McDonald's

Stone. They also solve their world's energy crisis when they find out that a child's laughter has ten times the power of a scream; thus, all the monsters have a new mission: to sneak into children's rooms at night and make them laugh. Skinner, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Roger W. Along the way, they discover that children are not dangerous and that scaring is no longer rewarding. Rogers, James A. It's up to Sully and Mike to get her back home before the authorities find out and before the company gets turned upside down. Roberts, John W. When Sully investigates the door, a small human girl enters the monster world; not only that but he & Mike also learn that the girl is actually a victim of an evil plot to solve the city's power problems, in a bad way, involving Randall.

Current members of the board of directors of McDonald's are: Hall Adams, Edward Brennan, Robert Eckert, Enrique Hernandez, Richard Lenny, Walter Massey, Andrew McKenna, Cary McMillan, Michael J. When taking care of paperwork, Sulley discovers a door that has been left on the scare-floor after shift, contrary to strict company policy. Similar "Hamburger U" training schools have been set up around the world. Sullivan, or "Sully" (John Goodman), a blue-furred bear-like giant who is partnered with the green, one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal); Sully's main rival is the chameleon-like Randall Boggs. Adjacent to the building is a McDonald's-themed hotel. is James P. In Oak Brook, Illinois, where the company headquarters is located, is the first Hamburger University, a school for future executive managers of regional franchises. The top scarer at Monsters, Inc.

including a McCafé in Orlando, Florida. There is even a special code, "23-19" ("twenty-three nineteen"), to alert everyone in the area of such contamination in the event of a monster touching a child's article of clothing. The concept has recently been introduced into the U.S. A governmental organization, the Child Detection Agency (CDA), is very aggressive in taking care of child contamination when it occurs. There are 22 McCafés in Hong Kong. There are many safety precautions to prevent such contamination. The concept was introduced in Australia in 1993 and has been successful in several other countries, including Brazil, Israel, Chile, Panama, New Zealand, Colombia, France, Italy, Singapore, the Philippines and most recently Canada. The monsters believe that children are toxic and the very touch of a child is poisonous.

House coffee blends are sold both normally and in tins for home brewing. The collected screams are used to generate energy for the monster world. The menu boasts the standard bistro fare, including paninis, coffee and espresso drinks, and baked goods and pastries, and all menu items are available for take-out. The monster's partner/technician in the monster world, on the scare-floor, takes care of the portal (door) and scream-collector mechanisms. Dine-in patrons forego the plastic trays and paper wrappers for the more elegant china plates and stainless steel silverware. Each incursion is made by a scarer who must scare the child. With comfortable leather chairs and couches, natural wood accents, and bistro style tables, the ambience is that of a typical modern coffee shop. Each monster incursion in to our world is through one of these doors.

The McCafé is a bistro-like restaurant concept by McDonald's Corporation in an effort to gain a share of the ever popular and expanding gourmet coffee market, to avoid losing market share to companies such as Starbucks. Inside the elaborate facility are stored the doors to the closets of children in our world. Other restaurants in similarly sensitive settings have muted décor and blend into existing architecture. The primary set is the workplace of the centralized monster power company, Monsters Inc. It features indoor fountains, marble walls and floors. The primary setting of Monsters, Inc. is another world where monsters live. Possibly in an effort for European nations to become more accepting of the McDonald's concept, the first McDonald's in Italy, opened 1986 near the Spanish Steps in Rome, is widely heralded as the most luxurious McDonald's restaurant. .

McDonald's has often faced organized campaigns claiming it would threaten its surroundings, particularly in historic locations. Monsters, Inc. premiered in the United States on October 28, 2001, and went into general release on November 2, 2001 with the best opening ticket sales ever for an animated film and the sixth best of all time. However useful the standard design may have been in popularizing McDonald's and making the company's restaurants instantly recognizable, it is not always possible, or appropriate, for all restaurant locations. It was directed by Peter Docter, David Silverman and Lee Unkrich. The company introduced the Drive-Thru in 1975, following the lead of competitor Wendy's, rapidly adding it to existing restaurants wherever this was feasible. Baird, Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts and Andrew Stanton. However, the potential of sit-down restaurants was clear from the beginning, and the company switched to a new standard design for sit-down restaurants in 1967, upon which current standalone restaurants are still based. The original story was written by Robert L.

