Big Mac creator Jim Delligatti dies at 98

[kscarbel2 3,293]

The Wall Street Journal  /  November 30, 2016

As a McDonald’s Corp. franchisee in the Pittsburgh area, Jim Delligatti in the mid-1960s believed the burgers-and-fries menu needed something bigger and 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., McDonald’s 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. McDonald’s 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 wasn’t 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 McDonald’s on a long-running diversification of a menu once limited to little more than basic hamburgers, fries, shakes and soft drinks.

The corporate headquarters initially opposed Mr. Delligatti’s plan to use a triple-deck bun with sesame seeds, said Michael Delligatti, one of his sons. But the elder Mr. Delligatti went ahead with the new bun anyway. Without it, he thought, the Big Mac would be too sloppy.

In recent years, the Big Mac’s appeal has faded as McDonald’s has struggled to find ways to entice customers back from rivals whose food is widely seen as fresher, healthier and hipper. The Big Mac “has gotten less relevant,” a top McDonald’s franchisee wrote in a memo to other operators in July. Only one in five millennials has tried a Big Mac, the memo said.

“We still sell lots of Big Macs,” said Michael Delligatti. He added that he didn’t oppose tinkering with the original formula, such as by adding Sriracha sauce.

Mr. Delligatti didn’t receive royalties on Big Mac sales. “All I got was a plaque,” he once said.

Michael James Delligatti was born Aug. 2, 1918, in Uniontown, about 45 miles south of Pittsburgh. His father worked as a shoe cobbler and candy maker. The younger Mr. Delligatti attended school in Uniontown and in Fairmont, W.Va., then served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. After the war, he hitchhiked to California and found work in drive-in restaurants there.

In 1953, he and a partner opened Delney’s Drive-In Restaurant in Pittsburgh. Two years later, Mr. DelliGatti met Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, at a restaurant trade show in Chicago. He became a franchisee of McDonald’s in 1957, opening an outlet in Pittsburgh, the first in western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Delligatti is survived by his wife, Ellie, two sons, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. His two sons and two of his grandchildren are McDonald’s franchisees. In all, the family owns and operates 21 McDonald’s restaurants in western Pennsylvania.

In 2007, the family opened a McDonald’s Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pa., near Pittsburgh.

Mr. Delligatti also innovated by coming up with an early version of the chain’s breakfast offerings—hotcakes and sausages initially aimed at steelworkers returning home from overnight shifts.

He wasn’t alone among franchisees in coming up with a hit product. McDonald’s said other franchisees invented the Egg McMuffin and the Filet-O-Fish.

Mr. Delligatti’s charitable contributions included backing for the Ronald McDonald House in Pittsburgh, which provides a refuge for families traveling to the area to get medical care for their children.

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[mowerman 1,534]

That's one of the only things I like about MacDonald's everything else there pretty much sucks they do have good coffee.icecream and mcgriddle .lol.bob

[Timmyb 664]

I agree Bob, nothing wrong with a good Ol Big Mac! In moderation of course!

[gearhead204 1,820]

that man has helped a lot of old cows find their resting place! 

[Vladislav 2,168]

Hmm, never got my mind about that. Sadly or happily nobody knows how old or young those cows were.

Interesting that the fact of the Big Mac creator's death was shared on local news.

Big Mac itself is a tasty thing on my mind. I always have troubles putting it in the mouth to bite off a bit though. So it's not my cup of tea in general.

[mowerman 1,534]

On 12/2/2016 at 10:41 AM, Timmyb said:

I agree Bob, nothing wrong with a good Ol Big Mac! In moderation of course!

ya i usually dont go there,but i usually dont eat out at all.....usually dont have to,,,but if im out and about,,,and everyone one else is going there...lol,,but yes i will buy those items  on accation

i used to love thier french fries....but they made them all healthy now,,,,or atleast tryed to   and thier lousy now,,,,,they burn them up trying to get rid of all the grease....even had a kid that works there tell me the same thing,,,he doesnt like them anymore either since they tryed to make them more calorie free for the fat people that cant control thier eating habits,,,,now the rest of us have to pay the price.... im expecting they dont sell too many of them now.....and even the fat people that were complaining about calories dont buy them,because they dont taste good now,,,,so all they did was loose sales trying to please the overweight public.lol.

they even took out the sweets from the happy meal and put in apples and healthy stuff for the fat kids and i was thinking what the hell is this????????? why do the skinny kids have to pay for this??????? not every kid is fat,,,,if they are,,,dont bring them to macdonalds.....its not rocket science.....if your that dumb,,,,,you shouldnt be reproducing in the first place.you know the general public realizes its good greasy fattening mcshit food and we all only go there for that very thing,,,,nobody would make a steady diet of it.    its just a nice little treat once in a while....bob

[carlotpilot 1,250]

I can remember   a   hamburger-ff  and a small coke from mcds for 25 cents  make it a cheeseburger for 30 cents          how about that? 

