Case File
The story they erased
₥
McDonald Brothers
SINCE 1940
To Ray Kroc,
this is not your story.
In 1940, Richard & Maurice McDonald opened a small restaurant in San Bernardino, California. By 1948 they'd rebuilt it around the Speedee Service System — a 15¢ hamburger and an assembly-line kitchen that invented fast food as we know it.
You saw what they built. You franchised it, expanded it, and in 1961 you bought them out for $2.7M — and banned them from ever using their own name again.
The McDonald brothers built the system. It's time their legacy gets the payout it never got.
BRING BACK THE EMPIRE.
15¢ NEVER FORGOT
REAL PEOPLE
REAL HISTORY
REAL PAYOUT
REAL HISTORY
REAL PAYOUT
FOR MAC
FOR DICK
FOR $15C
FOR DICK
FOR $15C
SAN BERNARDINO DINER
— order history —
1948
The Invention
Dick & Mac McDonald launch the Speedee Service System — 15¢ hamburgers, San Bernardino, CA.
1954
The Salesman Walks In
Ray Kroc, a milkshake-mixer salesman, sees the system and talks his way into franchising it nationwide.
1961
The Buyout
Kroc pays the brothers $2.7M for the name — and the deal bars them from ever calling a restaurant "McDonald's" again.
TODAY
The Erasure
Kroc is remembered as "the Founder." Dick & Mac are a footnote in their own invention.
SUBTOTAL OWED$2.70
BALANCE DUE65 YEARS + INTEREST