World’s First McDonald Restaurant
The world's largest chain of fast food restaurants that serve
around 68 million customers each day in 119 countries began operation in
1940 as a barbecue restaurant run by brothers Richard and Maurice
McDonald at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino,
California. The original restaurant was named "McDonald's Famous
Barbeque" and served over forty barbequed items.
In October
1948, after the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits
came from selling hamburgers, they closed down their successful carhop
drive-in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu of just
hamburgers, potato chips, and orange juice. The following year, French
fries and Coca-Cola were added to the menu. This simplified menu and
food preparation using assembly line principles allowed them to sell
hamburgers for 15 cents, or about half as much as at a sit-down
restaurant.
In
1953, the McDonald brothers began to franchise their successful
restaurant, starting in Phoenix, Arizona and Downey, California; the
latter is today the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant. In 1954, the
McDonald brothers licensed Ray Kroc, a seller of Multimixer milkshake
machines, to setup McDonald restaurants throughout the country.
Subsequently a new restaurant was opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, near
Chicago, on April 15, 1955, the same day that McDonald became a
corporation. The company usually refers to this as The Original
McDonald's as it marked the beginning of the phenomenal growth of the
most popular fast food franchise in history.
Both
McDonalds at San Bernardino, California and Des Plaines, Illinois, now
houses replica museum with exhibits such as the original fry vats,
milkshake Multimixers, which Kroc had sold when he first encountered the
San Bernardino McDonald's restaurant, soda barrels and grills, attended
to by a crew of male mannequins in 1950s uniforms. Visitors can walk in
through the back, or peek through the order windows in front. There is
also a collection of vintage ads, photos and a video about McDonald's
history.
Photo from the 1950's. Customers at a McDonald's restaurant
Photo from 1955, of Ray Kroc's first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois
Exterior shot of the first store in Des Plaines, Illinois
Original crew members in front of first store in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Exterior
view of the first McDonald's fast food restaurant with its neon arches
illuminated at night, Des Plaines, Illinois. Circa 1955
The
site of the first McDonald's restaurant, San Bernardino, California.
Only part of the sign remains from the original structure
McDonald Museum at Des Plaines, Illinois
The first McDonald's Drive-Thru established in Sierra Vista, AZ
Fred Turner and Ray Kroc looking at blueprints of future McDonald's restaurant
The
oldest operating McDonald's on Lakewood and Florence in Downey,
California, was the chain's third restaurant and the second to be built
with the Golden Arches. The restaurant is almost unchanged in appearance
since it opened in 1953.
McDonald Museum at Des Plaines, Illinois
Inside McDonald Museum at Des Plaines, Illinois