60 Years, Billions Served Anniversary This Week: McDonald's

From the April 15, 2015, Chicago Tribune.

Or is it billions and billions served?

Sixty years ago, on April 15, 1955, a 52-year-old former piano player and salesman from Oak Park opened a hamburger stand in Des Plaines, Illinois.  His name was Ray Kroc, and what's today known around the world as McDonald's was off and running.

Burgers cost 15 cents, cheeseburgers 19 cents, and fries a dime with milk shakes 20 cents.  Kroc racked up $366.12 in business that first day (equivalent to $3,206.58 today).  By 1958, the chain reportedly had sold its 100 millionth burger.

And, as us Route 66ers know, Kroc's wasn't the first McDonald's restaurant.  That was in Southern California and run by the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, whose operation impressed Kroc when he sold them their milkshake machines.

Seizing upon the potential he saw in franchising nationally, Kroc grew the business at a torrid pace, eventually buying out their stake (the McDonald brothers) in 1961.

The Oak Brook-based McDonald's today has more than 36,000 locations spread over more than 100 countries serving 69 million customers daily.

There is a recreation of that original McDonald's in Des Plaines at the original site by US-12 and US-45.  It doesn't sell anything, but is a museum.  there is an operating McDonald's right across the street.

Getting My MCD's Fix.  --RoadDog