History of McDonald's

This is a timeline of the history of McDonald's.

The McDonald's concept was introduced in Southern California by Dick and Mac McDonald of Manchester, New Hampshire. It was modified and expanded by their business partner, Ray Kroc, of Oak Park, Illinois, who later bought out the business interests of the McDonald's brothers in the concept and went on to found McDonald's Corporation.

Timeline

* 1937: Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald and Alison Mcrae open a hot dog stand called the Airdrome in Arcadia, California.
* 1940: The brothers and Alison move the Airdrome building to San Bernardino, California, where they open the first McDonald's restaurant, on U.S. Route 66, at 14th and E St., on May 15. Its menu consists of 25 items, mostly barbecue. As was common at the time, they employed 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 closed the restaurant for several months to implement their innovative "Speedee Service System", a streamlined assembly line for hamburgers. The carhops are fired, and when the restaurant reopens it sells only hamburgers, milkshakes, and french fries. At 15 cents, the burgers are about half as expensive as at standard diners, and they are served immediately. The restaurant was extremely successful, and its fame spread by word of mouth.
* 1953: The McDonald brothers begin to franchise their restaurant, with Neil Fox the first franchisee. The second McDonald's opens in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first to feature the Golden Arches design; later that year the original restaurant was rebuilt in the same style.
* 1953: Third McDonald's restaurant opened in Saginaw, Michigan at the corner of State Street and Center Road, it was rebuilt in 2006 but has stayed at that location since opening.
* 1953: Fourth McDonald's restaurant opens, in Downey, California at the corner of Lakewood and Florence Avenue, and is the oldest McDonald's restaurant still in operation.]
*2005: Jim Skinner is elected President and CEO. Skinner began his McDonald's career as a trainee restaurant manager at a McDonald's in Carpentersville, Illinois in 1971 after serving nearly ten years with the US Navy. [cite web|title=McDonald's Corporation Biographies: Jim Skinner|publisher=McDonald's Corporation|url=http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/bios/jim_skinner0.html|accessdate=2008-04-08] [cite web|title="What McDonald's Newest Cook Faces"|author=Michael Arndt|date=2004-11-23|publisher="BusinessWeek"|url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2004/nf20041123_2846_db016.htm]
*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 adopts "Made for you" cooking platform in which the food is prepared from pre-cooked meat 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 should become standard practice in all Australian restaurants by 2007. Some restaurants in New Zealand also follow suit. The practice had earlier been tested, and abandoned, in the U.S.
*2005: McDonald's in Singapore began their McDelivery service: customers place their food orders over the phone, and it is delivered to wherever they are. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
*2005: McDonald's opens a Wi-Fi service in selected restaurants with Nintendo for Nintendo DS.
*2005: A fired employee, who was terminated for hitting a female customer, murdered his former manager at a McDonald's outlet in West Sussex, England. Shane Freer stabbed Jackie Marshall (57) to death during a children's party at the fast food restaurant she was supervising. Freer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by Lewes Crown Court. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/5367466.stm]
*2005: Ronald McDonald gets a leaner, sportier look.
*2006: McDonald's announces that it will include nutritional information on the packaging for all products beginning in March [http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060116/leisure_mcdonalds.html?.v=1] and that its upcoming menu changes will emphasize chicken, salads, and other "fresh foods" rather than hamburgers [http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/16/news/companies/mcdonalds/] .
*2006: McDonald's and Disney end their 10 year promotional partnership. Split allegedly mutual although the generally accepted reasons were that McDonald's no longer sees benefit from sticking with one studio; due to the increased competition from other studios, as well as having to promote flop films, and Disney no longer wants to be associated with a company so strongly tied to childhood obesity.
*2006: McDonalds Australia begins a campaign to trial "My Dinner Now" in selected restaurants. The menu offers up to 30 different meals from steak to pasta.
*2006: McDonald's begins their "forever young" branding by redesigning their restaurants.
*2006: Anna Svidersky was murdered by David Sullivan while working in an Anderson Road Mcdonalds in Vancouver, Washington.
*2007: McDonald's Australia introduce Pasta Zoo happy meals in an attempt to introduce a healthier choice for children.
*2007: McDonald's Australia introduces Heart Tick approved meals to enforce its healthier image.
*2007: McDonald's Australia cancels plans for the "My Dinner Now" campaign due to a lack of backing by McDonalds Licencee's and corporate members
*2007: McDonald's reintroduces its 42-ounce super-size soda under the name "Hugo".
*2007: McDonald's Australia Introduces the "Backyard Burger" into its menu.
*2008: After a long court battle McDonald's Australia is forced to change the name of their Pasta Zoo to Pasta Pets due to copyright restrictions.

References