Who created McDonald's Big Mac hamburger in 1967?

Jim Delligatti created McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger in 1967.

Delligatti was a McDonald’s franchisee in the Pittsburgh area who developed the sandwich as a larger, double-decker alternative to the chain’s standard hamburgers. The Big Mac debuted at his Uniontown, Pennsylvania, restaurant on April 22, 1967, selling for 45 cents. It was added to the menus of McDonald’s restaurants nationwide in 1968.

The sandwich was influenced by the double-deck hamburgers sold by the Big Boy chain, so Delligatti later said he had adapted an existing idea rather than invented the double-decker burger itself. Its familiar construction uses two beef patties, a three-part sesame-seed bun, cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions, and special sauce.

The name was not Delligatti’s original choice. Earlier candidates included “Aristocrat” and “Blue Ribbon Burger,” while McDonald’s advertising secretary Esther Glickstein Rose suggested “Big Mac.” Ray Kroc helped build McDonald’s internationally, but he was not the Big Mac’s creator.