- The McDonald brothers founded the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940 in San Bernardino, California which originally operated as a drive-in restaurant.
- Ray Kroc joined the company in 1955 and established strict operating guidelines for franchises, helping to scale the business. He opened the first McDonald's franchise and established Hamburger University for franchisee training.
- McDonald's expanded rapidly both within the US and internationally, opening over 34,000 locations across 115 countries by the early 2000s. The document provides an overview of McDonald's history, operations, and global growth.