McDonald's introduced its Speedee Service System in 1948.
Richard and Maurice McDonald developed the system after closing their San Bernardino restaurant temporarily and redesigning its operation. They reduced the menu, standardized preparation, used an assembly-line approach, and emphasized quick service. The system made the restaurant different from traditional drive-ins, where customers often chose from much larger menus and waited for carhops.
The name Speedee referred to the early branding character used by the McDonald brothers. The system itself was more important than the mascot: it linked the restaurant's promise to consistency, speed, and limited choice. These ideas later became central to the identity that McDonald's franchised across the United States.
The date can be confused with 1955, when Ray Kroc opened the McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, often treated as the first location of the modern franchised company. The operating concept came earlier, however. The 1948 redesign supplied the foundation on which later restaurants, signs, packaging, and advertising were built.