Who created McDonald’s Big Mac, which became one of the brand’s signature products?

Jim Delligatti created McDonald’s Big Mac.

Delligatti was a McDonald’s franchisee who developed the sandwich in the 1960s. He operated restaurants in the Pittsburgh area and experimented with a larger hamburger containing two beef patties, a middle bun section, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and special sauce.

The Big Mac was introduced regionally in 1967 and became available nationwide in the United States in 1968. Its distinctive three-part bun and layered construction made it visually different from a standard hamburger and gave McDonald’s a memorable product closely tied to its branding.

A frequent mistake is to credit Ray Kroc with inventing every famous McDonald’s menu item. Kroc was central to the company’s expansion, but Delligatti, a franchise operator, created the Big Mac. The sandwich’s name and distinctive structure later became important parts of McDonald’s advertising identity.