Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955.
The restaurant was operated by Kroc after he obtained the national franchising rights from brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. Their original restaurant in San Bernardino, California, had already developed the streamlined production system that made the business famous.
Kroc's Des Plaines location was not the first McDonald's restaurant ever opened; the brothers' San Bernardino drive-in began in 1940. It was, however, the first McDonald's franchise associated with Kroc's expansion strategy. The site later became a museum and replica of the early restaurant.
Kroc formed the company that became McDonald's Corporation and expanded the brand through standardized menus, procedures, and restaurant design. The distinction between the first McDonald's restaurant and the first Kroc-era franchise is a common source of confusion.