The first McDonalds in San Bernardino, CA || Thomas Hawk/Flickr/Creative Commons License
Over the years, I have received letters and phone calls from television stations, radio stations, authors, reporters, et cetera, and they all told me the same story. It seems that if they contact your company in Oak Brook regarding my present address, they have been told that the company has no idea where I live or if I am even alive. On several occasions they have been told that there really was never a McDonald. They were told McDonald's was only a fictitious name that was chosen because it was easy to remember. - Richard Dick McDonald
Look it is ridiculous to call this an industry. This is not. This is rat eat rat, dog eat dog. I'll kill em and I'm going to kill em before they kill me. You're talking about the American way of the survival of the fittest. - Ray Kroc
McDonalds burger, fries and a drink || James/Flickr/Creative Commons License
On a summer day in 1954, a brash, charming Multimixer salesman from Chicago named Ray Kroc stood in the parking lot of a small, oddly shaped fast food joint in dusty, suburban San Bernardino. He watched in awe as a noonday crowd of over 100 patrons ordered hamburgers, fries, and most importantly, milkshakes for insanely low prices. The food was served with lightning speed, and the customers, many of them working class families, gushed about the quality of their meals. Thoroughly excited, he rushed up to the owners-brothers Richard Dick and Maurice Mac McDonald. My God, I've been standing out there looking at it but I can't believe it. When will this die down? he asked. Sometime late tonight, Dick responded. I've got to become involved in this, Kroc replied, thus changing the course of food service around the globe.
Dick and Mac, who Kroc would dismiss in later years as a queer pair, were born in New Hampshire. Their father was a foreman in a shoe factory. The brothers were undoubtedly products of New England-taciturn, hard-working, reserved and humble. Around 1930, they made their way to California in search of a better life. They worked as crew on Hollywood one-reelers, owned a movie theater in Glendale for four years, and then decided to get into the burgeoning drive-in restaurant business. In 1937, they opened their first food stand near the Monrovia airport, where they sold primarily hot dogs.
--
--
In 1940, the brothers moved their establishment to Fourteenth and E Streets in San Bernardino. They named the restaurant McDonald's Barbeque (it was later shortened to McDonald's). The drive-in featured an exposed kitchen outdoor seating only, and a menu of twenty-five items including pulled pork and hamburgers. Customers ate at an outdoor counter or in their cars, where they were served by carhops. The brothers had an almost symbiotic partnership and moral code that helped make the restaurant a success. We always did things together, Dick remembered. If I was around and had to make a decision, I never said, Ive got to wait for my brother to get back and discuss it with him. He did the same. You make a bad decision, no big deal-you just try to make the next one right.
Their close partnership paid off. McDonald's was soon the most popular teen hangout in town. The brothers bought a mansion in the San Bernardino hills, where they lived with Dick's wife and stepson. They also splurged on new Cadillacs every year. But mostly, they worked. And as the years went by, they began to see how their business could be improved, and most importantly, streamlined. They were excited to take on the new challenge. We just became bored, Dick recalled. The money was coming in and there wasn't much for us to do.
McDonalds as a 1950s teen hangout || George/Flickr/Creative Commons License
In 1948, with the money from McDonald's still rolling in, the brothers surprised everyone when they decided to shut down for three months to revamp their entire operation. They slashed their menu down to nine items, switched to paper wrappers and plastic cups, and cut their prices in half. They had their kitchen redesigned to ensure maximum efficiency, and standardized every order. For example, a hamburger would be served with mustard, ketchup, onions and two pickles. No more, no less. If we gave people choice, there would be chaos, Dick explained. Each job was specialized-there was a man who grilled the burgers, a man who added condiments, and a man who made the shakes. Most importantly, they fired their carhops and added two service windows where patrons could place orders for themselves. According to Dick:
Our whole concept was based on speed, lower prices and volume. We were going after big, big volumes by lowering prices and having the customer serve himself. My god, the carhops were slow. We'd say to ourselves that there had to be a faster way. The cars were jamming up the lot. Customers weren't demanding it, but our intuition told us that they would like speed. Everything was moving faster. The supermarkets and dime stores had already converted to self-service, and it was obvious the future of drive-ins was self-service.
McDonalds Speedee Service Menu || Thomas Hawk/Flickr/Creative Commons License
The brothers called this new system the speedee service system. When they reopened, their profits initially tanked, and it looked like they had made a losing bet. The carhops we fired would come in and heckle us about getting their uniforms ready, Dick recalled. Even the old customers would ask when we were going back to the old system. But soon, the revamped McDonald's began to attract a new, highly desirable crowd. Working and middle class families began flooding the restaurant, lured by the low prices, quick service and friendly atmosphere. The kids loved coming to the counter, employee
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
The first McDonalds in San Bernardino, CA || Thomas Hawk/Flickr/Creative Commons License
