McDonald's early hamburger mascot was called Speedee.
Speedee was introduced in the late 1940s to represent the McDonald brothers' Speedee Service System. The character was depicted as a chef-like figure with a hamburger-shaped head. His name emphasized the restaurant's selling point: quick preparation and service.
The mascot appeared in early McDonald's signs and promotional materials, before Ronald McDonald became the chain's best-known advertising character. Speedee was closely tied to the restaurant's original emphasis on efficiency rather than to a particular menu item or children's program.
People sometimes confuse Speedee with later McDonald's characters, including Ronald McDonald, Grimace, and the Hamburglar. Those characters became prominent during the company's later advertising era. Speedee belongs to the earlier branding period, when the chain was establishing its fast-service identity and visual language.