McDonald's

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McDonald's Corporation
Company typePublic (NYSE: MCD)
IndustryRestaurants
FoundedMay 15, 1940 in San Bernardino, California
HeadquartersOak Brook, IL United States
Key people
Dick and Mac McDonald, Founders
Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's Corporation
Jim Skinner, CEO
Michael J. Roberts, President/COO
Ronald McDonald, Corporate Mascot
ProductsFast food, including Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, french fries, and sundaes
Revenue$19.1 billion USD (2004)
9,371,000,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
6,177,400,000 United States dollar (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
Total assets52,626,800,000 United States dollar (2020) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
418,000 (31 December 2003)
Websitewww.mcdonalds.com

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. Although McDonald's did not invent the hamburger or fast food, its name has become nearly synonymous with both.

The company began in 1940 with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, but it was their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 that established the principles of the fast-food restaurant. However, the company today dates its "founding" to the opening of CEO Ray Kroc's first franchised restaurant, the company's ninth, in 1955.

Corporate overview

File:Mcdonalds golden arches sign.jpg
McDonald's trademark Golden Arches. The maple leaf indicates a Canadian location.
McDonald's Sekime national route store（Osaka Japan）
File:Sxc times square mcd.jpg
Times Square McDonald's.

McDonald's brand is in 122 countries around the world. Thirty thousand locations serve 51 million customers each day. More than 70 percent of McDonald's restaurants around the world are owned and operated by independent local businesspeople.

In addition, the company operates other restaurant brands, such as Aroma Café, Boston Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. Until December 2003 it also owned Donatos Pizza. It also has a subsidiary, Redbox, which in 2003 started as 18-foot wide automated convenience stores, but as of 2005 has focused on DVD rental machines.

Revenues for 2004 were US$19.07 billion, with net income at $2.75.

Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer both counter and drive-through service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating. The Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, or McDrive as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the former two steps are frequently combined. In some countries "McDrive" locations near highways offer no counter service or seating. In contrast, locations in high-density city neighborhoods often omit drive-through service.

Specially themed restaurants also exist, such as "Rock-and-Roll McDonald's" 1950s themed restaurants. Some McDonald's in suburban areas and certain cities feature large indoor or outdoor playgrounds, called "McDonald's PlayPlace" or "Playland". These were primarily created in the 1970s and 1980s in the USA, but later internationally.

The McDonald's Corporation's business model is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinary franchise fees, supplies, and percentage of sales, McDonald's also collects rent, partially linked to sales. As a condition of the franchise agreement, the Corporation owns the property on which most McDonald's franchises are located.

McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois.

According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the US has at some time been employed by McDonald's. The book also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes.

Slogans

  • Good time, Great taste.
  • Food, Folks and Fun.
  • What you want is what you get.
  • Have you had your break today?
  • Did somebody say McDonald's?
  • We love to see you smile.
  • There's a little McDonald's, in everyone.
  • I'm lovin' it!

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of McDonald's are: Hall Adams, Edward Brennan, Robert Eckert, Enrique Hernandez, Jeanne Jackson, Richard Lenny, Walter Massey, Andrew McKenna, Cary McMillan, Michael J. Roberts, John W. Rogers, James A. Skinner, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Roger W. Stone.

