The odometer on this now vintage McDonald's sign is stuck at 99 billion. McDonald’s has probably sold more than 100 billion hamburgers in its 55 years. But an exact number is hard to come by. For one thing, those numbers on the signs were always just educated guesses. And in 1994, McDonald’s “made a conscious decision to stop counting,” according to spokesperson Walt Riker. Putting a running tally of hamburger sales on its storefront advertising was a publicity device that dated to the beginning of McDonald’s as we know it. The fast-food company started in 1948 as a California chain. Ray Kroc, the guy who sold the McDonald brothers their milkshake mixers, convinced them to franchise to him. Kroc, who eventually bought out the brothers and became a corporate kingpin, opened his first McDonald’s franchise in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. The restaurant featured a road sign that proudly announced, “1 Million Served” (1 million hamburgers, that is). As McDonald’s multiplied and sales skyrocketed, restaurant signs were regularly updated. By 1958, it was 100 million. By 1961, 500 million. The 1 billion mark, reached in 1963, was a big deal, noted in neon signs in front of every McDonald’s restaurant. The supposed 1 billionth burger was served by Kroc himself on national TV. For much of the ’60s, the signs just said, “Billions Served,” then went specific again when the 5 billion mark was hit in 1969. It was 10 billion in 1972, 25 billion in 1978, 50 billion in 1984. In the late 1980s, McDonald’s was regularly selling 5 billion hamburgers a year; to avoid frequent updates, the signs were frozen in 1986 to read, “More Than 60 Billion Served.” Riker said these numbers were projections based on how much beef was shipped to each restaurant. It was counted by hamburger patty—so the Big Mac, which contains two patties, indeed counted as two. (It hit the market in 1968.) Today, the signs are all frozen in a generic, “Billions and Billions Served” or “More Than 99 Billion Served.” Riker said McDonald’s hasn’t counted since 1994 (at least not for public information) and never will again. Why not? Riker would only say that the company wanted to “focus on other things.” (He added that constant sign updates were also a pain.) I can remember driving through West Virginia in 1977 when I first noticed McDonald's was counting how many hamburgers it was selling . Back then it was 20 billion. Since this is no longer a marketing strategy of McDonald's, why doesn't this store change the sign? The answer is most local zoning ordinances require much smaller signs than this one that has probably been there for 20-30 years.

I usually take these one year fasts from McDonalds, or just fast food. I broke my 2008 fast on April 2009, when a friend found out, he said that we should start another. Usually my fasts are done alone, but this time, I did it with some company! No Mcds, KFC, Wendy's, Popeye's, A&Ws and the more commercialized/franchised Fast Food outlets. Pizza Hut & Dominos were off the list though (d:) We were supposed to break fast on the 1st of September, but we did it on the 3rd because everyone was busy. I proposed to start a 5 year one after that, but they called me crazy and said never again.