Edited December 4, 2016 by carlotpilot

[Vladislav 2,168]

When the very first McDonald's was opened in Moscow in 1989, a hamburger and cheeseburger cost 3 Roubles apiece. And bigmac was 5. I suppose the government rated Rouble officially as 0.96R to 1 Dollar those days. Sure nobody could change them that way. People would pay 30 Roubles per one American Dollar and there probably still jail was for such a business.

Anyway one trip to Mc with a girlfriend worth nearly 25 Roubles to spend (for me). And it was far ways off nice with an avarage income of 250 Roubles a month in the city.

I was a schoolboy those days, was modelbuilding "commercially" and dreaming for a Mack.

[kscarbel2 3,293]

50 years on, McDonald's isn't messing with its Big Mac

Associated Press  /  July 30, 2018

McDonald’s is fighting to hold onto customers as the Big Mac turns 50, but it's not messing with the makings of its most famous burger.

The company is celebrating the 1968 national launch of the double-decker sandwich whose ingredients of "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun" were seared into American memories by a TV jingle. But the milestone comes as the company reduces its number of U.S. stores. McDonald's said Thursday that customers are visiting less often. Other more trendy burger options are reaching into the heartland.

The "Golden Arches" still have a massive global reach, and the McDonald's brand of cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and french fries remains recognizable around the world. But on its critical home turf, the company is toiling to stay relevant. Kale now appears in salads, fresh has replaced frozen beef patties in Quarter Pounders, and some stores now offer ordering kiosks, food delivery and barista-style cafes.

The Big Mac remains unchanged, showing just how much McDonald's and the rest of fast-food have evolved.

"Clearly, we've gotten a little more sophisticated in our menu development," McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a phone interview.

As with many of its popular and long-lasting menu items, the idea for the Big Mac came from a franchisee.

In 1967, Michael James "Jim" Delligatti lobbied the company to let him test the burger at his Pittsburgh restaurants. Later, he acknowledged the Big Mac's similarity to a popular sandwich sold by the Big Boy chain.

"This wasn't like discovering the light bulb. The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket," Delligatti said, according to "Behind the Arches."

McDonald's agreed to let Delligatti sell the sandwich at a single location, on the condition that he use the company's standard bun. It didn't work. Delligatti tried a bigger sesame seed bun, and the burger soon lifted sales by more than 12 percent.

After similar results at more stores, the Big Mac was added to the national menu in 1968. Other ideas from franchisees that hit the big time include the Filet-O-Fish, Egg McMuffin, Apple Pie (once deep-fried but now baked), and the Shamrock Shake.

"The company has benefited from the ingenuity of its small business men," wrote Ray Kroc, who transformed the McDonald's into a global franchise, in his book, "Grinding It Out."

Franchisees still play an important role, driving the recent switch to fresh from frozen for the beef in Quarter Pounders, Easterbrook says. They also participate in menu development, which in the U.S. has included a series of cooking tweaks intended to improve taste.

Messing with a signature menu item can be taboo, but keeping the Big Mac unchanged comes with its own risks. Newer chains such as Shake Shack and Five Guys offer burgers that can make the Big Mac seem outdated. Even White Castle is modernizing, recently adding plant-based "Impossible Burger" sliders at some locations.

A McDonald's franchisee fretted in 2016 that only one out of five millennials has tried the Big Mac. The Big Mac had "gotten less relevant," the franchisee wrote in a memo, according to the Wall Street Journal.

McDonald's then ran promotions designed to introduce the Big Mac to more people. Those kind of periodic campaigns should help keep the Big Mac relevant for years to come, says Mike Delligatti, the son of the Big Mac inventor, who died last year.

"What iconic sandwich do you know that can beat the Big Mac as far as longevity?" said Delligatti, himself a McDonald's franchisee.