History

Fourth McDonald's restaurant in Downey, California at the corner of Lakewood and Firestone Boulevards, and is today the world's oldest McDonald's restaurant still in operation.
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50s-themed McDonald's sign in Bangor, Maine.
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McDonald's in a Malaysian mall.
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Restaurant interior, circa 2000.
McDonald's in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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McDonald's in Brazil, city of Uberlândia, state of Minas Gerais.
  • 1937: Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald open a hot dog stand called the Airdome in Arcadia, California.
  • 1940: The brothers move the Airdome building to San Bernardino, California, where they open the McDonald's restaurant on Route 66 on May 15. Its menu consists of 25 items, mostly barbecue. The first McDonald's hamburger cost $0.15. As is common at the time, they employ around 20 carhops. It became a popular and highly profitable teen hangout.
  • 1948: After noting that almost all of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers close down the restaurant for several months to implement their innovative "Speedee Service System", a streamlined assembly line for hamburgers. The carhops are fired.
  • 1953: The McDonald brothers begin to franchise their restaurant, with Neil Fox as the first franchisee. The second McDonald's opens in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the first to feature the Golden Arches design; later in the year the original restaurant is rebuilt in this style.
  • 1953: Fourth McDonald's restaurant opens in Downey, California at the corner of Lakewood and Firestone Boulevards, and is today the world's oldest McDonald's restaurant still in operation.
  • 1954: Entrepreneur and milkshake-mixer salesman Ray Kroc becomes fascinated by the McDonald's restaurant when he learns of its extraordinary capacity and popularity. (Others who had visited the restaurant and come away inspired were James McLamore, founder of Burger King, and Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell.) After seeing the restaurant in operation, Kroc approaches the McDonald brothers, who have already begun franchising, with a proposition to let him franchise McDonald's restaurants, with himself as the first franchisee. Kroc works hard to sell McDonald's. He even attempts to prevail on his wartime acquaintance with Walt Disney, in the failed hope of opening a McDonald's at the soon-to-be-opened Disneyland.
  • 1955: Ray Kroc founds "McDonald's Systems, Inc." on March 2, as a legal structure for his planned franchises. Kroc opens the company's ninth restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in suburban Chicago, Illinois on April 15. The first day's revenues are $366.12. The company's literature usually refers to this date as the "beginning" of the company, then already 15 years old, writing the McDonald brothers out of its history in favor of Kroc. The company still refers to this restaurant as "McDonalds #1".
  • 1955: Ray Kroc hires Harry J. Sonneborn as the Chief Financial Officer for McDonald's. Harry Sonneborn would remain a key influence in the McDonald's corporation till his resignation in 1967.
  • 1960: The company is renamed "McDonald's Corporation".
  • 1961: The McDonald brothers agree to sell Kroc business rights to their operation for one million dollars each, a sum that Kroc borrows from a number of investors (including Princeton University); it ends up costing Kroc $2.7 million, which he considers extreme, and which strains his relationship with the brothers. The agreement allows the brothers to keep their original restaurant, but in an oversight they fail to retain rights to the name. Renamed "The Big M", it remains open until Kroc drives it out of business by opening a McDonald's just one block north. Had the brothers maintained their original agreement, which granted them 0.5 percent of the chain's annual revenues, they and their heirs would have been collecting in excess of $100 million per year today.
  • Early 1960s: One of Kroc's marketing insights is his decision to market McDonald's hamburgers to families and children. A Washington, D.C. franchisee sponsors a children's show called Bozo's Circus. Bozo was a franchised character, played (in Los Angeles) by Willard Scott. After the show was cancelled, Goldstein hires Scott to portray McDonald's new mascot, "Ronald McDonald" in the first three television advertisements featuring the character. The character eventually spreads to the rest of the country via an advertising campaign, although it is later decided that both Scott and his version of the original costume are unsuitable for the role. An entire cast of McDonaldland characters is developed.
  • 1963: The Filet-O-Fish is introduced in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a restaurant located in a neighborhood dominated by Roman Catholics who practiced abstinence (the avoidance of meat) on Fridays. It is the first new addition to the original menu, and goes national the following year, with fish supplied by Gorton's of Gloucester.
  • 1967: The first McDonald's restaurant outside the United States opens in Richmond, British Columbia.
  • 1967: The chain's current stand-alone restaurant design, with mansard roof and indoor seating, is introduced.
  • 1968: The Big Mac, similar to the Big Boy hamburger, and Hot Apple Pie are introduced.
  • 1970: Having changed hands in 1968, the original "Big M" restaurant closes. It is demolished two years later, with only part of the sign remaining; this has since been restored.
  • 1971: The first Asian McDonalds opens in July in Japan, in Tokyo's Ginza district.
  • 1971: The first European McDonald's outlet opens in the Netherlands, in Zaandam (near Amsterdam) in August. The franchisee is Ahold.
  • 1971: The first McDonald's opens in Germany (Munich) in December. It is the first McDonald's to sell alcohol, as it offers beer. Other European countries follow in the early 1970s.
  • 1971: The first Australian McDonald's opens in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona in December.
