What city hosted the McDonald brothers’ first McDonald’s restaurant, opened in 1940?

San Bernardino hosted the McDonald brothers’ first McDonald’s restaurant, opened in 1940.

Maurice and Richard McDonald opened the restaurant in San Bernardino, California, as a drive-in barbecue business. It was originally a broader barbecue and carhop operation, rather than the tightly standardized hamburger restaurant later associated with McDonald’s.

In 1948, the brothers reorganized the business around a simplified self-service system and a much smaller menu. That change laid the operational foundation for the fast-food model that Ray Kroc later helped franchise across the country.

Des Plaines, Illinois, is a common alternative answer because it was the site of Ray Kroc’s first McDonald’s franchise restaurant in 1955. It was not the location of the brothers’ original 1940 restaurant.