The Military Rule That Invented the McDonald's Drive-Thru

The McDonald's drive-thru is so ubiquitous today that it's hard to imagine fast food without it. But this convenience was born out of necessity in 1975, thanks to a peculiar military regulation at Fort Huachuca Army Base in Arizona.

The rule was simple but strict: soldiers couldn't leave their vehicles while off-base if they were wearing fatigues. This created a frustrating problem for troops who wanted a quick meal at the McDonald's in nearby Sierra Vista, just two miles from the base.

A Business Problem Becomes an Innovation

David Rich, who opened the Sierra Vista McDonald's in 1973, watched his sales decline as military customers drove up, realized they couldn't go inside, and drove away. The regulation was costing him a significant chunk of potential revenue from the large military population.

Rather than accept the loss, Rich got creative. He extended one of the restaurant's walls and cut a window into it, then stationed an employee there to take orders from customers who pulled up in their cars. It was a simple modification that would change fast food forever.

January 24, 1975: Fast Food History

When the drive-thru officially opened on that winter day, Fort Huachuca's base commander and his daughter became the first customers. The concept was an immediate hit with the military community and civilians alike.

The innovation spread like wildfire. By the end of the 1970s, more than half of all McDonald's restaurants had added drive-thru windows. Other fast-food chains quickly followed suit, and the drive-thru became a standard feature of American dining culture.

The Legacy Lives On

The original Sierra Vista restaurant was demolished in 1999 and replaced with a newer building. But recognizing its historical significance, pieces of the original structure were auctioned off to collectors and McDonald's enthusiasts.

Today, David Rich's original drive-thru partition is preserved and displayed at the Ethel H. Berger Center, a testament to how a local solution to a military regulation problem became a global phenomenon. The next time you grab a burger without leaving your car, you can thank those Fort Huachuca soldiers and one innovative franchise owner who refused to let a uniform policy stand between them and their Big Macs.