  • 1973: The Quarter Pounder is introduced.
  • 1974: On October 12, the first McDonald's opens in the United Kingdom in Woolwich, southeast London. It is the company's 3,000th restaurant.
  • 1975: The Drive-Thru is introduced in January in Sierra Vista, Arizona. It would later be known as "McDrive" in some countries.
  • 1979: The Happy Meal is introduced in the U.S.
  • 1979: The first McDonald's opens in France (Strasbourg).
  • 1980: McDonald's introduces the McChicken sandwich, its first poultry item. It flops, and is removed from the menu, but is later reintroduced after Chicken McNuggets prove successful.
  • 1983: McDonald's introduces the Chicken McNugget.
  • 1984: On July 18, James Oliver Huberty rakes a McDonald's restaurant with gunfire, killing 21 people in San Ysidro, California in the McDonald's massacre.
  • 1984: The company is a main sponsor of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Its U.S. restaurants lose money on the game "When America Wins, You Win" after the Soviet bloc nations boycott the Games, leading to a high number of medals won by the U.S.
  • 1985: McDonald's opens its first outlet in Italy, in the city of Bozen-Bolzano. Worried about acceptance of its restaurants in historic settings, the subsequent first restaurant in Rome has a subdued facade and sets new standards for its interior decor.
  • 1988: McDonald's opens its first restaurant in a communist country, in Győr, Hungary. Belgrade, Yugoslavia follows in the same year.
  • 1990: On January 31, the first Soviet McDonald's opens in Moscow. At the time it was the largest McDonald's in the world. For political reasons, McDonald's Canada was independently responsible for this opening with little input from the US parent company; a wall display within the restaurant showed the Canadian and Soviet flags. To overcome Soviet supply problems, the company creates its own supply chain, including farms, within the USSR. Unlike other foreign investments, the restaurant accepts rubles, not dollars, and is extremely popular, with waiting lines of several hours common in its early days.
  • 1992: Stella Liebeck receives third degree burns from coffee purchased at a McDonald's drive-through. She sued in what became known as the McDonald's coffee case.
  • 1992: Three employees were murdered and one permanently disabled in Sydney River, Nova Scotia during a robbery.
  • 1994: The first McDonald's opens in Africa, in Cairo, Egypt.
  • Circa 1995: McDonald's receives complaints from franchisers that too many franchises were being granted, leading to competition among franchisees. McDonald's started conducting market impact studies before granting further franchises.
  • 1996: First McDonald's opens in Belarus, marking the chain's 100th country. At the opening ceremony, the Belarusian militia are accused of brutality toward members of the public hoping to enter the restaurant in Minsk.
  • 1997: McDonald's wins the "McLibel" case, in what many consider to be a Pyrrhic victory in terms of the company's image.
  • 1999 French Marxist activist José Bové and others gain worldwide attention when they destroy a half-built McDonald's franchise in Millau (Aveyron). The incident follows a European Union ban on American meat imports, on the grounds that they use hormone treatments; in response the U.S. had increased import duties on French Roquefort cheese and other European Union products. Bové was sentenced to three months in prison for his role in the incident.
  • 2000: Eric Schlosser publishes Fast Food Nation, a book critical of Fast Food in general and McDonalds in particular.
  • 2001: The FBI reports that employees of Simon Worldwide, a company hired by McDonald's to provide promotion marketing services for Happy Meals and the 'Millionaire'/'Monopoly' contest, stole winning game pieces worth more than $20 million.
  • 2002: A survey in Restaurants and Institutions Magazine, ranks McDonald's 15th in food quality among hamburger chains, highlighting the company's failure to enforce standards across its franchise network.
  • 2002: McDonald's posts its first quarterly loss ($344m) for the last quarter. It responds to the stiff competition from other fast-food restaurants, offering higher quality burgers and more variety, by attempting to move more upmarket by expanding its menu and refitting restaurants. It announces it is withdrawing from three countries (including Bolivia) and closing 175 underperforming restaurants.
  • 2003 McDonald's starts a global marketing campaign which promotes a new healthier and higher-quality image. The campaign was labeled "i'm lovin' it™" and began simultaneously in more than 100 countries around the world.
  • 2003: According to Technomic, a market research firm, McDonald's' share of the U.S. market has fallen 3 percent in five years and is now at 15.2 percent. [1]
  • 2003: The firm reports a $126m loss for the fourth quarter [2].
  • 2004: Morgan Spurlock directs and stars in Super Size Me documentary film in which the protagonist eats nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days to the severe detriment of his health.
  • 2005: McDonald's Corporation celebrates its 50th birthday, 65 years after the McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant.
  • 2005: McDonald's experiments with call centers for drive-through orders. The center, located in Fargo, North Dakota takes orders from more than a dozen stores in Oregon and Washington. The experiment is in part motivated by labor costs, since the minimum wage in North Dakota is over 40% lower than that in Oregon or Washington.
  • 2005: Owing in part to competitive pressure, McDonald's Australia begins 'Made for you' policy in which the food is cooked after the customer orders (as opposed to the firm's normal procedure since 1948, in which the food is cooked, then sold as needed). It is expected to be general procedure in every Australian store by 2007. This has led to fresher, better tasting food. During busy periods this means faster service times but slower service at other times.
  • 2006: McDonald's will be opening in Harare in Zimbabwe, Cape Town in South Africa and Lomé in Togo.

