From the WSJ:
As a McDonalds Corp. franchisee in the Pittsburgh area, Jim Delligatti in the mid-1960s believed the burgers-and-fries menu needed something jazzier. He came up with the Big Mac, tested it in one of his restaurants and saw it swiftly become a national sensation, heralding an era of ever-increasing reliance on novelty in fast food.
Mr. Delligatti died Monday at his home in Fox Chapel, a suburb of Pittsburgh, his family said. He was 98 years old.
He came up with the idea for the Big Mac in 1965 and first served it at his Uniontown, Pa., McDonalds outlet in 1967. The hamburger features two beef patties, a mildly tangy sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions slathered over a soft sesame-seed bun sliced into three layers. The original price was 45 cents, compared with an average of about $5 today. McDonalds put the Big Mac on its national menu in 1968.
Mr. Delligatti acknowledged that the Big Mac was derived from double-deck hamburgers made popular by rival fast-food restaurants. This wasnt like discovering the lightbulb, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1993. The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket. Even so, his initiative helped launch McDonalds on a long-running diversification of a menu once limited to little more than basic hamburgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks.
As a McDonalds Corp. franchisee in the Pittsburgh area, Jim Delligatti in the mid-1960s believed the burgers-and-fries menu needed something jazzier. He came up with the Big Mac, tested it in one of his restaurants and saw it swiftly become a national sensation, heralding an era of ever-increasing reliance on novelty in fast food.
Mr. Delligatti died Monday at his home in Fox Chapel, a suburb of Pittsburgh, his family said. He was 98 years old.
He came up with the idea for the Big Mac in 1965 and first served it at his Uniontown, Pa., McDonalds outlet in 1967. The hamburger features two beef patties, a mildly tangy sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions slathered over a soft sesame-seed bun sliced into three layers. The original price was 45 cents, compared with an average of about $5 today. McDonalds put the Big Mac on its national menu in 1968.
Mr. Delligatti acknowledged that the Big Mac was derived from double-deck hamburgers made popular by rival fast-food restaurants. This wasnt like discovering the lightbulb, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1993. The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket. Even so, his initiative helped launch McDonalds on a long-running diversification of a menu once limited to little more than basic hamburgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks.
