The McDonald brothers introduced their simplified, self-service McDonald’s format in 1948.
After operating a conventional drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, Maurice and Richard McDonald temporarily closed the business and redesigned its operation. They eliminated most of the menu, ended table service by carhops, and concentrated on hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes, and drinks.
The new system was designed around speed, consistency, and low prices. Customers ordered at a counter, while the kitchen used an assembly-line approach. This operating model was more important to the later McDonald’s brand than any single menu item because it made the restaurant easier to reproduce in other locations.
The 1948 change is sometimes confused with Ray Kroc’s arrival. Kroc did not begin working with the McDonald brothers until 1954, several years after the streamlined format had already been established.