[h67st 488]

I'll have to go in Thursday and get one of those Big Mac coins.

https://triblive.com/lifestyles/fooddrink/13918349-74/mcdonalds-maccoins-will-be-good-for-free-big-macs

[kscarbel2 3,293]

The apple pies used to be rather good when they were deep-fried. The baked ones today are terrible.

[gxbxc 57]

Shake shack and five guys are just small potatoes in the game ,and I do not like either one 

[Hobert62 1,013]

8 hours ago, h67st said:

I'll have to go in Thursday and get one of those Big Mac coins.

https://triblive.com/lifestyles/fooddrink/13918349-74/mcdonalds-maccoins-will-be-good-for-free-big-macs

I don't like the Big Mac I usually get a double 1/4 pounder.   But I think I'm gonna get some too 

[grayhair 819]

13 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

The apple pies used to be rather good when they were deep-fried. The baked ones today are terrible.

I've been told the apple and cherry pies which were a real money-maker for franchisees here in the U.S. were a complete failure in Japan.  Taste was just too sweet.  McDonald's then introduced the taro root pies in Japan and sales picked up right away...

[kscarbel2 3,293]

5 minutes ago, grayhair said:

I've been told the apple and cherry pies which were a real money-maker for franchisees here in the U.S. were a complete failure in Japan.  Taste was just too sweet.  McDonald's then introduced the taro root pies in Japan and sales picked up right away...

Taro and pineapple.

[Mack Technician 524]

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 8:04 PM, grayhair said:

I've been told the apple and cherry pies which were a real money-maker for franchisees here in the U.S. were a complete failure in Japan.  Taste was just too sweet.  McDonald's then introduced the taro root pies in Japan and sales picked up right away...

Funny. Japanese folks really can’t handle sweet.

On our honeymoon We hit a bakery in Tokyo that had all the outward makings of an incredible donut shop till you bite in and the things we’re all low sugar. Pizza was unbearable. Explains lifespan differential.

When they came to America the Japanese friends wanted My wife to make “the S’mores things”. Put em into a gag. The taste and sensation of peanut butter also gags.

Up here folks run to Chips. I think it was a small Wisconsin franchise back when, but now only three exist. Novelty.

https://chipshamburgersmerrill.com/

 

Edited August 2 by Mack Technician

[BillyT 524]

I always preferred the "big boy" burger they sold at Eat'n Park restaurant to the big Mac they had a lot of locations in the Pittsburgh area.

[mowerman 1,534]

i had a real good burger and fries and shake saturday at red robins,,,,,only second time ive been there.....i dont know if any of you fellas have them east of the mississippi...thier pretty common here...bob

[carlotpilot 1,250]

2 hours ago, mowerman said:

i had a real good burger and fries and shake saturday at red robins,,,,,only second time ive been there.....i dont know if any of you fellas have them east of the mississippi...thier pretty common here...bob

we do have a few back here  can`t say much for the ones i have tried, one in ny &1 or2 in pa

[66dc75 664]

3 hours ago, mowerman said:

i had a real good burger and fries and shake saturday at red robins,,,,,only second time ive been there.....i dont know if any of you fellas have them east of the mississippi...thier pretty common here...bob

Got Red Robins in Plymouth Wareham, Foxboro and Braintree. I'm sure you remember where those towns are Bob. All the steak fries you can eat but they bring only 3 at a time

[Hobert62 1,013]

2 hours ago, 66dc75 said:

. All the steak fries you can eat but they bring only 3 at a time

Same here in central pa 

[mowerman 1,534]

12 hours ago, 66dc75 said:

Got Red Robins in Plymouth Wareham, Foxboro and Braintree. I'm sure you remember where those towns are Bob. All the steak fries you can eat but they bring only 3 at a time

Yes I used to deliver for Nissans in wareham....bob

[mowerman 1,534]

Only time I was in Plymouth was around 14 saw the rock lol...bob

[mowerman 1,534]

I was very disturbed lately I was told Salisbury beach amusement s were closed and so was Lincoln Park and wonderland dog track like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???????? My wife’s daughter lives there now she married a guy from Dorchester my wife goes out there all the time to visit grand babies.....bob

[mowerman 1,534]

10 hours ago, Hobert62 said:

Same here in central pa 

I actually got the salad come to think of it the salad wasn’t too good kind of dry but the burger and shake was real good and I only needed one bowl...bob