Early history of McDonalds

In 1937, the MacDonald brothers opened a drive-in serving shakes restaurant (the Airdrome) in Arcadia, California selling hot dogs, orange juice, coffee and tea.

In 1940, Dick and Mac McDonald opened McDonalds Bar-B-que restaurant in San Bernardino, California.  Dick and Mac made fifteen-cent burgers and sold them like crazy. Little did they know that it was a restaurant that would not only change the face of culture but eventually impact on economics across the entire world.

The restaurant was mechanized and standardized far ahead of its time. Cast-iron grills that lost heat when loaded with beef were replaced by stainless-steel grills that were double the size and easier to clean and held heat better.

Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. It’s selling 15 cent hamburgers and 10cent fries.

Dick McDonald came up with the idea of the golden arch in 1953, not long before the brothers opened their first franchise store in Phoenix, Arizona.

In 1955, Ray Kroc, a salesman who owned the rights to the mixers the brothers used to make the milkshakes, was granted the exclusive rights to develop the McDonalds franchise in the United States.

The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall.

Ray Kroc eventually took over the business, drove the McDonald’s restaurants into success, and later led McDonald worldwide expansion.

In 1961, Dick and Mac sold their rights in the business to Ray Kroc for $2.7 million.
Early history of McDonalds

McCafé of McDonald’s restaurant

Coffee was the most common beverage consumed in the United States until the 1960s, when soft drinks became America’s beverages of choice.

Premium coffee has had a resurgence, first due to the Starbucks coffee chain and then due to the introduction of premium coffees in Dunklin’ Donuts and Burger King establishments. McDonald’s is doing well with its McCafés, which serve mochas and other gourmet coffees in a separate area of selected McDonald’s units.

McCafé is a coffee-house-style food and drink chain, owned by and usually located in McDonald’s restaurants.

Created and launched in Melbourne, Australia, in 1993, the chain reflects a consumer trend towards espresso coffees.

As the company opens new restaurants and remodels existing restaurants, it is adding more McCafés in US and European markets. The chain spread to 17 countries by 2001 with the first one in the United States opening in Chicago, Illinois in May 2001 when there were about 300 worldwide.

In December 2016, the company said that they will reintroduce the McCafé concept next year, about eight years after it debuted nationwide. The push follows efforts to upgrade its java and get more of its beans from sustainable sources.
McCafé of McDonald’s restaurant