Challenges

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Drive-through window in Oregon

McDonald’s faces varying challenges. Some of these are unique to franchising. As one of the world’s largest and best recognized franchise systems, it must endeavour to successfully deal with matters of internal cohesion between the interests of its franchisees and that of the franchisor.

As the world's largest restaurant chain, McDonald's also finds itself a target for external criticism. Even though its foreign franchise locations are usually locally owned and use locally-produced foods, the company is seen as a symbol of American domination of economic resources. Urban legends about the company and its food are plentiful and it is often the target of unusual lawsuits.

However, McDonald's has modified its products to cater for local tastes, not least in countries that have special dietary laws. In Muslim countries like Malaysia, bacon is not served in McDonald's burgers or in its breakfast menu, as pork is haraam, or not permissible under Islamic dietary law. In Malaysia, the hamburger is called the beef burger. This does not reflect a different composition, but simply the avoidance of the word "ham" (the burgers do not contain any of the latter meat, the name being coincidental). In Israel, the nature of kosher dietary laws, forbidding the mixture of meat and dairy products, means that cheeseburgers are not popular among Jewish customers; furthermore, all meat not prepared in a certain manner is considered unkosher by strict observers of the dietary laws. McDonald's has taken steps to cater to Jewish customers by opening kosher McDonald's in Jerusalem and Buenos Aires and by offering a 'Passover Bun' for the eight-day period in which practicing Jews abstain from leavened bread. In India, the fact that Hinduism forbids the eating of beef prompted McDonald's to use lamb instead. Vegetarian burgers are offered wherever there is a significant demand, including India and much of Western Europe.

Soft drinks on offer also vary from country to country, with local brands available on tap alongside Coca-Cola Company brands. For example, Irn-Bru in Scotland and Guarana in Brazil are more popular in those countries than the leading international brands. For a time, British outlets offered "McDonald's Cola" rather than Coca-Cola, for legal reasons.

McCafe

The McCafe is a bistro-like restaurant concept by McDonald's Corporation in an effort to gain a share of the ever popular and expanding goumet coffee market. With comfortable leather chairs and couches, natural wood accents, and bistro style tables, the ambience is that of a typical modern coffee shop. Dine-in patrons forego the plastic trays and paper wrappers for the more elegant china plates and stainless silverware.

The menu boasts the standard bistro fare, including paninis, coffee and espresso drinks, and baked goods and pastries, and all menu items are available for take-out. House coffee blends are sold both normally and in tins for home brewing.

While the concept is yet to be introduced to the US, the chain started in Australia in 1993 and has been successful in several other countries, including Brazil, France, Italy, and most recently Canada.

Criticism

An anti-McDonald's leafletting campaign in front of the restaurant in Leicester Square, London in 2004

McDonald's has been the target of criticism for allegations of exploitation of entry-level workers, use of sweatshop labor to produce "happy meal" toys, ecological damage caused by agricultural production and industrial processing of its products, selling unhealthy food, production of packaging waste, exploitative advertising (especially targeted at children, minorities, and low-income people), and contributing to suffering and exploitation of livestock. McDonald's' historic tendency towards promoting high-calorie foods such as French fries has earned it the nickname "the starchy arches".

In the high profile McLibel Trial, McDonald's took two anti-McDonald's campaigners, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, to court for a trial lasting two and a half years—the longest in English legal history and part of a 20-year battle—after the pair distributed leaflets critical of the company in London's streets. McDonald's won the case in the U.K. High Court, and were awarded £60,000 damages, which later was reduced to £40,000 by the Court of Appeal. Steel and Morris then made a separate but related claim against the U.K. Government in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the lack of access to legal aid and the heavy burden of proof that lay with them to prove their claims (rather than McDonald's, the claimants, having to prove that the claims were false) under U.K. libel law breached the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression. The ECHR ruled against the U.K. Government, which subsequently introduced legislation to change the libel laws to remedy the defects highlighted by the ECHR judgment. The libel charge and fine were overturned in an appeals case. For more information, see McLibel case.

