Macca’s^® Story

Back in 1971, we opened our first restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona. Today there are over 970 McDonald's restaurants across Australia and we employ more than 100,000 people across our restaurants and management offices.

With close to two million of you coming through our restaurants every day, it’s our priority to maintain your trust and integrity. To do this we make sure our customers and employees receive the respect they deserve. Through honesty, hard work and outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value (QSC&V) we make sure that our restaurants are up to the standard you deserve.

How we work

McDonald's Australia Limited is an unlisted Australian public company. It's a franchise business with more than 80% of Australian restaurants owned and operated by individual businessmen and women. The remainder of the restaurants are owned and run by the company.

The backbone of our Brand is, and always has been, a commitment to a set of core values that define who we are and how we run our business and restaurants.

When we live our values every day and use them to make decisions - big and small – we define McDonald’s as a brand our people, and the people we serve, can trust.

• Serve
  We put our customers and people first
• Inclusion
  We open our doors to everyone
• Integrity
  We do the right thing
• Community
  We are good neighbors
• Family
  We get better together

In the USA in 1954 there was a milkshake machine salesman named Ray Kroc. Ray received an order from the McDonald brothers' hamburger outlet in California and was impressed by their company - the menu was simple and cheap but the hamburgers were good; the fries were made in-store; and the shakes were thicker than usual.

Ray made them an offer. "Let me open new McDonald’s stores and I'll give you half of one per cent of the gross sales for the use of the name and the idea."

The McDonald's brothers accepted and Ray opened his first store in Des Plaines, Illinois. He began to build the business by granting franchises to local entrepreneurs. By 1960, he'd opened 200 restaurants throughout the USA. In 1961 he bought the McDonald brothers' share of the business for $3 million and in 1965 the company became the McDonald's Corporation.

Today, McDonald’s has more than 36, 000 restaurants in over 119 countries.

1955.  Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1957.  'Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value' (QSC&V) becomes the Company motto.

1959.  A new McDonald's opens at a rate of one every five and a half days. The 100th McDonald's opens in Wisconsin.

1962.  The Golden Arches™ become the company logo.

1966.  Ronald McDonald makes his first national television appearance. McDonald's stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1968.  The 1,000th restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Big Mac is added to the menu.

1971.  McDonald's Australia opens its first restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona.

1972.  The 2,000th restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Quarter Pounder is introduced.

1974.  The first Ronald McDonald House opens in Philadelphia, USA.

1975.  McDonald’s celebrates its 20th anniversary. The Drive-Thru concept is unveiled in Oklahoma.

1978.  The 5,000th restaurant opens in Fujiswawa City, Japan. The first Australian Drive-Thru store opens in Warrawong, NSW.

1981.  Australia's first Ronald McDonald House opens at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital, Camperdown NSW.

1984.  Ray Kroc, McDonald's Founder and Senior Chairman, dies and Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities (RMCC) is established in his memory.

1985.  Ronald McDonald House Charities becomes a registered Australian charity.

1986.  The 9,000th restaurant opens in Sydney, Australia. McDonald's opens its first restaurant near the North Pole, with the address McDonald's, Santa Claus Lane, North Pole, Alaska.

1990.  The world's largest McDonald's with 900 seats opens in Pushkin Square, Moscow. A McDonald's restaurant opens somewhere in the world every 14.5 hours.

1991.  The 150th Ronald McDonald House opens in Paris. McHappy Day is held for the first time in Australia, raising $375,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Variety Clubs of Australia.

1993.  McDonald's becomes the second most recognised brand in the world. The world’s first McCafé opens in Melbourne, Victoria.

1995.  McDonald’s Australia becomes a Registered Training Organisation

1999.  McDonald's opens its 25,000th restaurant in Chicago, USA. McDonald’s Australia’s flagship burger 'The McOz™' arrives on the menu.

2000.  McDonald's is the Official Restaurant of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, serving more than 1.2 million meals to athletes, officials and spectators.

2001.  McDonald's celebrates its 30th Birthday Down Under, and the 20th birthday of Ronald McDonald House Charities in Australia. The McFamily rallies to support those affected by the 11^th September events through donations of food, services and money. RMHC is named one of the top 100 charities by Worth Magazine.

2003.  The 100th McCafé opens in Australia.

2004.  The Happy Meal celebrates 25 years (1979 - 2004). Nutrition labelling is introduced to packaging on McDonald’s core menu items - a Quick Service Restaurant Industry First.

2005.  McDonald's celebrates its 50th Anniversary on 15 April. McDonald's Australia raised more than $715,000 for CARE Australia through its restaurants to provide immediate and long-term assistance to those affected by the Tsunami.

2007.  The McDonalds packaging is updated to feature 24 faces from the first ever global casting call.

2008.  The packaging redesign goes a step further with the most comprehensive global redesign rolled out across the world.

2011.  McDonald’s now operates in 119 countries having opened stores in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Trinidad & Tobago. McDonald’s Australia celebrates its 40^th anniversary with 850 restaurants and 85,000 employees nationwide.

2015.  McDonald’s Australia introduced All-Day Breakfast as well as online platform Our Food Your Questions to answer customers’ questions about Macca’s.