In 2011 McDonald's had 14,098 restaurants with over $34 Billion in sales.
Richard and Maurice McDonald founded McDonald’s Restaurant in 1948 in San Bernadino, California.
Des Plaines, Illinois is home to Ray Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant (1955). He signed a franchise agreement with Dick and Mac McDonald, who had opened their restaurant in 1948 in San Bernardino, California.
Before setting up the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain, Ray Kroc was a high school dropout, ambulance driver, jazz pianist, Florida real-estate salesman, radio station manager, and paper cup salesman.
McDonald's fast food restaurant opened its training school, Hamburger University, in Oak Brook, Illinois in 1961.
The first drive up McDonald's was opened in 1975.
McDonald’s introduced Chicken McNuggets in 1983.
The Big Mac was introduced in 1968. The price was 49 cents.
In 1999 there were more than 25,000 McDonald's in 115 countries.
By 2000 there were more than 30,000 McDonald's restaurants in 121 countries.
More than 12% of all American workers have worked at McDonald's at some time in their life. (2005)
McDonald's is the world's largest purchaser of beef. (2001)
McDonald's uses about 7% of the potatoes grown in the United States for its French fries. They sell more than 1/3 of all the French fries sold in restaurants in the U.S. each year. (2003)
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonald’s. (2003)
Email received on 12/19/2003 from Ronald L. McDonald, the nephew of the original founders of McDonald’s:
Dear James,
I really enjoy your site and find it informative. I am also happy to see that in the Who's Who section you have my family listed. So often I have to rant and rave to inform people that Richard & Maurice McDonald conceived and started McDonald's and not Ray Kroc (one of our employees for 5 years).
As a matter of interest I am also active in the industry for the past 40 years and still do a lot of consulting to start up chains. My last book "The Complete Hamburger" was published by Birch Lane Press and next year I have Ronald McDonald's Franchise Buyers Guide and Ronald McDonald's International Burger Book. I am just finishing the first of a new series: The Great American Hot Dog Book.
Keep helping the world to understand food history, That’s Great.
Sincerely,
Ronald L. McDonald
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