Brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald started the first McDonald's restaurant in 1948 by converting their drive-through barbecue restaurant into a burger and milkshake joint. Located in San Bernardino, California, east of Los Angeles, the restaurant was actually the brothers' second venture into the food industry. Their first was a hot dog stand that the pair owned near the Santa Anita track.The original McDonald's focused on its burgers, fries, and shakes, selling them for half the price—and serving them in half the time—of competing restaurants. It did this by changing the way that a hamburger shop operated. Instead of relying on waiters and waitresses, the McDonald brothers installed a self-service counter. Instead of cooking each meal to order, they prepared their burgers ahead of time and kept the food warm under high-powered heat lamps.

Although McDonald’s is famous for its burgers today, the brothers actually originally sold slow-cooked barbecue sandwiches. Eventually, they started selling burgers, and in 1947, they realized that most of their profits came from their hamburgers.