The company's early franchises were built to a standard pattern that did not offer seating; this was in part to prevent loitering. "Sulley" Sullivan), Billy Crystal (Michael "Mike" Wazowski), Mary Gibbs (Boo), Steve Buscemi (Randall Boggs), James Coburn (Henry Waternoose III), Jennifer Tilly (Celia Mae, Mike's girlfriend), Bob Peterson (Roz, the secretary), John Ratzenberger (Yeti), Frank Oz (Fungus, Randall's Accomplice), Dan Gerson (Needleman and Smitty, the teenage monsters), Steve Susskind and Bonnie Hunt. The first McDonald's was not a restaurant at all, but a walk-up hamburger stand. It stars the voices of John Goodman (James P. McDonald's remains a target of anti-globalization protesters worldwide. Monsters, Inc. is an animated feature produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theatres by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 2, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002. His theory ("Golden Arches" theory) seemed to have been disproved when NATO bombed Serbia in 1999, although it was pointed out in The Economist that NATO itself has no McDonald's.
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Thomas Friedman suggested that no countries with McDonald's had gone to war with each other. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, opened at Disney's California Adventure park in January 2006. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac index" (the price of a Big Mac) as an informal measure of purchasing power parity among world currencies. A theme park ride, Monsters, Inc. McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred as the "Mcdonaldization" of society. A series of mini-computer video games, and a multiplatform video game were created, based on the movie. When environmentally damaging packaging and waste produced by the company's restaurants became a public concern, McDonald's started a joint project with Friends of the Earth to eliminate the use of polystyrene containers and to reduce the amount of waste produced. Feld Entertainment currently tours a Monsters Inc. edition of their Disney on Ice skating tour.

In most cases, McDonald's quickly became accepted, and was no longer seen as a foreign institution. A manga version of Monsters, Inc. was made by Hiromi Yamafuji and distributed in Kodansha's Comic Bon Bon magazine in Japan; the manga is published in English by TOKYOPOP. By popularizing the idea of a quick restaurant meal, the study suggests, McDonald's led to the easing or elimination of various taboos, such as that on eating while walking in Japan. The resturant Mike visits is named after a famous monster maker and special effects master Ray "Harryhausen". When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions. When Boo sits in the cubicle in the men's room, she sings a couple of verses to the theme song to Beauty and the Beast. Among the findings were that McDonald's had solved the problem of losing face for many customers (who might be embarrassed when someone else ordered a more expensive item in a restaurant; as the food at McDonald's is all similarly priced, this ceased to be an issue). When Mike enters the room of a child near the end of the movie you can see early posters of Disneyland attractions and lands.

Watson) looked at the impact McDonald's had had on East Asia, and Hong Kong in particular. Pink was played by Steve Buscemi, who also supplied Randall's voice. A group of anthropologists in a study entitled Golden Arches East (Stanford University Press, 1998, edited by James L. Mr. Some observers have suggested that many of McDonald's innovations have become commonplace and are no longer seen as such, and that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets it enters. Pink in Reservoir Dogs refuses to do. Several other people later similarly ate only at McDonald's for a month, but by choosing menu items more judiciously (Spurlock ate everything on the menu at least once, always accepted upsizing requests of Mcdonald's employees, and continued to eat after he was full) and exercising frequently, showed no ill effects. When Mike does his comic turn near the end of the film, he signs off with "Tip your waitresses!", something Mr.

They also began a practice of putting all nutritional information for all menu items in light grey small print on the reverse of their tray liners. They were unable to get her to sit still in the recording studio, so instead the followed her around with a boommike, and cut things she said while playing into the movie. Subsequent to the showing of the film at the Sundance Film Festival, but before its cinematic release, McDonald's phased out its Supersize meal option and began offering several healthier menu items, though no link to the film was cited in this decision. Mary Gibbs, the director's three year old daughter, provided Boo's voice. For 30 days Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's (supersizing whenever asked) and by the end of the month Spurlock reported mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and had gained 24.5 pounds (11.11 kg). The name Randall Boggs is a possible reference to Stephen King's uber-villain Randall Flagg. Also in 2004, Morgan Spurlock's documentary film Super Size Me produced negative publicity for McDonald's, with allegations that McDonald's food was contributing heavily to the [5] epidemic of obesity in American society, and failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. The names on the scream-totals board (with the exceptions of Sulley and Randall) are all the names of Pixar employees.

