History UsefulNotes / McDonalds

*** [=McDonald's=] Express (small locations with limited menus, often found in convenience stores, airports, malls, and UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} stores). A few are still around.
**** The Walmart locations are in fact quite successful. at least in Canada.

Since then, [=McDonald's=] has added more than the original burgers, fries and sodas to its menu. Breakfast items are sold from opening until 10 A.M. (11 A.M on Sundays), unlike most independent restaurants in their price range who'll serve their breakfast menu all day if they have one. The Filet-O-Fish was created to cater to the Catholic communities that ate no meat on Fridays during Lent (fish doesn't count). The Happy Meal and corporate {{Mascot}} Ronald [=McDonald=] were created to appeal to children. [=McCafé=] items (after the café section offered in a few countries) were added in the late 2000s to compete with Starbucks and other coffee vendors. And then, of course, there's the chain's flagship burger, the Big Mac. Its ingredients made for a snappy jingle: "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun." (That bun is a 3-part bun, making the Big Mac a double-decker burger). The Big Mac is so well known that the number of calories in one is often used [[HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure as a unit of measure]] (as in, "(Fatty food X) has as many calories as 3 Big Macs."

* In an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', wherre the crew answer a distress call turning out to emanate from a long-dead female crew, Rimmer looks down at the skeletal remains and wails that they've got as much meat on them as a Chicken [=McNugget=]. The "Mc", though visible from Chris Barrie's lip movements is notably muted.

* In an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', wherre the crew answer a distress call turning out to emanate from a long-dead female crew, Rimmer looks down at the skeletal remains and wails that they've got as much meat on them as a Chicken [=McNugget=]. [[ScrewedByTheLawyers It is rumoured that pressure was put on the BBC to edit out the unflattering comparison to McDonalds' quality foodstuffs.]]

Since then, [=McDonald's=] has added more than the original burgers, fries and sodas to its menu. Breakfast items are sold from opening until 10 A.M. (11 A.M on Sundays), unlike most independent restaurants in their price range who'll serve their breakfast menu all day if they have one. The Filet-O-Fish was created to cater to the Catholic communities that ate no meat on Fridays during Lent (fish doesn't count). The Happy Meal and corporate {{Mascot}} Ronald [=McDonald=] were created to appeal to children. [=McCafé=] items (after the café section offered in a few countries) were added in the late 2000s to compete with Starbucks and other coffee vendors.

* GrandfatherClause: A handful of mostly southern California restaurants still use 1950s store designs. Their original owners' franchise agreements were with the [=McDonald=] brothers and it wasn't until Ray Kroc took over that mandatory updating was included, and now qualify for historic preservation.

*** [=McDonald's=] Express (small locations with limited menus, often found in convenience stores, airports, malls, and Walmart stores). A few are still around.

The original San Bernardino restaurant has since been re-designed into a museum dedicated to the company. The oldest [=McDonald's=] [[LongRunner still in operation]] is the 4th location in Downey, California, which sports an image of Speedee the Hamburger-Head Mascot and a sign proudly proclaiming that the chain has sold ''500 million'' hamburgers.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjz_eiIX8kHere's]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8 why]].

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8 Here's why]].

* A RunningGag in ''''JoeLovesCrappyMovies'' is replacing actors in bad movies with The Grimace to make them better. He also tends to get stabbed a lot.

Until the mid-2000s, [=McDonald's=] also owned Donatos Pizza, Boston Market (a "fast casual" chain specializing in rotisserie chicken) and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The corporation operates a fully-furnished, constantly updated to the latest store model but [[http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2293 entirely fake restaurant]] in Southern California which is [[ProductPlacement offered to film and TV productions]] as well as used for almost all of their own commercials (worldwide). Chances are if you've seen a McDonalds on TV, this is the one.

In 1963, they created their most famous mascot, a clown called Ronald [=McDonald's=], which was later given his own fantasy world for the commercials in the 1970s [=McDonaldland=]. The creation of the long running advertising campaign originally involved SidAndMartyKrofftProductions using their ''HRPufnstuf'' characters, only by told by [=McDonald's=] advertising company, Needham, Harper and Steers, that the project was cancelled. With them out of the way, the agency blatantly plagiarized the Krofft's concept using their former crew. The Krofft's noticed, and successfully sued [=McDonald's=].

It all started in 1954 when Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, found out that one of his customers brought many more mixers than usual for a business. He traveled to San Bernardino, California, to find that two brothers, Dick and Mac [=McDonald=], ran their diner at an amazing rate. Serving way more customers than a usual restaurant should. He pitched them the idea of creating [=McDonald's=] restaurants all over the U.S. The [=McDonald's=] corporation was founded the next year. By 1958, [=McDonald's=] had sold 100 million hamburgers. By 1960, Kroc bought exclusive rights to the [=McDonald's=] name.