McDonald's History

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McDonald’s is one of the leading restaurant chains in the world, touching the lives of people everyday. The long journey of the burger brand started in 1940, when two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino, California. Initially, they owned a hotdog stand, but after establishing the restaurant they served around 25 items, which were mostly barbequed. It became a popular and profitable teen hangout. In 1948, the brothers closed and reopened the restaurant to sell only hamburgers, milkshakes and French fries.

As per the information of the McDonald’s history, the major revenue came from hamburgers, which were sold at a nominal price of 15 cents. The restaurant gradually became famous and the McDonald brothers begin franchising their restaurant in the year 1953. The first franchise was taken by Neil Fox and under it; the second Mc Donald’s restaurant was opened in Fresno, California. It was the first to introduce the Golden Arch design. The third and fourth restaurants were opened in Saginaw, Michigan and Downey, California, respectively.

The latter is the oldest Mc Donald’s restaurant still in operation. In 1954, an entrepreneur and milkshake-mixer salesman, Ray Kroc, acquired the franchise of McDonald’s restaurant for outside California and Arizona. In effect, Kroc opened his first and the overall ninth restaurant in Illinois, Chicago, and gave birth to Mc Donald’s Corporation. In 1958, the restaurant chain sold its 100 millionth hamburger. In 1960, Kroc renamed his company as ‘McDonald’s Corporation’. In 1961, Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers to sell the business rights to him for a sum $2.7milion.

Later that year, the Hamburger University was opened, which gave away McDonald's restaurant Bachelor of Hamburgology degrees to students. In 1963, the mascot Ronald McDonald was born as a part of a marketing strategy in US. In 1967, the first restaurant outside US was opened in Richmond, British Columbia. In 1974, the 3000th restaurant opened in Woolwich, United Kingdom, which is the first of the country. Happy Meal was introduced in US in 1979. In 1984, the company became the main sponsor of the Summer Olympics. The year was also marked by the death of Ray Kroc.

In 1988, the first restaurant opened in a communist country in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, followed by the first Soviet restaurant in Moscow (1990). In 1992, the largest McDonald’s was opened in Beijing, China, having over 700 seats and was later demolished. In 1993, the first sea-going restaurant was established, aboard the Finnish Cruise-ferry Silja Europa, sailing between Helsinki and Stockholm. In 1994, McDonald’s bagged the Catalyst Award for its program for ‘fostering leadership development in women’. In 1996, the first Indian restaurant was opened.


In 2003, the company launched the ‘I’m lovin’ it’ campaign. In 2005, McDonald’s started its McDelivery service in Singapore. In 2006, the chain announced that it will publish nutritional information on its packaging of all its products, for the benefit of the customers. Considering the huge success and brand McDonald’s has become, the food chain is spread across the world in almost all the major cities of the globe. Being economic and user friendly, the success rate of the company cannot be doubted.


Source: http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com