This was especially controversial as the report was made within weeks of a British Government report stating that the present generation may be the first to die before their parents due to spiraling obesity in the British population. The Abominable Snowman is based on the character "The Bumble" from the stop-motion Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special. In June 2004, the UK's Private Eye reported that McDonald's was handing out meal vouchers, balloons, and toys to children in pediatric wards. One of the toys she hands him is a clownfish, a hint to the 2003 hit Pixar movie Finding Nemo, a ball which was in Luxo Jr, and another is Jessie from Toy Story 2. In fact the product was sliced, pre-fried, sometimes had dextrose added, was then frozen, shipped, and re-fried and then had salt added. Near the end of the film, Boo excitedly shows Sully her toys in her room. A McDonald's print ad stated that "after selecting certain potatoes" "we peel them, slice them, fry them and that's it." It showed a picture of a potato in a McDonald's fries box. The five- and six-digit numbers displayed with nixie tubes near the doors are all birthdays of Pixar employees and/or relatives.

In 2003, a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority determined that the corporation had acted in breach of the codes of practice in describing how its french fries were prepared. All of the digital displays in Monstropolis (Sulley's clock radio, scare station consoles, "Days Without An Accident" sign) are nixie tubes, a neon digital display technology from the 1960s. While the book does mention other fast-food chains, it focuses primarily on McDonald's. Some of the "sets" in this film were used in the animated feature Toy Story. Among the critiques are allegations that McDonald's (along with other companies within the fast-food industry) uses its political influence to increase their own profits at the expense of the health of the nation and the social conditions of its workers. Boo herself refers to Sully as "Kitty" for no otherwise apparent reason, perhaps because Sully looks like a cat to her. Also in 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included scathing criticism of McDonald's' business practices. The scene where Sully fears Boo has been thrown in a garbage compressor is inspired by the 1952 Chuck Jones cartoon Feed the Kitty.

This is thought to be one of the largest fines imposed on a company for breaking laws relating to child working conditions. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing and Best Music, Original Score. In July 2001, McDonald's was fined £12,400 by British magistrates for illegally employing and over-working child labor in one of its London restaurants. Monsters, Inc. won the Academy Award for Best Song (Randy Newman for If I Didn't Have You). Other legal battles include:. In one noteworthy case, McDonald's sued a Scottish café owner called McDonald, even though the business in question dated back over a century.

It has threatened many foodservice businesses with legal action unless they drop the Mc or Mac from their trading name. McDonald's has also been criticized for its approach to preserving its image and copyrights. see McLibel case. The libel charge and fine were overturned in an appeals case.

Government, which subsequently introduced legislation to change the libel laws to remedy the defects highlighted by the ECHR judgment. The ECHR ruled against the U.K. libel law breached the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression. Government in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the lack of access to legal aid and the heavy burden of proof that lay with them to prove their claims (rather than McDonald's, the claimants, having to prove that the claims were false) under U.K.

Steel and Morris then made a separate but related claim against the U.K. High Court, and were awarded £60,000 damages, which later was reduced to £40,000 by the Court of Appeal. McDonald's won the case in the U.K. In the high profile McLibel Trial, McDonald's took two anti-McDonald's campaigners, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, to court for a trial lasting two and a half years—the longest in English legal history and part of a 20-year battle—after the pair distributed leaflets critical of the company in London's streets.

McDonald's' historic tendency towards promoting high-calorie foods such as French fries has earned it the nickname "the starchy arches". McDonald's has been the target of criticism for allegations of exploitation of entry-level workers, use of sweatshop labor to produce "happy meal" toys, ecological damage caused by agricultural production and industrial processing of its products, selling unhealthy food, production of packaging waste, exploitative advertising (especially targeted at children, minorities, and low-income people), and contributing to suffering and exploitation of livestock. Urban legends about the company and its food are plentiful and it is often the target of unusual lawsuits. Even though its foreign franchise locations are usually locally owned and use locally-produced foods, the company is seen as a symbol of American domination of economic resources.

