McDonald's first expansion beyond one store (1955)
Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, in April 1955, fifteen years after the original opened in San Bernardino. That single franchise proved the concept could be replicated.
Kroc's store succeeded and more franchises followed quickly.
The chain grew to thousands of locations and defined fast-food franchising.
Bowls On Wheels #2 is a smaller version of the same move: a food concept proven at one site, replicated at a second. Most national chains began exactly this way, one location at a time.
