His location, in Phoenix, Arizona, has the distinction of being the first McDonald’s to sport the Golden Arches design. In 1953, they set up their first 2 franchise deals. They also spread the seats further apart making it harder to socialize and they also used corn shaped cups, making it impossible to set one’s drink down and would therefore speed up the meal. It also made changes to the seating design, turning it from a sit-down restaurant into the more modern fast-food seating design, making it uncomfortable for customers to linger over a meal by turning off the heating. This design included the first appearance of the now world-famous registered trademark Golden Arches. In 1952, the McDonald brothers worked with architect Stanley Clark Meston, to design a new restaurant building with the goal of improving efficiency and developing a more eye-catching appearance. They renamed the re-vamped restaurant McDonald’s on Decemand launched the now famous registered trademark brand. They also changed it to a self-service format instead of the carhops and set up the kitchen like an assembly line to be as efficient as possible. They changed out the potato chips and apple pie for French fries and milkshakes after the first year. They would only sell hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potato chips, apple pie, coffee and soft drinks. In 1948 after realizing that hamburgers were their most profitable item, the brothers closed down their carhop restaurant to create a simpler menu and a streamlined system. That restaurant, in San Bernardino, California was called McDonald’s-Bar-B-Que and had over 25 menu items. Their father opened a fast-food restaurant in 1937 and the brothers took it over in 1940. Originally from Manchester, New Hampshire, their family had moved to California in the late 1930’s. The first McDonald’s opened in 1948 by brothers Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald. Many of its registered trademark food products from the Big Mac to Chicken McNuggets are instantly recognizable as being from McDonald’s.
It placed 7 th on the list of the top ten most valuable American brands in 2020, with a brand value of $143.8 million dollars.
McDonald’s is an American-based international fast food restaurant empire with close to 39,000 franchised locations worldwide.