McDonald's

Nobody sells more burgers. McDonald’s began as a single drive-in run by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California, and became a burger machine in 1948, when the brothers threw out most of the menu and rebuilt the kitchen like a production line. Ray Kroc, a salesman who sold them milkshake mixers, started franchising it in 1955 and later bought the brothers out.

What makes it worth a whole section here is not the Big Mac. It is how different the menu gets once you leave America. India builds its bestseller around a spiced potato patty. Korea glazes pork in bulgogi sauce, Japan does teriyaki, and the Gulf wraps grilled chicken in flatbread. Same arches, completely different burgers.

Below is the burger menu and nothing else: the core American lineup first, the regional specials after, and every one I have rebuilt at home linked straight to the recipe.

Most of the famous burgers were not invented at head office. The Filet-O-Fish came from a Cincinnati franchisee in 1962 who was losing Friday customers to a rival that sold a fish sandwich. The Big Mac came from a franchisee near Pittsburgh in 1967 and went national a year later. The Quarter Pounder followed in 1971, and the McRib arrived in 1981 before starting its long habit of disappearing and coming back.

More than 40,000 restaurants in over 100 countries.