McDonald's introduced the Speedee Service System in 1948 after the McDonald brothers reorganized their San Bernardino restaurant.
The brothers closed their barbecue drive-in for several months and reopened with a smaller menu centered on hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, milkshakes, and soft drinks. The kitchen was redesigned for speed and consistency, using assembly-line methods inspired partly by industrial production.
The system changed the restaurant from a conventional drive-in into a self-service operation. Customers ordered at a counter, and the limited menu allowed workers to prepare food quickly. This operating idea became as important to McDonald’s identity as its visual symbols.
The date is sometimes confused with 1955, when Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois. Kroc did not invent the original system; he encountered and expanded the brothers’ already-established model.