McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving more than 58 million customers daily began with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice Mcdonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940.
Mcdonald’s introduced the concept of “Speedee Service System” in 1948 thus establishing the basic principle of the modern “fast food restaurant”. Actually, the original mascot of McD was also called “Speedee”. It was a man with a chef’s hat on top of a hamburger shaped head which was replaced with a clown shaped man having puffed out costume legs in 1967 when the company filed a US trademark.
The company also filed for a U.S. trademark on the name McDonald’s on May 4, 1961, with the description “Drive-In Restaurant Services,” which continues to be renewed through the end of December 2009. In the same year, on September 13, 1961, the company filed a logo trademark on an overlapping, double arched “M” symbol. The overlapping double arched “M” symbol logo was temporarily disfavored by September 6, 1962, when a trademark was filed for a single arch, shaped over many of the early McDonald’s restaurants in the early years. The famous double arched “M” symbol in use today did not appear until November 18, 1968, when the company filed a U.S. trademark.
The tradition of franchisee started on April 15, 1955 when Ray Cork opened a restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, the ninth McDonald’s restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers’ equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion, and the company became listed on the public stock markets in 1965. With his aggressive business practices Kroc drove McDonald brothers out of the fast food industry.
Today, with a prominet presence into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life.
How about a quick burger then?….Happy Eating..