What was the McDonald's restaurant called when Dick and Mac McDonald opened it in 1940?

When Dick and Mac McDonald opened their first restaurant in 1940, it was called McDonald's Bar-B-Q.

The restaurant operated in San Bernardino, California, and initially served a broad barbecue menu. It was a drive-in with carhop service, reflecting the popular American restaurant format of the period. The brothers later redesigned the business around a smaller menu and faster preparation.

In 1948, they closed temporarily and reopened as a self-service hamburger restaurant. That change produced the Speedee Service System, a production method that emphasized standardized food, limited choices, and rapid service. The McDonald brothers' original barbecue identity therefore predates the hamburger-focused brand most people recognize.

A common mix-up is treating 1940 as the beginning of the modern McDonald's system. The first restaurant opened then, but the self-service format and simplified menu arrived later. Ray Kroc began franchising the system in the 1950s, helping turn the local restaurant name into a national brand.