Ray Kroc, at 52 years old, invested his entire life savings to become the exclusive distributor of a milk shake maker called the Multimixer.

Hearing about the McDonald's hamburger stand in California owned by Dick & Mac McDonald running eight Multimixers at a time, he packed up his car and headed West.

It was 1954. Ray Kroc had never seen so many people served so quickly. He pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants to the McDonald brothers, convinced that he could sell eight of his Multimixers to each and every one. "Who could we get to open them for us?" Dick McDonald said. Well," Kroc answered, "what about me?"

Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines, Illinois restaurant in 1955 and McDonald's never looked back.

Burgers

• Hamburger: 1.6 oz. (45 g) ground beef patty, with 1/8oz ketchup, mustard, a single dill pickle, a dehydrated onions, on a toasted bun. This is also known as a Junior Burger, in some areas. At one time early in McDonald’s history, the pickle was removed from the sandwich.

• Cheeseburger: Same as the hamburger, with a slice of cheese.
  
• Double Cheeseburger: Same as the cheeseburger, but with another pickle slice, beef patty, and slice of cheese.
  
• Triple Cheeseburger: Same as the double cheeseburger, but with another pickle slice, beef patty, and slice of cheese. This is not always available in all McDonald's restaurants.
  
• Double Hamburger: This sandwich is the hamburger what the double cheese is the original cheeseburger; more beef, and another dill pickle slice.
  
• Big Mac: Two 1.6 oz beef patties, special Big Mac sauce (similar to Thousand Island dressing), diced onions, two pickles, shredded lettuce, and cheese, on a toasted bun, with an additional middle bun (called a "club layer") separating the 2 beef patties.
  
• Quarter Pounder with cheese: 4.0 oz. (114 g) ground beef patty with ketchup, mustard, diced onions, two pickle slices, and two slices of cheese.
  
• Double Quarter Pounder with cheese: Same as the Quarter Pounder, but with another large beef patty.
  
• McChicken: A mildly spicy chicken sandwich, made from 100% white meat, mayonnaise, and shredded lettuce, on a toasted bun. It was introduced in 1980, and still remains one of the biggest sellers behind the Big Mac.
  
• Big N' Tasty with cheese: A quarter pound beef patty with ketchup, mayonnaise, diced onions, two pickles, leaf lettuce, and a tomato slice, on a toasted bun.
  
• Filet-O-Fish: A whitefish fillet with tartar sauce and a 1/2-slice of cheese, on a steamed bun.
  
• Double Filet-O-Fish: The same as the Filet-O-Fish, except with an extra fillet and a whole piece of cheese, not available at some locations.

Chicken and Wraps

Premium chicken sandwiches: The Classic is the continuation of the Crispy Chicken and Chicken McGrill sandwiches, with mayonnaise, leaf lettuce, and a tomato slice.

The Ranch BLT contains ranch sauce instead of mayonnaise and includes bacon.

The Club is similar to the Classic with added bacon and a piece of Swiss cheese. All are served on a honey-wheat roll, with either a grilled or crispy chicken breast, at the customer's direction.

Snack Wrap: 100% white meat chicken breast (crispy or grilled) with lettuce, shredded cheddar jack cheese, and ranch dressing or honey mustard, all inside a flour tortilla.