What was McDonald’s first international restaurant location?

McDonald’s first international restaurant was located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

The restaurant opened in 1967, making Canada the first country outside the United States to receive a McDonald’s location. Richmond is part of the Metro Vancouver area in western Canada, near the U.S. border.

The opening was more than a geographic milestone. It showed that McDonald’s standardized restaurant format, service model, and visual branding could be transferred to a new national market. Canada later became one of the company’s largest and longest-established markets.

A frequent mix-up is naming Vancouver as the location because Richmond is in the Vancouver metropolitan area. The restaurant was specifically in Richmond, not the neighboring city of Vancouver. This distinction makes the location answer more precise than simply saying “Canada.”