How old is mcdonalds food chain

Instead of relying on waiters and waitresses, the McDonald brothers installed a self-service counter. Instead of cooking each meal to order, they prepared their burgers ahead of time and kept the food warm under high-powered heat lamps. Readers might recognize this as the basic design of the modern fast food restaurant, but at the time it gave McDonald's an overwhelming edge against its traditional competitors.

This format eventually brought the McDonald brothers to the attention of kitchen appliance salesman Ray Kroc who supplied the restaurant. Impressed by their business model, Kroc bought the rights to begin franchising McDonald's restaurants nationwide, although at the time the brothers had already licensed a small number of franchise restaurants in Arizona and California.

While Maurice and Richard McDonald created the first restaurant and its food service business model, arguably it is Kroc who founded McDonald's as the world now knows it. He took the individual restaurant from its San Bernardino location and turned it mass-market. By , Kroc had bought out the founders entirely and ran the company himself. Arguably one of the most impressive elements of McDonald's corporate history is how little modern history it has. During its first decades, McDonald's worked to establish its business model and brand.

Since that time it has found an approach that works. The company's modern history is noteworthy specifically for its relatively few items of note. McDonald's has continued its rapid growth for nearly 70 years and, while it has gained and lost customers, new restaurants have opened at a steady pace. To a degree that few other businesses can claim, the McDonald's approach can be described as "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

McDonald's has been the target of a number of high-profile lawsuits during the company's lifetime. Most notably was the infamous "coffee lawsuit" of the early s.

In Stella Liebeck sued the company after spilling a cup of their coffee that gave her third degree burns across her legs and thighs. The company refused to pay for Liebeck's treatment. More consistently, McDonald's has been the subject of concerns about the health impact of its food. Critics consistently point to the chain as a symbol of American issues with obesity, and argue that its drive toward low-cost, low-quality meals has contributed substantially to this problem.

Arguably the high point of this bad press came with the documentary "Super Size Me," in which the film maker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's meals and always accepted a cashier's offer to "super size" his meal. This referred to a now-discontinued practice of offering customers one size bigger than large, known as "supersize.

Spurlock's film focused on the dramatic ways in which eating only McDonald's food affected his health, including warnings from his doctor that this diet could kill him. His hat was a tray with a styrofoam hamburger, fries, and a milkshake on top of it. McDonald's considered changing the character of Ronald McDonald to a cowboy or spaceman, but those ideas were quickly thrown out.

His signature costume included a red-and-white striped shirt, yellow jumpsuit, and red hair. Ronald McDonald also became the primary symbol for the Ronald McDonald House , an organization founded by McDonald's in that provides housing for parents of a child with cancer near to the hospital, as well as medical care. In regards to Ronald McDonald promoting unhealthy eating habits in children, Skinner claimed , "this is about choice. In , McDonald's announced that the brand would be revamping Ronald's look.

He would now wear a red and white striped rugby shirt, yellow cargo pants, and a vest or jacket instead of the signature jumpsuit. Despite Ronald McDonald being featured less frequently in McDonald's advertising nowadays, the chain has yet to officially retire the character. Future locations would switch to the walk-up model. In , a franchisee in Arizona had an ingenious idea to introduce the drive-through window to his location after seeing competitors utilize it.

Customers could now pull up and receive their food from their cars. In , Forbes reported that by , self-service kiosks would be available in all US McDonald's locations. McDonald's said it still has cashiers, but that the company found people take more time to browse and sometimes order more when using the machine. The very first McDonald's menu was large.

However, in , the McDonald brothers reduced the restaurant's offerings down to just nine items: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and a slice of pie. In , McDonald's had a whopping items on its menu , with more being added consistently. Around the world, McDonald's visitors can try a variety of exclusive menu items not available in the US, like a chicken sandwich topped with mozzarella sticks in South Korea.

Created by owner and operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in , the first "Big Mac" featured a triple-decker burger and sold for 45 cents.

When the burger was chosen to roll out across the US, there was a lot of deliberation over the name. Two other name options included the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger, but both were nixed.

However, Esther Glickstein Rose, a year-old secretary for the company's advertising department in , had the winning name — "Big Mac. However, it stuck and went on to become "one of the best-known product names of all time.

Happy Meals came out in while Chicken McNuggets were released in Little has changed about the burger's appearance since its debut. However, McDonald's announced on October 1, , that it would remove all artificial preservatives, flavors, and coloring from the Big Mac.

Source: Reference. This was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin. I boggled a bit at the presentation. But then I tasted it, and I was sold. In , the company expanded its breakfast menu to be all day. McDonald's just released two new chicken-based breakfast sandwiches nationwide in an effort to compete with rival restaurants Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, and Popeyes.

Supersize fries came in a 7-ounce carton , versus the 6-ounce carton of the "large" fries size. In , McDonald's announced it would be phasing out its supersized options in what spokesman Walt Riker described as a move towards "menu simplification. Many, however, believed the action to be a result of the documentary film, "Supersize Me," in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate McDonald's food every day for a month and documented his deteriorating health.

Though the burger has yet to roll out nationwide, Business Insider had the opportunity to try the new menu item , which comes off the heels of the successful Impossible Whopper sold at Burger King. There's a huge opportunity in the fast-food industry for vegan and vegetarian menu items. According to a previous article by Business Insider, the addition of the Impossible Whopper showed to boost sales at Burger King , something analysts believe McDonald's may be trying to replicate in its own restaurants.

Earlier iterations of the McDonald's packaging featured Speedee. The company then switched to white bags with the original "golden arches" logo.

In , McDonald's began using styrofoam packaging. This realisation set the cogs turning in their minds, prompting them to simplify their menu with a particular focus on their most favoured item, it stated in the book Made In America. In addition to reducing their menu, the McDonald brothers also simplified the way in which consumers were served food at their restaurants, swapping staff who waited on customers at their cars for self-service.

By the midth century, Dick and Mac boasted a flourishing business, planting the seeds for the mass growth of the fast food industry. Joining the business in the s, Kroc helped to expand the franchise beyond even his greatest expectations, branching out on a global scale. However, before joining ranks with the McDonald brothers, the Chicago-born businessman was working as a milkshake salesman.

Prior to his involvement, the McDonald brothers had already embarked on the process of turning their restaurant chain into a franchise. They collaborated with a couple of franchisees to make this aspiration a reality, including Neil Fox, Roger Williams and Burdette Landon.

All three franchisees worked at the General Petroleum Corporation. In addition to the culinary side of their restaurant, Dick and Mac had also been placing their focus on the aesthetic vision they had for their business moving forward. Intrigued by the fast food chain and its business model, Kroc went into business with the McDonald brothers with the aim of further developing their firm. However, Kroc aspired to branch out across the entire US, a target that he set about achieving with vigour.