McDonald's has also been criticized for its approach to preserving its image and copyrights. It has threatened many foodservice businesses with legal action unless they drop the Mc or Mac from their trading name. In one noteworthy case, McDonald's sued a Scottish cafe owner called McDonald, even though the business in question dated back well over a century. Other legal battles include:

  • Pursuing a 26-year legal action against a man named Ronald McDonald and his Illinois restaurant (opened in 1956).
  • In 1994, McDonald's succesfully forced Elizabeth McCaughey of the San Francisco Bay Area, to change the trading name of her coffeeshop McCoffee, which had operated under that name for 17 years.
  • In 1994, McDonald's sued a restaurant in Kingston, Jamaica, because of trademark infringement, although it had opened in 1971, well before McDonald's entered the Jamaican market.
  • In 1996, McDonald's lost a legal battle at the Danish Supreme Court to force Allan Pedersen, a mincemeat sandwich vendor, to drop his shop name McAllan.
  • In 1996, forced Scottish sandwich shop owner Mary Blair of Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire to drop McMunchies as her trading name.
  • In 2001, McDonald's lost a 9-year legal action against Frank Yuen of McChina Wok Away, Chinese takeway outlets in various part of the UK.
  • In South Africa, however, McDonald's had to battle against the country's trademark laws, which stated that a registered trademark had to be used within a certain period of time. This resulted in a local company announcing plans to launch its own fast-food chain using the McDonald's name, although the South African High Court eventually ruled in McDonald's favor.
I'm lovin' it by Justin Timberlake, is a song that was heard on McDonald's commercials.
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Love ko 'to by Jasmine Trias, is the Philippine version/song that was heard on McDonald's commercials.
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One of McDonald's latest logos, a smiling McDonalds.

In July 2001, McDonald's was fined £12,400 by Surrey magistrates for illegally employing and over-working child labor in one of its London restaurants. This is thought to be one of the largest fines imposed on a company for breaking laws relating to child working conditions.

Also in 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included scathing criticism of McDonald's' business practices. Among the critiques are allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast-food industry) uses its political influence to increase their own profits at the expense of the health of the nation and the social conditions of its workers. While the book does mention other fast-food chains, it focuses primarily on McDonald's.

In 2003, a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority determined that the corporation had acted in breach of the codes of practice in describing how its french fries were prepared. A McDonald's print ad stated that "after selecting certain potatoes" "we peel them, slice them, fry them and that's it." It showed a picture of a potato in a McDonald's "fries" box. In fact the product was sliced, pre-fried, sometimes had dextrose added, was then frozen, shipped, and re-fried and then had salt added.

In June 2004, the UK's Private Eye reported that McDonald's was handing out meal vouchers, balloons, and toys to children in pediatric wards. This was especially controversial as the report was made within weeks of a British Government report stating that the present generation may be the first to die before their parents due to spiraling obesity in the British population.

Also in 2004, Morgan Spurlock's documentary film Super Size Me produced negative publicity for McDonald's, with allegations that McDonald's food was contributing heavily to the [3] epidemic of obesity in American society, and failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. Subsequent to the showing of the film at the Sundance Film Festival, but before its cinematic release, McDonald's phased out its Supersize meal option and began offering several healthier menu items, though no link to the film was cited in this decision. They also began a practice of putting all nutritional information for all menu items in light grey small print on the reverse of their tray liners. Several other people later similarly ate only at McDonald's for a month, but by choosing menu items more judiciously (Spurlock worked his way through the entire menu over time) and exercising frequently, showed no ill effects.

Emblem for globalization

McDonald's in Tokyo, Japan
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McDonald's in Khobar, Saudi Arabia

McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred as The Mcdonaldization of society. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac index" (the price of a Big Mac) as an informal measure of purchasing power parity among world currencies. Thomas Friedman suggested that no countries with McDonald's had gone to war with each other. His theory ("Golden Arches" theory) seemed to have been disproved when NATO bombed Serbia in 1999, although it was pointed out in The Economist that NATO itself has no McDonald's. McDonald's remains a target of anti-globalization protesters worldwide.

