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McDonald’s Global

  • McDonald’s has over 30,000 local restaurants in more than 120 countries 70 percent of our restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and businesswomen

  • McDonald’s serves nearly 50 million customers each day

  • McDonald’s first franchised restaurant opened at Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955 by the founder Ray Kroc

  • McDonald’s has its own Hamburger University in Illinois, and the first batch graduated in 1961

  • 12 classes offered at Hamburger University are college accredited

  • In 1963, McDonald’s sold its one billionth hamburger

  • McDonald’s is listed on the New York, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Tokyo stock exchanges

  • McDonald’s aired its first network TV advertisement “McDonald’s - Where Quality Starts Fresh Everyday”, in 1965

  • The first McDonald’s Drive-Thru opened in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975

  • Happy Meals were added to McDonald’s menu in 1979

  • McDonald’s launched the new worldwide Balanced Active Lifestyles public awareness campaign in 2005

  • McDonald’s celebrated its 50th Anniversary on April 15, 2005