The first McDonald’s restaurant was run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. In 1954 Ray Kroc visited the restaurant and was so impressed by their efficiency of their operation that he pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants across the US.
By 1958 McDonald’s had sold 100m hamburgers.
Kroc once said of his four business goals: “If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.”
69 million customers are served every day
There are now 36,258 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries, of which 29,544 are franchised
Some 350 McDonald’s restaurants have been closed down so far this year - mostly in the US and China
32% of revenue comes from the US
40% of revenue comes from Europe - mostly from the UK, France, Russia and Germany
23% of revenue comes from Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa
US sales slipped by 2.1% to $27.4bn (£17bn) in 2014
The number of customer visits declined more than 4% in the US last year
McDonald’s has 420,000 employees
More than 80,000 people have graduated from McDonald’s “Hamburger Universty” training centre on the outskirts of Chicago
Previous McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson was paid $9m last year
McDonald’s will pay $9.90 an hour to its 90,000 workers from July after months of protest over poverty wages paid by fast food chains. The current average hourly wage is $9.01