McDonald's impact has garnered praise as well as criticism. Some observers have suggested that many of its innovations have become commonplace and are no longer seen as such, and that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets it enters. A Stanford University study entitled Golden Arches East (1998, edited by James L. Watson) looked at the impact McDonald's had had on East Asia, and Hong Kong in particular. Among the findings were that McDonald's had solved the problem of losing face for many customers (who might be embarrassed when someone else ordered a more expensive item in a restaurant; as the food at McDonald's is all similarly priced, this ceased to be an issue). When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions. By popularizing the idea of a quick restaurant meal, the study suggests, McDonald's led to the elimination of various taboos, such as that on eating while standing in Japan. In most cases, McDonald's quickly became accepted, and was no longer seen as a foreign institution.

When environmentally damaging packaging and waste produced by the company's restaurants became a public concern, McDonald's started a joint project with Friends of the Earth to eliminate the use polystyrene containers and to reduce the amount of waste produced.

Restaurants around the world

The northernmost McDonald's restaurant is located on the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland, while the southernmost franchise is located in Invercargill, New Zealand. The world's easternmost McDonald's is also located in New Zealand, in the city of Gisborne; the westernmost restaurant is in Western Samoa, as they are the closest to either side of the International Date Line. Because of this, it is said that "the sun never sets on the Golden Arches", a parody on the old claim "The sun never sets on the British Empire" from the time when the British Empire spanned all continents. The world's largest McDonald's is located in Orlando, Florida, USA off of International Drive. It sports two floors, a massive game and arcade area--much like a Chuck E. Cheese's, and a "McGourmet" section (in which you can buy items such as panini and gourmet sundaes). The McDonald's at the lowest point on earth (-396 meters/-1 299 feet) is located in Israel in the village of Ein Bokek near the Dead Sea.

Other interesting restaurants

  • McDonald's recently won a contract with the Illinois Tollway to place restaurants in renovated oases, many of which are located over the tollways.
  • A former McDonald's in St. Louis, Missouri was a riverboat on the Mississippi River. The restaurant is now closed and the boat is gone. Prices on this particular McDonald's were higher than in other McDonald's.
  • The only Mcdonald's in the world to have hotdogs on the menue is located in Toronto, Canada.
  • One of the original McDonald's located in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania was in operation as a company-owned McDonald's until around 1990, when a McDonald's franchisee opened a modern location just up the street. As a result, the original McDonald's closed and was torn down, where a Chevrolet & Kia dealership currently sits. The old McDonald's had the old big arches and no indoor seating.
  • McDonald's restaurants in Hawaii offer pineapple as an additional topping on burgers/

