Co-founder (with brother Maurice) of the original McDonald's restaurant — inventor of the Speedee System that turned a drive-in into an assembly-line fast food operation.
The Speedee System innovation: the McDonald brothers' 1948 redesign of their San Bernardino drive-in — reducing the menu from 25 items to 9, redesigning the kitchen as a visible production line, eliminating carhops, serving pre-assembled food — created the fast food template. The Speedee System applied Henry Ford's assembly line principles to food preparation: specialized stations, standardized product, high volume, low price. Richard and Maurice invented the operational model; Ray Kroc built the franchise system that scaled it.
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