As the world's largest restaurant chain, McDonald's also finds itself a target for external criticism. Its moves to protect its reputation and trademarks have at times been seen as heavy-handed. At the same time, its global reach and broadly standard product line and level of service have led to McDonald's becoming the target of anti-globalization protests, and as the highest-profile fast food company, it is often blamed for obesity and excessive packaging waste. As one of the world's largest and best recognized franchise systems, it must endeavour to successfully deal with matters of internal cohesion between the interests of its franchisees and that of the franchisor.

Some of these are unique to franchising. McDonald's faces varying problems.
. The book also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes.
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According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the US has at some time been employed by McDonald's. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois. However, in the UK the business model does not remain as concurrent with the global model with less than 30% of restaurants franchised and the majority under the ownership of the company itself. As a condition of the franchise agreement, the Corporation owns the property on which most McDonald's franchises are located.

In addition to ordinary franchise fees, supplies, and percentage of sales, McDonald's also collects rent, partially linked to sales. The McDonald's Corporation's business model is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. These were primarily created in the 1970s and 1980s in the USA, but later internationally. Some McDonald's in suburban areas and certain cities feature large indoor or outdoor playgrounds, called "McDonald's PlayPlace" or "Playland".

Specially themed restaurants also exist, such as "Rock-and-Roll McDonald's" 1950s themed restaurants. There are also a few locations, located mostly in downtown districts, which offer Walk-Thru service in place of Drive-Thru. In contrast, locations in high-density city neighborhoods often omit drive-through service. In some countries "McDrive" locations near highways offer no counter service or seating.

The Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, or McDrive as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two steps are frequently combined. Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer nither counter and drive-through service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating. Revenues for 2004 were US$19.1 billion, with net income at $2.75 billion. It also has a subsidiary, Redbox, which in 2003 started as 18-foot wide automated convenience stores, but as of 2005 has focused on DVD rental machines.

Until December 2003 it also owned Donatos Pizza. In addition, the company operates other restaurant brands, such as Aroma Café, Boston Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. More than 70 percent of McDonald's restaurants around the world are owned and operated by independent local businesspersons. Thirty thousand locations serve 51 million customers each day.

McDonald's brand is in 122 countries around the world. . However, the company today dates its "founding" to the opening of CEO Ray Kroc's first franchised restaurant, the company's ninth, in 1955. The company began in 1940 with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald, but it was their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 that established the principles of the fast-food restaurant.

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. In Sedona, Arizona, a McDonalds has the world's only "Green Arches", to fit in with the city's natural look. In Moscow, Russia, a McDonald's exists that also doubles as a firehouse museum/memorial. In Israel, some McDonald's restauraunts are kosher, although most are not.

East Coast Park in Singapore has a skate-thru, together with the main restaurant. The McDonalds restaurant in Bray, Ireland, occupies the entire former Town Hall. Sälen in Sweden opened the first ski-through McDonald's in the world. The restaurant is now closed.

Louis, Missouri was a riverboat on the Mississippi River. A former McDonald's in St. McDonald's recently won a contract with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to place restaurants in renovated oases, many of which are located over the tollways. A McDonald's near Vinita, Oklahoma is situated above Interstate 44, such that it is possible to eat while cars and trucks pass underneath.

The building to host the highest (above ground level) McDonald's restaurant is the KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The highest elevation McDonald's is located in La Paz, Bolivia, at 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) above sea level. The lowest elevation McDonald's is located in the village of Ein Bokek in Israel, near the Dead Sea, at 396 meters (1,300 feet) below sea level. Cheese's) and a McGourmet section where panini and gourmet sundaes are for sale.

It sports two floors, a massive game and arcade area (much like at Chuck E. The world's largest McDonald's is located in Orlando, Florida, USA, off International Drive. Because of this, it is said that "the sun never sets on the Golden Arches," a parody on the old claim "the sun never sets on the British Empire.". The world's easternmost McDonald's is also located in New Zealand, in the city of Gisborne and the westernmost restaurant is in Western Samoa, as they are the closest to either side of the International Date Line.

