Hamburger University is a training facility at the

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Corporation global headquarters in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It instructs high-potential restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner-operators in

restaurant management Restaurant management is the profession of managing a restaurant. Associate, bachelor, and graduate Academic degree, degree programs are offered in restaurant management by community colleges, junior colleges, and some universities in the United St ...

. Hamburger University’s mission is to become an “organizational culture hub, introducing a continuous education process for the value chain and transforming knowledge into actual business results.” Hamburger University students take courses about restaurant operations, leadership skills, customer service, operations, and procedures. More than 5,000 students attend Hamburger University each year and over 275,000 people have graduated with a degree in "Hamburgerology". 40% of McDonald’s global leadership has attended Hamburger University.

History

Hamburger University training started in 1961 with a class of 14 people in the basement of one of its restaurants. The educational program was operated by Fred Turner, a grill cook. Turner would eventually contribute significantly to the growth of McDonald’s and become the CEO for McDonald's for 20 years. Hamburger University was originally located on an 80-acre (32 ha) campus at the company's global headquarters in

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

from its founding until 2018, when both the McDonald's headquarters and Hamburger University moved to

West Loop The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of the ...

, Chicago, in a new complex built on the site of the former headquarters of

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

Harpo Studios Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. It is the sole subsidiary of her media and entertainment company Harpo, Inc. The name "Harpo" is ...

. The previous location in Oak Brook was purchased in June 2019 by

John Paul DeJoria John Paul Jones DeJoria (born April 13, 1944) is an American entrepreneur, self-made billionaire and philanthropist best known as a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. Due to his personal car ...

, co-founder of

John Paul Mitchell Systems John Paul Mitchell Systems (JPMS) is an American manufacturer of hair care products and styling tools through several brands including Paul Mitchell, Tea Tree, Neuro, Pro Tools, Awapuhi Wild Ginger, MITCH, MVRCK, and Professoinal Hair Color. Hi ...

Locations

Hamburger University currently has eight campuses worldwide in addition to the main campus in Chicago, Illinois: Tokyo, London, Sydney, Munich, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Moscow. The Shanghai location is housed in a 28-story building that serves as McDonald's China headquarters. The school takes up 16,846 square feet and is decorated with pictures of McDonald's products and equipment. The school accepts less than 1% of applicants.

In popular culture

Hamburger University was satirized in the 1986 comedy '' Hamburger... The Motion Picture''. It was also spoofed by McDonald's itself in a commercial with

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...

in which several

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

hamburgers were shown graduating.

References

{{McDonald's 1961 establishments in Illinois Buildings and structures in Chicago Business education Education in Chicago Educational institutions established in 1961 McDonald's McDonald's buildings and structures Training organizations