A McDonalds restaurant existed before 1954 but it was the introduction of Ray Kroc to the business in 1954 that began the seemingly endless colonisation of the globe by the McDonalds restaurant chain that ensued.

Kroc had invested his entire life savings to become the exclusive distributor of a milk shake machine called the Multimixer when the McDonald brothers placed an order for eight of them.

He realised that this meant there was a demand from their customers for up to 40 milkshakes at a time. Sensing success, Ray Kroc visited the McDonald’s restaurant in California and was instantly impressed. He had never seen so many people served so quickly when he pulled up to take a look.

And so Kroc became the first McDonalds Franchisee, later buying at the company from the original owners and expanding the network of restaurants to the epic proportions we see today. The first McDonalds arrived in the UK in 1974.