McDonald's achievements

By cowsandchickenswithsomebread

  • Achievements

    1972 Assets exceeded $500 million and sales surpassed $1 billion.
    A new McDonald's restaurant opening every day.
    New countries - France, El Salvador.
    The 2,000th restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois.
    The Quarter Pounder was introduced.
    Ray Kroc made a $250,000 donation to the controversial 1972 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, a donation which was perhaps a subject of investigation during the Watergate corruption scandal. Passages in the 'Behind The Arches' book (written with McDon

  • Ray Kroc because the first franchisee

    1954 Ray Kroc became the first franchisee appointed by Mac and Dick McDonald in San Bernardino, California.

  • Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant

    1955 Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois (near Chicago), and the McDonald's Corporation was created.

  • McDonald's Motto

    1957 Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (Q.S.C. & V.) became the company motto.

  • 100th restaurant

    1959 The 100th McDonald's opened in Chicago.

  • All rights were bought by Kroc

    1961 Ray Kroc bought all rights to the McDonald's concept from the McDonald's brothers for $2.7 million.
    Hamburger University opened in Elk Grove, near Chicago.

  • Productive year

    1963 One billion hamburgers sold.
    The 500th restaurant opened.
    The 500th student graduates from Hamburger University.
    Ronald McDonald made his debut.
    McDonald's net income exceeded $1 million.

  • McDonald's raised the stock market price

    1965 McDonald's Corporation went public. Per earning ratio varies from 10 to 22 during year; stock price range, 15 - 33.5.

  • McDonald's goes international

    1967 The first restaurants outside of the USA opened in Canada and Puerto Rico.

  • More restaurants

    1968 The Big Mac was introduced.
    The 1,000th restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois.

  • Golden Arches

    1973 McDonald's Golden Arches Restaurants Limited founded in UK as a joint venture partnership between the McDonald's Corporation and two businessmen; one British, one American.
    New country - Sweden.

  • Drive through

    1975 The company's first Drive-Thru opened in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
    New countries - Hong Kong, Bahamas, Nicaragua.
    Fred Turner becomes Chairman, Ray Kroc Senior Chairman, and Ed Schmitt becomes President.
    Broadcast advertising appeared in UK cinemas.

  • Breakfast

    1977 New countries - Ireland, Austria.
    Breakfast menu introduced, nationally in America.

  • All over America

    1970 McDonald's restaurant in every US state.
    Ray Cesca (Director of Global Purchasing of the McDonald's Corporation) has admitted that when McDonald's opened stores in Costa Rica in 1970, they were using beef from cattle raised on ex-rainforest land, deforested in the 1950's and 1960's.

  • Employee rights

    1974 The 3,000th McDonald's restaurant was opened in Woolwich (south east London) in October, the first in the UK. The company admitted that NOBODY went in and later decided to target children with TV ads.
    The UK Head Office was sited in Hampstead, North London.
    Up to 1974, McDonald's employees in Puerto Rico were unionised, but the company was sold to a new franchisee. A dispute followed, closing all the stores and McDonald's pulled out of Puerto Rico. They reopened in 1980 with non-union labo