<P> In October 1948, after the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits came from selling hamburgers, they closed down their successful carhop drive - in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu which consisted of only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potato chips, coffee, soft drinks, and apple pie . After the first year, potato chips and pie were swapped out for french fries and milkshakes . The carhops were eliminated, making the new restaurant a self - service operation . Richard and Maurice took great care in setting up their kitchen like an assembly line to ensure maximum efficiency . The restaurant's name was changed again, this time to simply "McDonald's," and reopened on December 12, 1948 . </P> <P> In April 1952, the brothers decided they needed an entirely new building in order to achieve two goals: further efficiency improvements, and a more eye - catching appearance . They collected recommendations for an architect and interviewed at least four, finally choosing Stanley Clark Meston, an architect practicing in nearby Fontana . The brothers and Meston worked together closely in the design of their new building . They achieved the extra efficiencies they needed by, among other things, drawing the actual measurements of every piece of equipment in chalk on a tennis court behind the McDonald house (with Meston's assistant Charles Fish). The new restaurant's design achieved a high level of noticeability thanks to gleaming surfaces of red and white ceramic tile, stainless steel, brightly colored sheet metal, and glass; pulsing red, white, yellow, and green neon; and two 25 - foot yellow sheet - metal arches trimmed in neon, called "golden arches" even at the design stage . A third, smaller arch sign at the roadside hosted a pudgy character in a chef's hat, known as Speedee, striding across the top, trimmed in animated neon . Further marketing techniques were implemented to change McDonald's from a sit down restaurant to a fast food chain . They used such things as turning off the heating to prevent people wanting to stay so long, fixed and angled seating so the customer would sit over their food promoting them to eat faster, spreading the seats further apart so being less of a sociable place to dine in, and giving their customers branded cone shaped cups forcing them to hold their drink whilst eating which would speed up the eating process . Many other companies followed McDonald's strategies to turn their own restaurants into fast food establishments including Burger King, White Castle and Subway . </P> <P> In late 1953, with only a rendering of Meston's design in hand, the brothers began seeking franchisees . Their first franchisee was Neil Fox, a distributor for General Petroleum Corporation . Fox's stand, the first with Meston's golden arches design, opened in May 1953 at 4050 North Central Avenue at Indian School Road in Phoenix, Arizona . Their second franchisee was the team of Fox's brother - in - law Roger Williams and Burdette "Bud" Landon, both of whom also worked for General Petroleum . Williams and Landon opened their stand on 18 August 1953 at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey, California . The Downey stand has the distinction of being the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant . The Downey stand was never required to comply with the McDonald's Corporation's remodeling and updating requests over the years because it was franchised not by the McDonald's Corporation, but by the McDonald brothers themselves to Williams and Landon . </P> <P> In 1954, Ray Kroc, a seller of Prince Castle brand Multimixer milkshake machines, learned that the McDonald brothers were using eight of his machines in their San Bernardino restaurant . His curiosity was piqued, and he went to take a look at the restaurant . He was joined by good friend Charles Lewis who had suggested to Kroc several improvements to the McDonald's burger recipe . </P>

When did the first mcdonald's franchise open