McDonald's Summer Break Survival Tips Double Big Mac TV Television Commercial from 1995.
McDonald's (or simply as McD) is an American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain. It was founded in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald. In 1948, they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand, using production line principles. The first McDonald's franchise using the arches logo opened in Phoenix, Arizona in 1953. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955 and subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers. Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, McDonald's confirmed plans to move its global headquarters to Chicago by early 2018.[3][4]
Today, McDonald's is one of the world's largest restaurant chains, serving approximately 68 million customers daily in 120 country across approximately 36,899 outlets.[5] McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies, and fruit. A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to a BBC report published in 2012, McDonald's is the world's second largest private employer (behind Walmart with 1.9 million employees), 1.5 million of whom work for franchises.
The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, California (at
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34.1255°N 117.2946°W). Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 furthered the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that the White Castle hamburger chain had already put into practice more than two decades earlier. The first McDonald's with the arches opened in Phoenix, Arizona in March 1953. The original mascot of McDonald's was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger-shaped head whose name was "Speedee". In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the company symbol. A new mascot, Ronald McDonald, was introduced in 1965. The clown-like man having puffed out costume legs served advertising aimed at children.[6]
On May 4, 1961, McDonald's first filed for a U.S. trademark on the name "McDonald's" with the description "Drive-In Restaurant Services", which continues to be renewed through the end of December 2009. On September 13, 1961, the company filed for a trademark on a new logo—an overlapping, double-arched "M" symbol. By September 6, 1962, this M-symbol was temporarily disfavored, when a trademark was filed for a single arch, shaped over many of the early McDonald's restaurants in the early years.[clarification needed] Although the "Golden Arches"