McDonald's was founded in 1940 by brothers Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald. They opened their first restaurant, McDonald's Bar-B-Q, on May 15, 1940, in San Bernardino, California. Initially, the restaurant served a barbecue menu but later focused on a simple menu of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and beverages. The famous "Speedee Service System" was introduced in 1948 to create a fast-food operation that would become the model for the modern fast-food industry. Ray Kroc later joined as a franchise agent in 1954 and expanded the brand significantly, buying the company from the brothers in 1961.