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Person
Richard and Maurice McDonald
Reinvented the restaurant kitchen as an assembly line for fast, consistent food.
- Country
- United States
- Industries
- Consumer Products, Manufacturing
The problem
Traditional restaurants were slow and inconsistent, with large menus and long waits.
The innovation
The brothers reorganized their kitchen around a small menu and a streamlined, division-of-labour system that prepared a few items quickly and identically every time.
Why it mattered
Applying production-line thinking to food made service fast, cheap, and predictable.
Lasting impact
Their system became the operational blueprint for modern fast food.