The Big Mac

The Big Mac sandwich is a type of cheeseburger, a signature sandwich sold by the McDonald’s chain of fast-food restaurants since 1968, made with beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onion, with a “special sauce” and a sesame seed bun. The Big Mac was invented in 1967 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania by Jim Delligatti, an alumnus of Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality Business and one of McDonald’s franchisees. Original names for the burger included “Aristocrat” & “Blue Ribbon Burger”, but the actual name “Big Mac” was created by Esther Glickstein Rose, a then 21 year old Advertising Secretary who worked at McDonald’s Corporate office in Chicago. Customer response to the Big Mac was so good that it rolled-out nationally in 1968. According to a famous advertising jingle, it consists of “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”, though the most distinctive feature is a middle layer of bread used to stabilize contents and prevent spillage.