McDonalds Timeline
Richard McDonald first opens McDonald’s Bar-B-Que in San Bernadino. The restaurant was located at the intersection of 14th & East streets, where it still resides today.
1940
Richard McDonald first opens McDonald’s Bar-B-Que in San Bernadino. The restaurant was located at the intersection of 14th & East streets, where it still resides today.
1948
They decide to renovate and re-do the restaurant and its menu that contained only nine items. The staple of the menu is the 15 cent hamburger. For 5 cents, you could get bottomless orange juice to go with it.
1949
McDonald’s introduces it’s famous french fries and they became an instant hit
1954
Ray Kroc visits McDonalds, and partners with Richard and Maurice (also known as Dick and Mac). He also becomes the official franchising agent. He introduces the triple milkshake to the menu as well.
1955
McDonald’s opens it’s second location in Des Plaines, Illinois. Ray Kroc was instrumental in getting it established. The restaurant’s second location made $366.12 in sales on opening day. More than 700 additional franchise locations would open over the course of the decade that followed.
1963
In 1963, 23 years after opening their very first restaurant, the two brothers opened McDonald’s 500th location in Toledo, Ohio.
1965
In 1965, McDonald’s officially became a publicly owned corporation, selling it’s first public stock shares at $22.50 a piece. The initial stock offering took place on the restaurant’s 10th anniversary.
1963
Ronald McDonald made his debut in 1963 and McDonald’s net income exceeded $1 million.
1967
With the opening of McDonald’s first locations in Canada and Puerto Rico, McDonalds became an international chain. This trend would continue eventually establishing McDonald’s locations in 118 different countries.
1968
The famous Big Mac hamburger is introduced.
1975
McDonald’s decides to expand from lunch into breakfast, and begins the morning meal with the launch of it’s reknowned Egg McMuffin sandwiches. The Egg McMuffin was invented by a McDonald’s location owner by the name of Herb Peterson, from Santa Barbara, California.
1980
McDonald’s celebrates it’s 25th anniversary.
1987
In an effort to please it’s more health-conscious customers, McDonald’s debuts it’s new fresh salads on May 15th, 1987.
1996
McDonald’s launches it’s website, McDonalds.com.
2005
In 2005, McDonald’s celebrated 50 years of operation from the date it’s first location was opened.
2006
McDonald’s introduced it’s snack wraps, adding a non-sandwich lunch item to it’s menu.
2010
In an effort to compete with cafes and smoothie shops, McDonald’s launches it’s McCafe line of lattes and cappuccinos, along with it’s Real Fruit Smoothies and Frappes.
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