What was McDonald’s first restaurant called before the company adopted the McDonald’s name?

McDonald’s first restaurant was called McDonald’s Bar-B-Q.

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. It began as a drive-in barbecue restaurant with a larger menu and carhop service, reflecting the dominant American drive-in model of the period.

In 1948, the brothers closed the restaurant temporarily and rebuilt the business around a smaller menu, self-service, and highly standardized preparation. This transformation produced the Speedee Service System and shifted the brand toward hamburgers, fries, and fast service. The restaurant later became associated with the McDonald’s name used by the modern chain.

The founding story is sometimes simplified to say that McDonald’s began immediately as a hamburger stand. In fact, the original operation was a barbecue drive-in. That earlier name is a useful branding milestone because it shows how the company’s identity changed before the Golden Arches and global advertising characters became central.