McDonald's Big Mac museum opens
Robert Patterson has never eaten a Big Mac. He prefers chicken to hamburgers.
Yet the 12-year-old North Huntingdon resident waited for nearly 12 hours with two of his friends to win a Big Mac a week for a year at the grand opening of the Big Mac Museum Restaurant.
"I love McDonald's, and I love our community," said Patterson, who was first in line at the new North Huntingdon restaurant. "We had to go all summer without McDonald's. This was a great way to end the summer."
The Big Mac Museum Restaurant, on Route 30 near the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange, opened to the public Wednesday morning with a band and cheerleaders, a few speeches and hundreds of people waiting in line to order the sandwich invented in Uniontown.
The man of the hour was Jim Delligatti, 89, who is celebrating the birthday of the sandwich he invented and first served in 1967 for 45 cents.
"I just don't believe he realized the importance it would have on the American culture and the McDonald's business," said Albert Seecharan, McDonald's regional manager for Pittsburgh. Big Mac sales have grown to more than 550 million in the United States each year.
Delligatti cut the ribbon on the restaurant after Ronald McDonald led the crowd in chanting the famed Big Mac jingle, "two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun."
Delligatti said he was surprised by the day's events.
"I knew the sandwich was going to be big, but to end up with a museum like this. ...," he said.
The sandwich Delligatti invented is big, but it doesn't compare to the World's Largest Big Mac -- a statue that sits inside the restaurant's Playland area.
Delligatti's son, Michael, said he expects it will become a spot for tourists to stop and take pictures.
He said German tourism agencies already have been inquiring about it.
Robert Patterson and his buddies Johnathan Pushkar, 11, and Zach Banko, 11, placed the first orders at the restaurant at 10 a.m.
While Zach and Johnathan ordered Big Macs, Robert stuck with Chicken McNuggets -- for now.
"I'll try one," he said with a coupon book good for 52 Big Macs nearby. "My family likes Big Macs."
