History of McDonalds
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McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the world's largest fast food chain, selling primarily hamburgers, chicken, french fries and carbonated drinks and more recently salads, fruit and carrot sticks. The business was founded in 1940 with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald. It was their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 that established the principles of the fast-food restaurant. However, the company today dates its "founding" to the opening of CEO Ray Kroc's first franchised restaurant, the company's ninth, in 1955. He opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois in April 1955.
McDonald's restaurants are found in 120 countries and territories around the world and serve nearly 54 million customers each day. The company also operates other restaurant brands, such as Aroma Café and Boston Market, and has a minority stake in Pret a Manger. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill through the spring of 2006, when it was in the process of selling its stake. Until December 2003, it also owned Donatos Pizza. It also has a subsidiary, Redbox, which started in 2003 as 18-foot (5.5 m) wide automated convenience stores, but as of 2005, has focused on DVD rental machines.
McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred as the "McDonaldization" of society. The Economist magazine uses the "Big Mac index": the comparison of a Big Mac's cost in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies' purchasing power parity. Because McDonald's is closely identified with United States culture and lifestyle, its international business expansion has been termed part of Americanization and American cultural imperialism. McDonald's remains a target of anti-globalization protesters worldwide.
