Product
From its early roots as a small, family-run hamburger restaurant, McDonald’s has evolved into a multibillion-dollar quick-service restaurant industry. While hamburgers and fries remain the mainstay of McDonald’s business, an instinctive ability to anticipate and fulfill real consumer needs has been central to McDonald’s success. A prime example of this approach is the Filet-O-Fish sandwich, which was conceived by Lou Groen, a Cincinnati-based franchisee in a predominantly Catholic area. Groen noticed that his business was negatively impacted on Fridays, which was then a day of abstention from meat for many Catholics. He developed a fish-based product to meet the needs of the local community. The Filet-O-Fish sandwich was launched in 1963 and went on to become a popular menu item in many of McDonald’s international markets.
Another franchisee — Jim Deligatti from Pittsburgh — was responsible in 1968 for the creation of McDonald’s most successful menu item ever, the Big Mac sandwich. Nine years later, Herb Peterson, another franchisee, was the driving force behind the development of the Egg McMuffin for McDonald’s breakfast menu — a move that would change the breakfast habits of millions of Americans.
