What was the original 1940 name of the restaurant that later became McDonald’s?

The restaurant that later became McDonald’s originally opened in 1940 as McDonald’s Bar-B-Q.

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. It initially served a broader barbecue-oriented menu, reflecting the drive-in restaurant style common in the United States at the time.

In 1948, the brothers closed the restaurant temporarily, streamlined the menu, and introduced the Speedee Service System. The business then reopened with a stronger focus on hamburgers, fries, milkshakes, and fast counter service.

The original name is often overlooked because the company became famous under the McDonald’s name and later expanded through Ray Kroc’s franchise organization. The restaurant’s early barbecue identity came before the standardized fast-food model that shaped its later branding history.