the first ever mcdonald's was opened on april 15, 1955.
when was the first ever mcdonald's opened?
april 15 , 1955
in 1937, patrick mcdonald and his two sons richard and maurice inaugurated the simple restaurant "airdrome" on huntington drive (route 66) near the airport in the american city of monrovia, california. the success of its sales eventually led to the may 15, 1940, opening of a restaurant named mcdonald's along u.s. route 66 in san bernardino, california. after analyzing their sales, the brothers discovered that, to their surprise, 80% of their revenue was coming from selling hamburgers. the menu initially featured 25 different dishes, the majority of which were barbecued. through their new restaurant, the mcdonald brothers introduced the notion of fast food to parts of the western united states by 1948. from the beginning, mcdonald's focused on making hot dogs and hamburgers as efficiently and quickly as possible. during the 1940s, simple and formative concepts took root at mcdonald's, including the preparation and service of burgers in just one minute and the ability for customers to eat in their own cars in a "drive-in" style. all the while, the restaurant was trying to further develop a hamburger that was inexpensive enough to be within the economic reach of most americans. by the 1950s, the concept of drive-in style service had become firmly established and hamburgers and cars had become closely connected in the minds of many americans. it was now not only possible for a customer to purchase a hamburger without getting out of a car, and a customer also no longer needed to wait to be served. the mcdonald brothers built upon the achievements of their original san bernardino restaurant when in 1953 they began franchising their now famous chain restaurants, starting in phoenix, arizona and downey, california (the latter of which is still in operation). later, ray kroc opened one in the northwest chicago suburb of des plaines, illinois on april 15, 1955, which has now been converted into the mcdonald's museum. it is noteworthy that the original mcdonald's mascot was a hamburger faced cook called "speedee" that would serve as the iconographic identity of the company until being replaced by the clown ronald mcdonald in 1963.
history of the hamburger
the mcdonald's #1 store museum is housed in a replica of the former mcdonald's restaurant in des plaines, illinois, opened by ray kroc in april 1955. the company usually refers to this as the original mcdonald's, although it is not the first mcdonald's restaurant but the ninth; the first was opened by richard and maurice mcdonald in san bernardino, california in 1940, while the oldest mcdonald's still in operation is the third one built, in downey, california, which opened in 1953. however, the des plaines restaurant marked the beginning of future ceo kroc's involvement with the firm. it opened under the aegis of his franchising company mcdonald's systems, inc., which became mcdonald's corporation after kroc purchased the mcdonald brothers' stake in the firm.
mcdonald's no. 1 store museum