Delligatti was a McDonald’s Corp. franchisee and he introduced the sandwich back in 1967. McDonald’s released a statement saying Delligatti died on November 28 in Pittsburgh.
McDonald’s introduced the Big Mac nationally in 1968, after Delligatti started selling it in his Uniontown, PA franchise location. On the Big Mac’s 40th anniversary, the company said it was selling more than half a billion Big Macs every year.
McDonalds jLys4z8I6z
— sf3 (@yurmomashouse) November 30, 2016
The statement also said Delligatti was a legendary franchisee within the company’s system. Delligatti owned almost 50 McDonald’s restaurants in Western PA, which made him one of the company’s largest franchise holders.
In 2006, Delligatti revealed that at first, McDonald’s wasn’t too keen on the idea of rolling out the Big Mac. This is because the company was already selling a lot of burgers.
However, he was persistent and eventually McDonald’s decided to sell the Big Mac. Since then, it has become one of the most popular items on the company’s menu.
McDonald’s sent out a Tweet, saying they were celebrating 98 inspirational years of the Big Mac inventor. The post continued to say thanks to Jim and that they will forever remember him.
Today, we celebrate the 98 inspirational years of Big Mac inventor, Michael “Jim” Delligatti. Jim, we thank and will forever remember you. wmEFrmazdn
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) November 30, 2016
