The Big Mac became McDonald’s first nationally available hamburger larger than its standard hamburger.
Jim Delligatti, a McDonald’s franchisee in the Pittsburgh area, created the sandwich in 1967. It used two beef patties, a middle bun section, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a special sauce. The layered construction made it visually distinctive as well as more substantial than the regular hamburger.
The Big Mac was tested regionally before McDonald’s introduced it across the United States in 1968. Its name became one of the most recognizable product brands in the company’s history.
The sandwich is sometimes confused with the Quarter Pounder, which emphasizes the weight of its beef patty, or with the Double Cheeseburger, which has two patties but a different structure and topping combination. The Big Mac’s signature feature is its three-part bun and middle bread layer.