Saturday, April 15th – today marks the 62nd anniversary of the opening of a small hamburger restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.

It was the first of what would become one of the world’s best-recognized brand names — McDonald’s.

The franchise shop belonged to Ray Kroc, whose main interest at the time was selling the machines that mixed milkshakes.

The name came from two McDonald brothers who ran a hamburger shop in California.

The first day’s revenue at the Illinois outlet was $366.12. That shop is now a museum housing artifacts from the growth of the chain.

In the U.S. today, there are nearly a quarter-million fast-food outlets serving hamburgers and other comestibles, with earnings of over $185 billion per year.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

The franchise shop belonged to Ray Kroc, whose main interest at the time was selling the machines that mixed milkshakes.
The name came from two McDonald brothers who ran a hamburger shop in California.
That shop is now a museum housing artifacts from the growth of the chain.