The southernmost franchise is located in Invercargill, New Zealand. The northernmost McDonald's restaurant is located on the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland. This resulted in a local company announcing plans to launch its own fast-food chain using the McDonald's name, although the South African High Court eventually ruled in McDonald's favor. In South Africa, however, McDonald's had to battle against the country's trademark laws, which stated that a registered trademark had to be used within a certain period of time.

In 2001, McDonald's lost a 9-year legal action against Frank Yuen of McChina Wok Away, Chinese takeway outlets in various part of the UK. In 1996, McDonalds forced Scottish sandwich shop owner Mary Blair of Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire to drop McMunchies as her trading name. In 1996, McDonald's lost a legal battle at the Danish Supreme Court to force Allan Pedersen, a mincemeat sandwich vendor, to drop his shop name McAllan. In 1994, McDonald's sued a restaurant in Kingston, Jamaica, because of trademark infringement, although it had opened in 1971, before McDonald's entered the Jamaican market.

In 1994, McDonald's successfully forced Elizabeth McCaughey of the San Francisco Bay Area to change the trading name of her coffeeshop McCoffee, which had operated under that name for 17 years. Pursuing a 26-year legal action against an Illinois restaurant owned by a man named Ronald McDonald (opened in 1956). 2006: McDonald's announces that it will include nutritional information on the packaging for all products beginning in March[3] and that its upcoming menu changes will emphasize chicken, salads, and other "fresh foods" rather than hamburgers[4]. 2005: McDonald's opens a Wi-Fi service in select restaurants with Nintendo for Nintendo DS.

The practice had earlier been tested, and abandoned, in the U.S. Some restaurants in New Zealand also follow suit. It should become standard practice in all Australian restaurants by 2007. 2005: Owing in part to competitive pressure, McDonald's Australia begins "Made for you" policy in which the food is cooked after the customer orders (as opposed to the firm's normal procedure since 1948, in which the food is cooked, then sold as needed).

The experiment is in part motivated by labor costs, since the minimum wage in North Dakota is over 40 percent lower than that in Oregon or Washington. The center, located in Fargo, North Dakota takes orders from more than a dozen stores in Oregon and Washington. 2005: McDonald's experiments with call centers for drive-through orders. 2004: Morgan Spurlock directs and stars in Super Size Me documentary film in which the protagonist eats nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days to the detriment of his health.

2003: The firm reports a $126m loss for the fourth quarter [2]. [1]. market has fallen three percentage points in five years and is now at 15.2 percent. 2003: According to Technomic, a market research firm, McDonald's' share of the U.S.

The campaign was labeled "i'm lovin' it™" and began simultaneously in more than 100 countries around the world. 2003 McDonald's starts a global marketing campaign which promotes a new healthier and higher-quality image. It announces it is withdrawing from three countries (including Bolivia) and closing 175 underperforming restaurants. It responds to the stiff competition from other fast-food restaurants, offering higher quality burgers and more variety, by attempting to move more upmarket by expanding its menu and refitting restaurants.

2002: McDonald's posts its first quarterly loss ($344m) for the last quarter. 2002: A survey in Restaurants and Institutions Magazine, ranks McDonald's 15th in food quality among hamburger chains, highlighting the company's failure to enforce standards across its franchise network. 2001: The FBI reports that employees of Simon Worldwide, a company hired by McDonald's to provide promotion marketing services for Happy Meals and the 'Millionaire'/'Monopoly' contest, stole winning game pieces worth more than $20 million. 2000: The company opens its 1000th British store inside the Millennium Dome.

2000: Eric Schlosser publishes Fast Food Nation, a book critical of fast food in general and McDonalds in particular. Bové was sentenced to three months in prison for his role in the incident. had increased import duties on French Roquefort cheese and other European Union products. The incident follows a European Union ban on American meat imports, on the grounds that they use hormone treatments; in response the U.S.

1999: French leftist activist José Bové and others gain worldwide attention when they destroy a half-built McDonald's franchise in Millau (Aveyron). Only about half of the counts are in McDonald's favour despite enormous legal resources deployed against self-representing defendants. 1997: McDonald's wins the "McLibel" case, in what many consider to be a Pyrrhic victory in terms of the company's image. 1996: The first Indian McDonald's opens.

