What was McDonald's original company name when the brothers opened their first restaurant in 1940?

McDonald's original company name when the brothers opened their first restaurant in 1940 was McDonald's Bar-B-Q.

Maurice and Richard McDonald opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. It was a drive-in barbecue restaurant offering a broad menu and carhop service, a format that was common in American dining at the time.

The brothers later closed the restaurant temporarily and reopened it in 1948 with a simplified, faster self-service system centered on hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes. The business was then known as McDonald's, reflecting its new focus rather than its earlier barbecue identity.

The original name is easy to confuse with the later corporate brand because the Golden Arches and streamlined hamburger format became much more famous than the first restaurant's barbecue menu. Ray Kroc began franchising the redesigned concept in the 1950s.