McDonald's Corporation

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, California in 1940. After analysing their sales data, they discovered that hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes accounted for 80% of their revenue. In 1948, they closed the restaurant for three months, fired their carhops, and reopened with a radically simplified menu of nine items. The Speedee Service System — an assembly-line kitchen based on Henry Ford's manufacturing principles — could produce a hamburger in 30 seconds. Prices were cut by 50%. Lines formed around the block.

Ray Kroc was a 52-year-old milkshake machine salesman when he noticed that a single McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino had ordered eight of his Multi-Mixer machines — enough to make 40 milkshakes simultaneously. Curious, he drove to California and was astonished by the operation he found: fast, consistent, and enormously popular. He proposed franchising. The McDonald brothers were content with their single successful restaurant. Kroc eventually convinced them and signed a franchise agreement in 1954, becoming their exclusive franchising agent.

Kroc bought the McDonald's name and concept from the brothers in 1961 for $2.7 million — a sum that required him to borrow heavily. The brothers retained their original San Bernardino restaurant, which they renamed "The Big M." Kroc opened a McDonald's directly across the street and drove them out of business. He later said he was not proud of it. The original brothers received nothing from the subsequent growth of the McDonald's empire. Richard McDonald died in 1998 with a net worth of approximately $1.8 million — a fraction of what his name had generated.

McDonald's opened the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia in 1974 — accommodation for families of seriously ill children receiving hospital treatment. The charity, now operating in 64 countries, became one of the most recognised philanthropic organisations in the world and cemented McDonald's position as a cultural institution rather than merely a fast food chain. The Golden Arches became one of the most recognised symbols in the world — reportedly more recognisable than the Christian cross in surveys of global populations.

Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me, released in 2004, depicted the health consequences of eating McDonald's three times a day for a month and triggered a global conversation about fast food and obesity. McDonald's discontinued the Super Size option within six weeks of the film's release. The company subsequently invested heavily in menu diversification — salads, wraps, fruit, and coffee — transforming from a burger-only operation into a broader fast food restaurant. The McCafé concept, launched in Australia in 1993 and expanded globally, made McDonald's one of the world's largest coffee retailers.