McDonald's TV campaigns and slogans

See: McDonald's TV campaigns and slogans

Food offered at most U.S. McDonald's outlets

  • Hamburger A.K.A Junior Burger: One piece of regular meat, mustard, ketchup, onions, and a pickle slice on a regular bun.
  • Cheeseburger: One piece of regular meat, mustard, ketchup, onions, and a pickle slice on a regular bun with a slice of American cheese.
  • Double Cheeseburger: Two pieces of regular meat with mustard, ketchup, onions, two pickle slices, and two slices of American cheese, which separate the two pieces of meat, all on a regular bun.
  • The Big Mac, introduced in 1968 as a response to the flagship burger at Big Boy restaurants. Two pieces of regular meat, special Big Mac sauce, onions, two pickles, shredded lettuce, and cheese, on a sesame-seed bun.
  • Quarter Pounder: A larger hamburger or cheeseburger, which weighs a quarter pound (4 ounces or 114 grams) before cooking; compare with regular meat weighing 1/10 pound. In most markets unfamiliar with Imperial measurements it is known as the Royale with Cheese.
  • Double Quarter Pounder
  • Big and Tasty: A quarter pound hamburger patty with optional American cheese, served with ketchup, mayonnaise, onions, two pickles, leaf lettuce, and a tomato slice on a sesame seed bun. Devised to resemble Burger King's Whopper sandwich. It is also known as the Big Xtra in Canada.
  • Mozzerella sticks
  • McRib: A pork sandwich, introduced in 1981, and released annually in the U.S. on a temporary basis; it is a permanent fixture in some countries. On Nov. 1, 2005, McDonald's announced it would forever discontinue the McRib at year-end.
  • Filet-O-Fish: A fish burger with tartar sauce and a half-slice of American (processed) cheese on a steamed bun. It was introduced in Cincinnati in 1963 when it was discovered that many Catholics chose to eat at Big Boy on Friday, as it had a fish sandwich.
  • McChicken: A mildly spicy chicken sandwich. Made from 50% white meat and 50% dark meat, topped with mayonnaise and shredded lettuce. It was introduced in 1980, later removed, then reintroduced.
  • Chicken McNuggets: Small chicken pieces made from chicken served with a dipping sauce. Formerly a combination of white and dark meat, they are now all white meat. Available in 4-, 6-, 10-, and 20-piece sizes. (1983)
  • Crispy Chicken: A breaded, fried chicken breast served on a sesame-seed bun with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.
  • Chicken McGrill: Same as the Crispy Chicken, but with a marinated, grilled chicken breast. Both the Crispy and Grilled Chicken are derivatives of the failed Arch Deluxe sandwiches.
  • Chicken Selects: Premium chicken breast strips served with a dipping sauce. Sold in 3-, 5-, and 10-piece sizes.(2004)
  • Premium chicken sandwiches. Available in “classic,” mayonnaise, leaf lettuce, and a tomato slice, “ranch BLT,” ranch sauce, leaf lettuce, a tomato slice, and three-slice bacon, and “club,” mayonnaise, leaf lettuce, a tomato slice, three-slice bacon, and a piece of swiss cheese, all on a honey-wheat roll, with either a grilled or crispy chicken breast, at the customer’s direction. (2005)
  • Happy Meal: A child's meal, consisting of an entree (Hamburger, Cheeseburger, or 4-piece Nuggets), fries or Apple Dippers, drink, and a promotional toy.
  • Mighty Kids Meal: A child's meal, consisting of an entree (Double Hamburger, Double Cheeseburger, or 6-piece Nuggets), fries or Apple Dippers, drink, and a promotional toy.
  • Egg McMuffin: Canadian bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on English muffin. (1973)
  • Sausage biscuit: biscuit (American sense) sandwich with sausage and optional egg
  • Bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit
  • Hotcakes
  • McGriddles: A breakfast sandwich with sausage, bacon, and/or egg with cheese, sandwiched between maple-syrup filled griddle cakes.
  • French fries: Until 1990, fried in a mixture of vegetable and beef oil. After switching to vegetable oil, the U.S. fries continued to be flavored with beef extract, which McDonald's did not make public; when this was discovered in 2002 the company was successfully sued by Hindus and other vegetarians.
  • Hash browns: fried potato cakes served during breakfast.
  • Salads, such as the Fruit and Walnut salad, first introduced in 1985.
  • Carbonated soft drinks such as Coca-Cola.
  • Milkshakes: Usually vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate flavors year round; seasonal flavors have included a mint Shamrock Shake at around St.Patrick's Day, Banana Shakes, Peppermint shakes, and other flavors.
  • Ice cream: simple cone, hot fudge or caramel sundae, and McFlurry.
  • Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits
  • Baked pies, though they resemble crusty turnovers more than actual pies. Apple pies are available year round; seasonal varieties have included cherry, strawberry, pumpkin (Thanksgiving) and custard (Christmas).
  • Coffee and tea.

Menu items that vary by state

Former menu items

  • Hulaburger: A Ray Kroc invention, it featured a slice of pineapple instead of meat. It flopped when it was test-marketed in 1969.
  • Beefsteak Sandwich, test-marketed in New York and other East Coast markets in 1980.
  • McDLT, a Quarter Pounder-type sandwich served in a foam clamshell container with the hot meat in one side and the cool components (lettuce, tomato) on the other. (1985).
  • McLean, a lower-calorie Quarter Pounder-type sandwich (1991).
  • Arch Deluxe: A failed attempt to produce a "luxury" hamburger, promoted by a high-profile advertising campaign (1996).
  • McShaker Salad: an attractive garden, chef or caesar salad served in a large clear plastic cup, fresh lettuce commonly flavored with diced egg and tomato pieces, topped with shredded cheese and julienne sliced ham and turkey, and a choice of dressing (2002). (Still produced in United Arab Emirates)
  • McStuffin: a pocket sandwich available with various fillings.

McDonald's has also attempted pizza at various times, with an apple-pie-like McPizza and more conventional McDonald's Pizza.

The range of foods offered depends on the time of day. Lunch items such as hamburgers and fries are not served during breakfast time (from store open or 4:00 AM to 10:30 AM everyday). Most breakfast items are not served at any time except breakfast, but there are some exceptions. Hotcakes, cinnamon rolls, and bacon are always available upon request at most McDonald's restaurants.

