What name did the McDonald brothers use for their restaurant when it opened in 1940?

The McDonald brothers named their first restaurant McDonald's Bar-B-Q when it opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1940.

Maurice and Richard McDonald began with a drive-in barbecue restaurant on U.S. Route 66. Its menu and operating style were later transformed into the limited-menu, fast-service model associated with McDonald's. The original name reflected the restaurant's barbecue-focused beginnings rather than the hamburger-centered identity that followed.

In 1948, the brothers closed the restaurant temporarily, streamlined the menu, and reopened with hamburgers, fries, milkshakes, and a self-service system. That change created the foundation for the later McDonald's brand. Ray Kroc became involved as a franchise agent in the 1950s, after the San Bernardino operation had already established the basic concept.

A common mix-up is treating the 1940 restaurant as if it opened under the modern Golden Arches identity. The arches and later corporate branding came afterward; the first name was a straightforward reference to the owners and their barbecue menu.