McDonald's got fast by firing its carhops and throwing out the plates
In 1948 Richard and Maurice McDonald gutted their San Bernardino drive-in. They let all 20 carhops go, swapped dishes and cutlery for paper wrappers and cups so no dishwasher was needed, and cut the menu to nine items. Speed, lower prices and volume, Richard later explained, were the whole idea.
The brothers had opened their first restaurant on 15 May 1940, hoping to make a million dollars before turning 50. Their streamlined kitchen, dubbed the Speedee Service System, borrowed principles White Castle had used two decades earlier, and the original mascot was a chef with a hamburger for a head named Speedee. The Golden Arches arrived in 1953, replaced Speedee as the emblem in 1962, and Ronald McDonald followed a year later to court children.
Salesman Ray Kroc signed on as a franchise agent and, in 1955, launched his own outlet in Des Plaines, Illinois, the date the corporation now counts as its founding. By most accounts an aggressive partner, he fought the brothers for control and in 1961 paid 2.7 million dollars for their stake. The original San Bernardino building came down in 1971; the site now houses a Juan Pollo headquarters and a small McDonald's and Route 66 museum.
The business is as much about property as burgers. Franchisees run about 95 percent of the 45,356 restaurants operating across more than 100 countries at the end of 2025, paying rent, royalties and fees, and the company owns around 80 percent of the buildings in its consolidated markets. Drive-throughs began in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975, the Happy Meal in 1979, and McCafe in Melbourne in 1993. Some bets flopped: Hearth Express, selling meatloaf and baked ham near Chicago, lasted a year.
Menus bend to local tastes. India, where many avoid beef on religious grounds, gets its own range, along with buns that are 22 percent millet since 2024. Indonesia offers McRice, Japan and Singapore a prawn burger, Greece a Big Mac in pita with tzatziki, and France croissants and beer. Australians can order fries dusted in Vegemite. The chain has also drawn criticism over nutrition, animal welfare, environmental impact and pay.
Source: McDonald's
