Canada was McDonald’s first international market, entered in 1967.
McDonald’s opened its first restaurant outside the United States in Richmond, British Columbia. The Canadian launch marked the beginning of the company’s long-term international branding strategy.
The Canadian restaurants retained core McDonald’s visual elements, including the Golden Arches and standardized restaurant identity, while operating within a different national market. Canada later became one of the company’s largest and longest-established markets.
Other early international milestones came later. McDonald’s opened in the Netherlands in 1971, Japan in 1971, and Australia in 1971, so those countries were not the first overseas market.