The Inventor of the Big Mac Has Died

Delligatti also pioneered the hotcakes and sausage meal to cater to steelworkers who wanted to get a hot breakfast after working the overnight shift at the steel plant.

Neither the humpbacked 747 nor the cherry-red public buses that crisscross London surpass the Big Mac as the world’s most famous double-decker. His franchise was based in Uniontown, about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh, that grew to 48 stores over a period of more than 25 years. Though it seems absurd today, McDonald’s was hesitant to the idea of the Big Mac because its basic menu was selling well.

Jim Delligatti, the McDonald’s franchise owner who invented the Big Mac, died Monday at his home in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania.

The contents of the sandwich, immortalised by the popular jingle “two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun” are generally the same worldwide, although prices and nutrition value varies.

Delligatti became a McDonald’s franchisee in 1957.

Since then McDonald’s has sold billions of Big Macs in more than 100 countries.

Delligatti was a McDonald’s Corp. franchisee and he introduced the sandwich back in 1967. Delligatti believed American customers were seeking something bigger.

The statement also said Delligatti was a legendary franchisee within the company’s system.

The original Big Mac advertisement from 1967. And in a 23-year-old Associated Press interview, Delligatti said it took him two years to convince McDonald’s corporate leaders to try the Big Mac concept. ‘The bulb was already there.

So Delligatti made and sold Big Macs in his Pittsburgh-area restaurants, experimenting with the special sauce along the way, until eventually, McDonald’s executives came around and began selling the Big Mac nationally.

Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on August 2,1918, Michael James Delligatti was the son of a candy maker and shoe cobbler. He’s even written a book about his obsession, titled “22,477 Big Macs”. Mr. Delligatti’s funeral will be held Saturday at St. Joseph’s Parish in O’Hara.