by Madison Briggs

Created on: February 17, 2008   Last Updated: December 30, 2011

The McDonald's restaurant chain of today began its humble beginnings in a renovated barbecue car-hop restaurant in San Bernardino, California opened by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald. Dick and Mac left their Manchester, New Hampshire home and headed to California for work after graduating from high school. After a working stint with Columbia Studios, then a theater opening, they set their sights on the restaurant business, opening their first hamburger stand in 1937 near the Santa Anita racetrack. Business was sporadic and dependent on the racing season, so a decision was made to move to San Bernardino, a rapidly growing town with a population of about 100,000.

Mac and Dick borrowed $5000.00 and opened a barbecue drive-in close to a high school in 1940. They hired attractive carhops and offered a menu of 29 items. Business boomed. Families came for the low prices and teens came to check out the carhops. By 1947, the restaurant was losing business. Families were getting more concerned about their finances and the teens seemed to be more interested in hanging out than in purchasing food. Dick and Mac took notice of these changes in clientele and noticed hamburgers made up 80% of all food sales. They decided to close the restaurant and reorganize.

The transformation began. Stainless steel grills replaced cast iron grills. Dick researched candy machine companies and found a machine that would produce a perfect hamburger patty. Stainless steel pumps were purchased to apply ketchup and mustard. A mixer was purchased that could spin five milk shakes at a time. The menu was changed from a selection of 29 items down to 9 items. Paper products; cups, wrappers and bags replaced the need for dishwashers. Self-service windows replaced the need for carhops. The golden arches on the outside and the red and white tiled interior were established.

The restaurant was reopened in mid December of 1948 as the first self-service, assembly line, and drive-in offering 15 cent hamburgers, 19 cent cheeseburgers, 20 cent malts and 10 cent fries. By 1952 the business was booming. The brothers had purchased 8 mixers for their milkshake production and ordered two more. This purchase caught the attention of the owner of the Multimixer, Ray Kroc and changed the history of McDonald's.

Raymond Albert Kroc, a high school dropout, had been working for the Lily Tulip Cup company for several years selling paper cups. One of his customers, Earl Prince, invented a product called the Multimixer.

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