This Day, That Year – May 15

This day in history we feature the McDonalds. The first American multinational fast food chain operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald was opened on this day in 1940.

Trivia – McDonalds

The first resturant was opened in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald’s had its previous headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018. McDonald’s is also a real estate company through its ownership of all restaurant locations.

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In 2017, McDonalds launched an app in the United States which allows customers to skip the ordering line inside or drive through and order online. Many McDonalds locations have special parking spaces for such orders. In September 2019, McDonald’s purchased an AI-based start-up Apprente for replacing human servers with voice-based technology in its US drive-throughs. In early 2023, McDonald’s opened its first fully automated restaurant in Forth Worth, Texas. McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries in more than 40,000 outlets as of 2021. McDonald’s is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, although their menu also includes other items like chicken, fish, fruit, and salads. Their best-selling licensed item are their french fries, followed by the Big Mac. The McDonald’s Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald’s is the world’s second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees). As of 2022, McDonald’s has the sixth-highest global brand valuation. McDonald’s restaurants are in 120 countries and territories and serve 68 million customers each day. There are 37,855 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 210,000 people as of the end of 2018. There are a total of 2,770 company-owned locations and 35,085 franchised locations, which includes 21,685 locations franchised to conventional franchisees, 7,225 locations licensed to developmental licensees, and 6,175 locations licensed to foreign affiliates.

Source – Wikipedia