At the opening ceremony, the Belarusian militia are accused of brutality toward members of the public hoping to enter the restaurant in Minsk. 1996: First McDonald's opens in Belarus, marking the chain's 100th country. 1996: Following the end of apartheid, the first McDonald's opens in South Africa. McDonald's starts conducting market impact studies before granting further franchises.

Circa 1995: McDonald's receives complaints from franchisees that too many franchises are being granted, leading to competition among franchisees. 1994: The first McDonald's opens in Africa, in Cairo, Egypt. and fires three random shots from a .44 Magnum revolver, killing two customers and wounding a third, before taking his own life. 1993: On a sunny afternoon, August 10, 1993, Dion Terres walks into a Kenosha, Wisconsin McDonald's restaurant at 75th Street and Pershing Blvd.

Along with adjacent buildings, it is later demolished. 1992: On April 23 the world's largest McDonald's restaurant opens in Beijing, China (over 700 seats). They shoot, stab, and beat three employees to death and leave a fourth permanently disabled. 1992: Freeman MacNeil, Darren Muise, and Derek Wood, an employee of the McDonald's in Sydney River, Nova Scotia, break into the restaurant after closing, planning to rob the place.

She sued in what became known as the McDonald's coffee case. 1992: Stella Liebeck receives third degree burns from coffee purchased at a McDonald's drive-through. Unlike other foreign investments, the restaurant accepts rubles, not dollars, and is extremely popular, with waiting lines of several hours common in its early days. To overcome Soviet supply problems, the company creates its own supply chain, including farms, within the USSR.

parent company; a wall display within the restaurant shows the Canadian and Soviet flags. For political reasons, McDonald's Canada is independently responsible for this opening with little input from the U.S. At the time it is the largest McDonald's in the world (it is still Europe's biggest). 1990: On January 31, the first Soviet McDonald's opens in Moscow.

Belgrade, Yugoslavia follows in the same year. 1988: McDonald's opens its first restaurant in a communist country, in Győr, Hungary. In keeping with its historic setting near the Spanish Steps, it has a subdued facade and sets new standards for its interior decor. 1986: McDonald's opens its first outlet in Italy, in Rome.

restaurants lose money on the game "When America Wins, You Win" after the Soviet bloc nations boycott the Games, leading to a high number of medals won by the U.S. Its U.S. 1984: The company is a main sponsor of the 1984 Summer Olympics. 1984: On July 18, James Oliver Huberty rakes a McDonald's restaurant with gunfire, killing 21 people in the San Ysidro section of San Diego, California in the McDonald's massacre.

1983: McDonald's introduces the Chicken McNugget, a then-novel bite-size piece of mixed dark and white meat; it quickly becomes a best-seller. It flops, and is removed from the menu, but is later reintroduced after Chicken McNuggets prove successful. 1980: McDonald's introduces the McChicken sandwich, its first poultry item. 1979: The first McDonald's opens in France (Strasbourg).

1979: The Happy Meal is introduced in the U.S. It would later be known as "McDrive" in some countries. 1975: The Drive-Thru is introduced in January in Sierra Vista, Arizona. It is the company's 3000th restaurant.

1974: On October 12, the first McDonald's opens in the United Kingdom in Woolwich, southeast London. 1973: The Quarter Pounder is introduced. 1971: The first Australian McDonald's opens in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona in December. Other European countries follow in the early 1970s.

It is the first McDonald's to sell alcohol, as it offers beer. 1971: The first McDonald's opens in Germany (Munich) in December. The franchisee is Ahold. 1971: On August 21, the first European McDonald's outlet opens in the Netherlands, in Zaandam (near Amsterdam).

1971: The first Asian McDonalds opens in July in Japan, in Tokyo's Ginza district. It is demolished two years later, with only part of the sign remaining; this has since been restored. 1970: Having changed hands in 1968, the original "Big M" restaurant closes. 1968: The Big Mac, similar to the Big Boy hamburger, and Hot Apple Pie are introduced.

