues to the companies still using it. Many lawsuits were filed, and Plankton started loosing more and more money. He decided to not make chum at all, and many companies did even worst than before. This lead to the Chum Famine of '59.
The Chum Famine of '59[edit | edit source]
Starting in late November of 1958, Plankton stopped making his chum. These companies using chum had to find an alternative, some did and some went bankrupt. Before this, Plankton was rich, everyone used his chum. Lot's of food used chum at the time (including the Krabby Patty), and a lot of companies closed due to the lack of chum. This lead to less food being created, and it caused many deaths.
“It was horrible, you had people coming in with Chum Poisoning, then things returned to normal for a few weeks. After that, the chum was really needed, but there wasn't any. We'd have people come in starving, but we had no food to feed them as well. I've never seen more people die in just a month. The government tried to get Plankton to make chum, but he just never did. People hated him for that, and people still do today.”
Mr. Krabs was too busy focusing on reinventing the Krabby Patty, leading to his divorce. Mr. Krabs started to hate Plankton, and Plankton started to hate Mr. Krabs. Often blaming each other for the famine, and lead to multiple fights between the two. The Krusty Krab became empty. They didn't have good food to serve, and people didn't have the money to buy food. Finally, on March 29th, at exactly 2:12 AM, Mr. Krabs created the Krabby Patty (which today is still a secret). Mr. Krabs tried to sell it, yet no one would buy it. It was when he decided to give one to some random person. He tried giving it to 3 people, until Fred finally tried it. Fred loved the Krabby Patty, and it became huge.
The success of the Krabby Patty (then called the Krabby Burger) lead to the fame of the Krusty Krab. Plankton knew he was done for, and he turned to crime. He swore that he will one day steal the Krabby Burger Formula, but still hasn't stolen the Secret Formula. Majority of the companies found alternatives for the chum, leading to the end the famine in July of 1959.
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
After the Chum Famine of '59, the Chum Bucket has never been the same. It is a joke to the people of Bikini Bottom, and is no longer known for their chum. The Chum Bucket's failure is no doubt because of the Chum Famine, and people still refuse to eat at the Chum Bucket just because they hate Plankton. Locals believe that the Chum Bucket is still in business because Plankton sells his inventions in the Black Market.
On the contrary, the Krusty Krab is still a success today. The success of the Krusty Krab is thanks to the famine, and the restaurant would never have been this big if it weren't for the famine. If it weren't for the famine, chum would most likely still be popular today, multiple companies will still be open, and the Krusty Krab will experience only mediocre success, and The Chum Bucket would be thriving.