Briefing

18 Facts About McDonald's That Will Blow Your Mind

Gus Lubin, Mamta Badkar

Dec 8, 2012, 6:58 AM

Before, during, and after the recession, McDonald’s has been an unstoppable global force.The fast food giant can now be found in 119 countries, where it serves over 75 burgers every second.

And if you don’t like burgers, the chain is great at localisation with countless unique items served at around the world, and now it’s taking over coffee — oh yeah, the McRib is coming back soon.

McDonald's' daily customer traffic (62 million) is more than the population of Great Britain

Source: Yahoo Finance

McDonald's sells more than 75 hamburgers every second

Source: McDonald's Operations and Training Manual via Side Dish

McDonald's feeds 68 million people per day, that's about 1 per cent of the world's population

Source: Societe General via Dominic Chu

McDonald's' $27 billion in revenue makes it the 90th-largest economy in the world

Source: SEC

The $8.7 billion in revenue from franchise stores alone, makes McDonald's richer than Mongolia

Source: SEC

McDonald's hires around 1 million workers in the US every year

This estimate from Fast Food Nation assumes a 700,000 domestic workforce with 150% turnover rate.

McDonald's has 761,000 employees worldwide, that's more than the population of Luxembourg

Source: McDonald's / Statistics Iceland

According to company estimates, one in every eight American workers has been employed by McDonald's

Source: McDonald's own estimate in 1996 via Fast Food Nation

Sharon Stone worked at McDonald's before she was famous. So did Shania Twain, Jay Leno, Rachel McAdams and Pink

Source: NNDB

McDonald's is the world's largest distributor of toys, with one included in 20% of all sales

Source: QSR via Motley Fool

Back in 1968 McDonald airlifted hamburgers to homesick U.S. Olympic Athletes in France

Source: McDonald's

McDonald's' iconic golden arches are recognised by more people than the cross

A survey by Sponsorship Research International found that 88 per cent could identify the arches and only 54 per cent could name the Christian cross, according to Fast Food Nation.

The Queen of England owns a retail park in Slough, which has a drive-thru McDonald's

Source: The Telegraph

The Egg McMuffin was modelled on eggs Benedict

Herb Peterson invented the Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald's restaurants. From MSNBC:

'Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald's breakfast item in 1972. He 'was very partial to eggs Benedict,' Fraker said, and worked on creating something similar.

The egg sandwich consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin.'

Source: MSNBC