Today, it’s a multi-billion-pound global business and one of the most recognisable brands in the world.
But the unsavoury story of McDonald’s founding begins in Des Plaines, Illinois, with brothers Richard and Maurice (Mac) McDonald.
In 1948, the brothers had streamlined the menu for their family BBQ restaurant to just burgers, fries and milkshakes. They also set up their kitchen like an assembly line to ensure maximum efficiency and profits, including eight Multimixer milkshake machines. They moved to a bigger unit in Illinois, noticeable for its two 25ft yellow neon arches, nicknamed the “golden arches”.
McDonald’s came to the attention of businessman Ray Kroc in 1954. He was curious to find out what two local restaurateurs were doing with eight Multimixer milkshake machines sold by his company. He was bowled over by the McDonald’s concept, signed up as a franchisee and opened his own restaurant on April 15, 1955.
Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers to franchise across the US. As business boomed, Kroc purchased the franchise rights for $2.7 million in 1961. He then opened a McDonald’s next to the brothers’ original restaurant and drove them out of business.
A broken Mac McDonald died of heart failure in 1984 and his brother died in 1998, leaving $1.8 million in his will. Kroc died in 1984, when his fortune was valued at $500 million.
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