McDonald’s was incorporated as McDonald’s Corporation in 1960.
The company’s corporate identity developed during the rapid expansion of the franchised restaurant system. Ray Kroc began working with the McDonald brothers’ restaurant concept in the 1950s, and the business was incorporated under the McDonald’s Corporation name in 1960.
The change helped establish a single corporate identity as the number of restaurants, franchisees, suppliers, and advertising operations grew. It also coincided with the increasing importance of consistent signs, menus, packaging, and restaurant design.
This date is sometimes mixed up with 1955, when Kroc opened the first restaurant operated under his McDonald’s franchise organization in Des Plaines, Illinois. It is also distinct from 1940, when Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their original restaurant in San Bernardino, California.