The McDonald brothers adopted the name McDonald’s in 1948 after removing barbecue items from their menu.
Before the change, the restaurant operated as McDonald’s Bar-B-Q and offered a broader drive-in menu. Maurice and Richard McDonald closed the restaurant temporarily, simplified the menu, and reorganized food preparation around hamburgers, fries, and shakes. The streamlined operation became the foundation of the Speedee Service System.
This history is sometimes blurred with the later corporate expansion associated with Ray Kroc. Kroc joined the story in the 1950s, but the 1948 name and operating reset came from the McDonald brothers’ earlier restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
The shortened name was important branding as well as a menu decision. It made the family name the central identity and gave the business a simpler label for signs, advertising, and later franchising. The resulting brand eventually became one of the world’s most recognizable restaurant names.