Speedee was McDonald's first major advertising character, introduced before Ronald McDonald.
The character was linked to the McDonald brothers' Speedee Service System, which reorganized restaurant work around an assembly-line approach. The system was introduced at their San Bernardino restaurant in 1948 and helped establish the fast-food model later associated with McDonald's.
Speedee appeared as a chef-like figure in early signs and promotional material. His name communicated the central promise of the original operation: customers would receive standardized food quickly.
Ronald McDonald later replaced Speedee as the company's most prominent mascot, while the Hamburglar, Grimace, and other McDonaldland figures followed. These later characters served different roles in a more elaborate family-oriented advertising universe.