McDonald's opened its first restaurant outside the United States in 1967, in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
The Canadian opening was an important branding milestone because it carried McDonald's name, Golden Arches, menu identity, and operating model into a new national market. Canada became the company's first international market and remains one of McDonald's largest markets outside the United States.
McDonald's later expanded to other countries, including the United Kingdom in 1974 and Japan in 1971. The first Canadian location is sometimes confused with the first McDonald's restaurant in Europe, but those were separate milestones. The Canadian restaurant showed that the brand could be adapted internationally while retaining its recognizable core identity.