Before Ronald McDonald, McDonald's first mascot was Speedee.
Speedee was a chef-like figure used in the restaurant's early identity. His name echoed the Speedee Service System, the operating model created by Richard and Maurice McDonald to deliver a limited menu quickly and consistently.
The mascot appeared during the period when McDonald's was promoting speed and standardization as its main competitive advantages. That message was different from the later family-centered branding built around Ronald McDonald and the McDonaldland characters.
A common mix-up is treating every early McDonald's character as a version of Ronald McDonald. Ronald did not replace Speedee immediately as part of one single redesign; rather, the company's visual and advertising strategy evolved as the chain expanded. Speedee is therefore a useful marker of McDonald's pre-Ronald branding history.