McDonald’s

McDonald’s Corporation is one of the world’s largest and most recognized fast-food chains, known for its hamburgers, french fries, and sandwiches such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, and Egg McMuffin, along with its Happy Meal for children. Based in Chicago, the company had more than 45,000 restaurants worldwide as of 2025, most operated by franchisees. Its common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MCD.

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A replica of the first McDonald’s restaurant opened by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois. Built in 1985, it was demolished in 2018.

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Beyond being a restaurant operator, McDonald’s is also a real estate company. Under conventional franchise agreements, the company generally owns or leases the land and buildings, while franchisees pay for equipment, signs, seating, and decor. McDonald’s earns revenue from rent, royalties, and fees paid by franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. It is also one of the world’s largest private employers, with more than 150,000 company employees and 2 million workers at franchised locations.

The first Ronald McDonald House, which housed families near hospitals where their children were receiving cancer treatment, was opened in 1974. By the early 21st century, more than 360 such houses existed around the world. Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) was established in 1987. In 2022, McDonald’s customers and franchisees donated over $182 million to RMHC, which provided 2.2 million overnight stays around the world. McDonald’s Corporation itself donated $20 million to RMHC in 2022, part of a $100 million pledge.

The company also donates millions of dollars to international relief efforts and local nonprofit organizations each year, and provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in community grants and scholarships. In 2022, more than $20 million was awarded in tuition assistance through the Archways to Opportunity program.

The first McDonald’s drive-in was opened in 1940 by brothers Maurice (“Mac”) and Richard McDonald in San Bernardino, California. In 1948 the brothers revamped the business, and a newly envisioned McDonald’s restaurant was created to produce huge quantities of food at low prices.

The brothers developed a simple, efficient format that they named the Speedee Service System, including a self-service counter that eliminated the need for waiters and waitresses. By 1949, the menu was condensed to include 15-cent hamburgers, shakes, and fries. Customers received their food quickly because hamburgers were cooked ahead of time, wrapped, and warmed under heat lamps.

McDonald’s was a huge success, and the brothers began a franchise program of 10 restaurants plus their original San Bernardino location.

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Ray Kroc transformed McDonald’s from a small restaurant chain into an international fast-food business.

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In 1954, Ray Kroc, a distributor for a special milkshake mixing machine, was intrigued by the McDonald brothers’ need for eight mixers. Realizing there was great promise in their restaurant concept, Kroc became a franchise agent for the brothers. In April 1955, Kroc launched McDonald’s Systems, Inc., later known as McDonald’s Corporation, in Des Plaines, Illinois, where he also opened the first McDonald’s franchise east of the Mississippi River.

In 1961, Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers and set about expanding the chain. Recognizing that franchisees were vital to its success, he established strict standards for everything from food preparation to cleaning. That same year, he created a training program, later known as Hamburger University, to ensure consistent operations across restaurants. He also changed the format of the restaurants, adding counter staff to take orders.

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Ronald McDonald, the mascot of McDonald’s.

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During the 1960s, McDonald’s reached several milestones that helped it become a major fast-food chain and American corporation:

McDonald’s expanded rapidly during the 1970s, opening restaurants in Japan, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands in 1971, followed by France in 1972 and the United Kingdom in 1974. By 1972, the chain had reached 2,000 restaurants and annual sales systemwide exceeded $1 billion. The company continued expanding into new markets throughout the decade, reaching 6,000 restaurants worldwide by 1980, including 1,000 outside the United States.

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McDonald’s restaurant, Marrakech, Morocco.

© Michael Hynes

McDonald’s continued growing through the early 1980s. Ray Kroc died in 1984, by which time the chain was serving some 17 million customers a day. In 1985, McDonald’s joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

McDonald’s also changed how it served customers. In 1975, a newly opened restaurant in Sierra Vista, Arizona, featured the chain’s first drive-through window, a novelty that soon became ubiquitous. Drive-through service allowed customers to order and get their food without leaving the car, building on the speed and convenience that had characterized McDonald’s since its earliest days.

In 1971, McDonald’s introduced McDonaldland, a fictional world populated by Ronald McDonald and characters such as the Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese. The characters appeared in advertising and inspired playgrounds at McDonald’s restaurants. The introduction of the Happy Meal in 1979 further strengthened the chain’s appeal to families with children.

McDonald’s continued its international expansion during the late 1980s and 1990s, entering markets that had previously been largely closed to American businesses. In January 1990, the company opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union, in Moscow’s Pushkin Square. More than 30,000 customers reportedly visited on opening day, and the restaurant became a symbol of the Soviet Union’s growing openness to Western businesses. McDonald’s also entered China in 1990 and India in 1996, adapting its menus to local tastes and dietary customs. In India, for example, restaurants used chicken and vegetarian menu items instead of beef or pork, which weren’t offered.

As McDonald’s expanded, it also experimented with new restaurant concepts. In 1993, the company opened its first McCafé in Melbourne, Australia, offering specialty coffees, pastries, and desserts. It subsequently moved beyond its own restaurant chain by investing in Chipotle Mexican Grill (1998) and acquiring Donatos Pizza (1999), Boston Market (2000), and Aroma Cafe (1999). McDonald’s also acquired an interest in the British sandwich chain Pret a Manger in 2001.

By the early 2000s, McDonald’s was struggling with slowing sales, increased competition, and the costs of its rapid expansion. In 2002, the company reported its first quarterly loss. It subsequently closed underperforming restaurants, reduced staff, and shifted its emphasis from opening new locations to improving existing ones. McDonald’s also began selling its interests in other restaurant chains, withdrawing completely from those businesses by 2008.

The company faced growing criticism over the nutritional content of its food and its perceived contribution to obesity. In the early 2000s, lawsuits filed in the U.S. alleged that McDonald’s food had caused health problems, but none were successful. The 2004 documentary Super Size Me, in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald’s food for a month and documented his deteriorating health, brought further attention to those concerns. McDonald’s responded by expanding its menu to include healthier options and eliminating supersize portions. By 2008, McDonald’s had also switched to cooking oil free of trans fat in its U.S. and Canadian restaurants.

McDonald’s continued responding to criticism of its food by adding healthier menu options and experimenting with plant-based burgers, including products marketed as McVegan, P.L.T., and McPlant. The company also made changes to its ingredients. By 2018, it had removed artificial preservatives from most ingredients in its classic hamburgers, although the pickles still contained an artificial preservative.

McDonald’s faced criticism over employee wages and working conditions. The term McJob was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary to mean “low-paying job.” The company was also a target of campaigns for higher minimum wages, including the Fight for $15 movement that began in 2012. McDonald’s faced scrutiny over its environmental impact, particularly greenhouse gas emissions associated with beef production and waste from food packaging. In response, the company introduced initiatives to reduce emissions and increase the use of renewable or recycled packaging materials.

The company also expanded its use of technology. During the 2010s and 2020s, McDonald’s introduced self-service ordering kiosks, expanded mobile ordering and delivery services, and developed customer loyalty programs. By the end of 2025, delivery was available from nearly 41,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide. The chain also continued opening restaurants, reaching more than 45,000 locations globally.