The McDonald brothers reopened their restaurant with a simplified hamburger-focused menu in 1948. Richard and Maurice McDonald had originally operated a barbecue drive-in in San Bernardino, California.
They closed the restaurant for several months and redesigned its operation. The new format emphasized a small selection of inexpensive items, especially hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes. The change also introduced faster counter service and reduced reliance on carhops.
This 1948 relaunch was a crucial branding and business milestone. It established the streamlined identity that later became associated with McDonald’s fast food. The restaurant’s name was also shortened from McDonald’s Bar-B-Q to McDonald’s.
The date is sometimes confused with 1940, when the original barbecue restaurant opened, or 1955, when Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. Those events belong to different stages of the company’s history.