McDonald's first mascot was Speedee, a chef character introduced in the late 1940s.
Speedee represented the McDonald brothers' original Speedee Service System, which emphasized fast, standardized food preparation. The character was usually shown as a smiling chef with a hamburger-shaped head, linking the mascot directly to the restaurant's quick-service identity.
Speedee was later replaced by Ronald McDonald as the company's best-known public mascot. The change reflected McDonald's growing focus on family marketing and children's entertainment during the 1960s. Speedee did not disappear from the company's history, however: the character remains an important symbol of the restaurant's early branding.
A common mix-up is assuming Ronald was McDonald's original mascot. Ronald became central later, while Speedee belonged to the brand's earliest postwar period and its emphasis on speed.