Big Mac turns 40

Atlanta Restaurants & Food

Big Mac turns 40

Photos of the McDonald's Big Mac.

Jim Delligatti, the inventor of the Big Mac, opened the Big Mac Museum Restaurant in honor of its 40th birthday. Around the world, the Big Mac's ingredients are mostly the same, with the notable exception of India, where the burger is made with chicken.

Jason Senica, 8, of Adamsburg, Pa., enjoys his Big Mac during the opening of the Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pa.

Ronald McDonald welcomes a crowd into the McDonald's Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pa. The museum has memorabilia, celebratory exhibits and "the world's largest Big Mac statue."

McDonald's estimates that 550 million Big Macs are sold each year in the U.S. alone. That's about 17 per second.

Jim Delligatti, left, the inventor of the Big Mac, talks with McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner during a private party before the opening of the Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pa.

The Big Mac was first introduced in 1967 by Jim Delligatti, a McDonald's franchise owner in Uniontown, Pa. A year later, it became a staple of McDonald's menus nationwide.

Jim Delligatti sits near an exhibit that features his culinary invention, the Big Mac, at the Big Mac Museum Restaurant. Americans eat more Big Macs than anyone, but Japanese consumers are a distant second, eating about 150 million each year.

Chad Foster of North Huntingdon, Pa., gazes at the world's largest Big Mac sculpture (14 feet high, 12 feet wide), at the grand opening of the McDonald's Big Mac Museum Restaurant.

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Jim Delligatti, the inventor of the Big Mac, opened the Big Mac Museum Restaurant in honor of its 40th birthday. Around the world, the Big Mac's ingredients are mostly the same, with the notable exception of India, where the burger is made with chicken.

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