1967: The chain's current stand-alone restaurant design, with mansard roof and indoor seating, is introduced. 1967: The first McDonald's restaurant outside the United States opens in Richmond, British Columbia. It is the first new addition to the original menu, and goes national the following year, with fish supplied by Gorton's of Gloucester. 1963: The Filet-O-Fish is introduced in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a restaurant located in a neighborhood dominated by Roman Catholics who practiced abstinence (the avoidance of meat) on Fridays.

An entire cast of McDonaldland characters is developed. The character eventually spreads to the rest of the country via an advertising campaign, although it is later decided that both Scott and his version of the original costume are unsuitable for the role. After the show was cancelled, Goldstein hires Scott to portray McDonald's new mascot, "Ronald McDonald" in the first three television advertisements featuring the character. Bozo was a franchised character, played (in Los Angeles) by Willard Scott.

franchisee sponsors a children's show called Bozo's Circus. A Washington, D.C. Early 1960s: One of Kroc's marketing insights is his decision to market McDonald's hamburgers to families and children. Had the brothers maintained their original agreement, which granted them 0.5 percent of the chain's annual revenues, they or their heirs would have been collecting in excess of $100 million per year today.

Renamed "The Big M", Kroc drives it out of business by opening a McDonald's just one block north; he attended the opening. The agreement allows the brothers to keep their original restaurant, but in an oversight they fail to retain the right to remain a McDonald's franchise. 1961: The McDonald brothers agree to sell Kroc business rights to their operation for $2.7 million, a sum that Kroc borrows from a number of investors (including Princeton University); Kroc considers the sum extreme, and it strains his relationship with the brothers. 1960: Kroc's company is renamed "McDonald's Corporation".

Harry Sonneborn would remain a key influence in the McDonald's corporation till his resignation in 1967. Sonneborn as the Chief Financial Officer for McDonald's. 1955: Ray Kroc hires Harry J. The company still refers to this restaurant as "McDonald's #1".

The company's literature usually refers to this date as the "beginning" of the company, then already 15 years old, writing the McDonald brothers out of its history in favor of "Founder" Kroc. The first day's revenues are $366.12. Kroc opens the company's ninth restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in suburban Chicago on April 15. 1955: Ray Kroc founds "McDonald's Systems, Inc." on March 2, as a legal structure for his planned franchises.

He even attempts to prevail on his wartime acquaintance with Walt Disney, in the failed hope of opening a McDonald's at the soon-to-be-opened Disneyland. Kroc works hard to sell McDonald's. (Others who had visited the restaurant and come away inspired were James McLamore, founder of Burger King, and Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell.) After seeing the restaurant in operation, Kroc approaches the McDonald brothers, who have already begun franchising, with a proposition to let him franchise McDonald's restaurants outside the company's homebase of California and Arizona, with himself as the first franchisee. 1954: Entrepreneur and milkshake-mixer salesman Ray Kroc becomes fascinated by the McDonald's restaurant during a sales visit, when he learns of its extraordinary capacity and popularity.

1953: Fourth McDonald's restaurant opens in Downey, California at the corner of Lakewood and Florence Avenue, and is today the world's oldest McDonald's restaurant still in operation. It is the first to feature the Golden Arches design; later in the year the original restaurant is rebuilt in this style. The second McDonald's opens in Phoenix, Arizona. 1953: The McDonald brothers begin to franchise their restaurant, with Neil Fox as the first franchisee.

The restaurant is extremely successful, and its fame spreads by word of mouth. At 15 cents, the burgers are about half as expensive as at standard diners, and they are served immediately. The carhops are fired, and when the restaurant reopens it sells only hamburgers, milkshakes, and french fries. 1948: After noting that almost all of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers close down the restaurant for several months to implement their innovative "Speedee Service System", a streamlined assembly line for hamburgers.

It became a popular and highly profitable teen hangout. As is common at the time, they employ around 20 carhops. The first McDonald's hamburger cost $0.15. Its menu consists of 25 items, mostly barbecue.

1940: The brothers move the Airdome building to San Bernardino, California, where they open the McDonald's restaurant on Route 66 on May 15. 1937: Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald open a hot dog stand called the Airdome in Arcadia, California.