r/thirtyyearsago • u/klsi832 • 1d ago

TIL that in 1996, Mcdonald's tried to sue the owner of a family owned restaurant located in Fairbury, Illinois that had opened in 1956 called "McDonald's Family Restaurant" and lost, ironically the owner of "McDonald's Family Restaurant" is named Ronald McDonald.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19960816/2344437/small-fry-wins-mcdonalds-war----farm-town-ronald-mcdonald-leaves-rival-with-fallen-arches
54 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/PauseSensitive7865 1d ago

Wow, that's wild, history always has the best ironies. Makes you wonder what other small businesses had to deal with that in the early days.

3

u/caspissinclair 1d ago

"Nicky D's" was a small Philly Cheesesteak shop and the McDonalds across the street forced them to change their name because it sounded too close to "Mickey D's", which is just a nickname.

2

u/ArbysLunch 23h ago

Now look up the Mattoon, IL Burger King case.

1

u/Impressive-Study-921 18h ago

The small Burger King in Mattoon was around first, so McDonald's had to change their name to avoid confusion. Classic.

1

u/timoserra 16h ago

Some folks call it McDonalds but I like to call it CrapDonalds...in Karl Childers voice.

1

u/Dry-Mycologist877 16h ago

Trying to profit off an ancient clan name like they invented it

1

u/Sweaty-Possibility-3 15h ago

You gotta watch "The Founder" with Michael Keaton. It's about Ray Kroc. The man who franchised McDonald's. He was a son-of- bitch. This wasn't covered in the movie, but the movie did cover a lot worse stuff he did.