The McDonald brothers renamed their restaurant from McDonald's Bar-B-Q to McDonald's in 1948.
Maurice and Richard McDonald opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. It initially operated as a drive-in barbecue restaurant with a broad menu. In 1948, the brothers closed it temporarily, simplified the menu, and reopened it as a self-service hamburger restaurant. The shorter name matched the streamlined business model and became the foundation of the later McDonald's brand.
This change is sometimes confused with Ray Kroc's arrival. Kroc did not join the business until 1954, when he became the franchise agent and helped expand the restaurant nationally. The familiar Golden Arches and later visual identity developed after the 1948 reorganization, rather than defining the original barbecue operation.