A series of vintage pictures of McDonald’s offer a blast to the past and show just how much has changed about the beloved fast food joint since the 1970s.
The history of McDonald’s all started back in 1940 when brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened the drive-in McDonald’s Bar-B-Q restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
But the fast food chain’s long-running success was sealed when in 1955 Ray Kroc, a multimixer salesman who’d intended to sell the brothers his mixers, instead became their franchise agent and opened the very first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois.
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The restaurant featured the famous Golden Arches, designed by architect Stanley Meston, and saw $366.12 in sales on its first day of opening.
In 1961 Ray bought the brothers out of the business and in 1967 the company started its international expansion, opening a location in Richmond, British Columbia.
By the 1970s business was booming, with their burger sales reaching a staggering 15billion by 1974.
During the decade the fast food chain started to look more and more like the McDonald’s we’re familiar with today but there were some notable differences.
The self-service style we’re familiar with today was a brand new concept allowing customers to order at the counter and watch their meal be prepared in the kitchen behind it.
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older cash registers meant staff initially had to take down orders by hand to relay to the kitchen.
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The food was all served on plastic trays, which could then be taken to a dining table inside to enjoy your meal at.
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By the 1970s the menu already had some options that are still around today. Before the 60s the restaurant had a simple menu including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, soft drinks, French fries and milkshakes. But in 1960 they added their very first new menu item – the Fillet O Fish.
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The iconic Big Mac was introduced in 1968 and after the burger rose in popularity during the 70s it went on to become the signature menu item at McDonald’s.
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The 1970s also saw the McDonald’s breakfast menu introduced for the first time with the launch of the Egg McMuffin in 1972.
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In 1973 two more signature burgers were added to the menu, the Quarter Pounder and Quarter Pounder with cheese and in 1979 the first Happy Meal was introduced to the menu.
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Another image taken in 1973 shows what Ronald McDonald looked like in the 1970s. The mascot was first introduced back in 1963 during a Washington, DC advertisement
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Ronald McDonald initially featured a nose made from a McDonald’s cup, a hat made from a food tray holding a fake burger, a bag of fries, and a milkshake and would pull hamburgers from his belt. After appearing in three commercials he was given a makeover, with his new look including a yellow jumpsuit, representing the golden arches, with red-and-white stripes.
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McDonald’s arrived in the UK in the 1970s with the first British branch opening in London in 1974
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It wasn’t just families the fast food chain appealed to though, its popularity even extended to couples. In 1975 McDonald’s employee Annette Scaramozza married Anthony Francis in a McDonald’s restaurant in east Boston so she could enjoy her big day with her colleagues.
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