Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s franchise in 1955.
The restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955. It was the first McDonald’s location established through Ray Kroc’s franchising operation and is often called McDonald’s Store No. 1, although it was actually the ninth McDonald’s restaurant overall. The building was later demolished, and a replica museum operated on the site until 2018.
This date is easy to confuse with other important milestones. Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their original restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. The brothers began franchising their restaurant system in the early 1950s, before Kroc became involved. Kroc first visited their restaurant in 1954 after learning that they used eight of his milkshake mixers.
Kroc’s importance was turning the brothers’ efficient restaurant system into a national business. He became their franchise agent in 1954, opened the Des Plaines location in 1955, and purchased the brothers’ share of the company in 1961 for $2.7 million.