The Big Mac, introduced in 1968, became one of McDonald’s signature menu names.
The sandwich was created by Jim Delligatti, a McDonald’s franchisee in the Pittsburgh area. It used two beef patties, a middle bun layer, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and the sauce that became closely associated with the product. Its distinctive three-part bun helped separate it from ordinary hamburgers.
The Big Mac became more than a menu item: its name entered popular culture and was used in comparisons of food prices between countries. The Economist’s Big Mac Index, introduced in 1986, uses the sandwich as an informal measure of purchasing-power differences.
The Big Mac should not be confused with the Quarter Pounder, which McDonald’s introduced earlier, in 1971. Both became major branded products, but the Big Mac’s launch came in 1968.