International adaptations and variations

McDonald's on Nanjing Road in Shanghai
File:DSCN0164.JPG
McDonald's in IFC Mall, Central, Hong Kong

The traditional hamburger made of ground beef served at most McDonald's is varied in some countries as is the name. In India the Big Mac is replaced by the Maharaja Mac, which was originally a mutton burger, but is now a chicken burger due to a preference for chicken over mutton. Also in India vegetarian and meat dishes are prepared in separate areas of the restaurant in respect for vegetarians. In Thailand the Samurai Pork Burger, flavored with teriyaki sauce, is served. In Japan, home of the original teriyaki burger, rice dishes were once served (though no longer) and a chicken sandwich flavored with soy sauce and ginger is a seasonal product. The Australian McDonald's menu features the McOz which is similar to a Quarter Pounder and features beetroot, tomato and fried onions, popular additions to hamburgers in Australia. Names of other international hamburgers include the Kiwi Burger (with egg), the McHuevo, the McNifica, the McAfrika, and the McLaks.

In the early 1990s, McPizza was introduced in North America outlets; it failed quickly, due to fierce competition.

Sälen in Sweden opened the first ski-through McDonald's in the world.

In some Canadian locations, McDonald's also sells poutine, a Canadian dish of French Fries, cheese curds, and gravy.

In some locations in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and in the northeastern United States, McDonald's offers the McLobster (called McHomard in French), a sandwich consisting of chunks of lobster meat on a white bread roll.

Possibly in an effort for European nations to become more accepting of the McDonald's concept, the first McDonald's in Rome, opened 1986 near the Spanish Steps, is widely heralded as the most luxurious McDonald's restaurant. It features indoor fountains, marble walls and floors among other luxuries not enjoyed by customers in other restaurants owned by the company. It now also features Wi-Fi.

In Singapore, all McDonald's restaurant have Wi-Fi installed. Customers can have their meals and surf the net with their laptop for free. Starting 2005, some of the restaurants will be operating 24 hours and Singaporeans will also get to enjoy home delivery at a flat delivery fee of S$2.00 at any time of the day/night.

In some countries McDonald's is expanding some of its restaurants to include "McCafé" counters, which sell brewed and specialty coffees, frappés, and a range of cakes, biscuits (cookies), and sandwiches in addition to the regular McDonald's menu; the first such McCafé was installed at an existing McDonald's in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. In Portugal, "McCafés" serve coffee in china cups; the country has the custom of after meal coffee (Bica or Cimbalino), which isn't traditionally served in plastic cups.

In China and Brazil there are specific McDonald's restaurants and counters for ice cream, beverages, and desserts (otherwise rare in China).

In Taiwan McDonalds has introduced fan kao (literally "baked rice"), a burger-like entree with rice patties in place of buns. It is modeled on the eponymous product of McDonald's Japanese rival, MOS Burger.

Some franchisers in America have sold doughnuts, and they are a fixture on all British restaurant menus.

In Peru McDonalds offers "aji" (a spicy sauce) for customers to dip their fries in or add to their hamburgers.

In the Netherlands, French Fries are most often served with mayonnaise, as it is popular there.

In Indonesia and the Fiji Islands, McDonalds sells fried chicken, which is by far more popular than the hamburgers. Fried chicken is also offered in Malaysia but it is not more popular than hamburgers, perhaps because of competition from Kentucky Fried Chicken and local fried chicken outlets.

In the Philippines, McDonald's sells spaghetti, which is called McSpaghetti. In 1993, a popular combo featured spaghetti with fried chicken wings.

Throughout middle east, McDonald's sells McArabia, its ingredients are an arabic style bread, with lettuce and mayo and tomatoes. Either Grillerd Koffta or Grilled Chicken, it has a very unique packaging. [4][5]

In Australia, Britain and New Zealand, the selection is greatly extended with a range of healthier options under the menus "Salads Plus" (which offers salads, lean-beef burgers, yoghurts and more) and "Deli Choices" (submarine style sandwiches made fresh to order).


See also

Documentaries about McDonald's Corporation

  • The emergence and evolution of McDonald's business in Japan is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in America.
  • Morgan Spurlock's diet of nothing but McDonald's for 30 days is documented in Super Size Me.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to McDonald's.

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