The Quarter Pounder is a hamburger

Hamburger

A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...

 product sold by international fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 chain

Chain store

Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...

 McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

, originally containing a patty with a precooked weight of a quarter of a pound (whole burger).

History

The Quarter Pounder was created by Al Bernardin

Al Bernardin

Al Bernardin was an American restaurateur and businessman who invented the McDonald's Quarter Pounder in 1971 as a franchise owner in Fremont, California. The creation of the Quarter Pounder earned him the nickname "Fremont's hamburger king."Bernadin later became McDonald's vice president of...

, a franchise

Franchising

Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

 owner and former McDonald's Vice President of product development, in Fremont, California

Fremont, California

Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...

, in 1971. Bernardin had moved to Fremont in 1970 after purchasing two company-owned McDonald's restaurants.

Bernardin began experimenting with new menu items for his McDonald's franchises. According to a 1991 interview

Interview

An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...

, Bernardin noted that he "felt there was a void in our menu vis-à-vis

Vis-à-vis

Vis-à-vis may refer to:* Vis-à-vis * "Vis à Vis" , an episode of Star Trek: Voyager...

 the adult who wanted a higher ratio of meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

 to bun

Bun

A bun is a small, usually sweet, bread. Commonly they are hand-sized or smaller, domed in shape, with a flat bottom. A bun can also be a savory bread roll similar to a bap or barmcake....

." In 1971, Bernardin introduced the first Quarter Pounders at his McDonald's in Fremont using the slogan

Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...

, "Today Fremont, tomorrow the world." His Quarter Pounder became a success and was added to the national American menu in 1972.

In early 2007 the meat in the United Kingdom changed to "Moo Meat", a new style patty which has a smaller diameter but larger height. The new patty is more like a "home-made" burger than the older ones.

In November 2008, McDonald's Japan (which did not ordinarily offer the Quarter Pounder) converted two Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 restaurants into "Quarter Pounder" branded restaurants which only sold Quarter Pounder meals. These promotional branches closed on 27 November 2008 coinciding with the re-introduction of the Quarter Pounder at regular McDonald's branches throughout the Kantō (Tokyo) region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....

 from 28 November. The Quarter Pounder was launched at one McDonald's restaurant in the Kansai (Osaka) region on 23 December 2008. It was later reported that 15,000 customers had visited the restaurant on the first day, generating a record 10.02 million yen in sales for a single restaurant in one day. It was however also revealed that McDonald's had hired 1,000 "extras" to queue up on the first day. McDonald's Japan explained that the hirees were used for "product monitoring purposes".

Product description

The burger comprises a beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

 patty

Patty

A patty is a flattened cake, often of meat.Patty may also refer to:* Patty , a family name* Patricia, a female given name, in all forms of English* Patrick , a male given name, in Australian English and Hiberno-English...

 weighing 4 oz (113 g) before cooking and 3 oz prepared, pickles

Pickles

Pickles may refer to:* A pickled cucumber, the food most commonly referred to as a pickle in the U.S. and Canada* A pickled onion, the food most commonly referred to as a pickle in the UK* Other vegetables that have been pickled...

, raw onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

, ketchup

Ketchup

Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...

, and mustard

Mustard (condiment)

Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...

. The more common variant, the Quarter Pounder with cheese, adds two slices of American cheese

American cheese

American cheese is a processed cheese. It is orange, yellow, or white in color and mild in flavor, with a medium-firm consistency, and melts easily. American cheese was originally only white, but is usually now modified to yellow. In the past it was made from a blend of cheeses, most often Colby...

.

In most markets unfamiliar with imperial measurements

English unit

English units are the historical units of measurement used in England up to 1824, which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units...

, the Quarter Pounder is known as the Hamburger Royale or McRoyal, or variants thereof, including "Royale with Cheese", as famously explained in the film Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction (film)

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

(although one should note that in France the official name of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is Royal Cheese). In English-speaking countries that have adopted metrication

Metrication

Metrication refers to the introduction and use of the SI metric system, the international standard for physical measurements. This has involved a long process of independent and systematic conversions of countries from various local systems of weights and measures. Metrication began in France in...

, the burger retains the Quarter Pounder name, although in the French-speaking province of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 it is directly translated to "Quart de Livre" and "Quart de Livre avec fromage". Quarterão com Queijo is used in metric Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, "Royal Cheese" in Portugal,Cuarto de Libra con Queso in Spain and in Latin America, Quarter Pounder is used in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and the QP Cheese is found in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. In South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 there are two variations; the Quarter Pounder with cheese, and the Quarter Pounder Deluxe. In some Middle-Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 and United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, McDonald's provides both a Quarter Pounder and a McRoyale burger on its menu, the McRoyale having slightly different ingredients. In Chinese markets, the Quarter Pounder is known as a "full three taels" because three tael

Tael

Tael can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency....

s is approximately equal in weight to a quarter pound. In Russia, it is known as Royal Cheeseburger.

The nutritional content of the Quarter Pounder varies between countries and locations; for example, in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, which uses local beef for its McDonald's products, the average Quarter Pounder has a higher protein value of 33.7g per serving, in comparison to those found in the United States. However, such values do not account for exactly all burgers within a location, as variation is always a possibility.

Other quarter-pound hamburgers

Although they are most commonly associated with McDonald's, many other hamburger outlets sell or have sold quarter-pound hamburgers. "Quarter Pounder" is a trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 in the United States, but outlets in some other countries have been able to use similar names for their own products, such as the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Wimpy

Wimpy (brand)

Wimpy is the brand name of a chain of fast-food hamburger restaurants based in the United Kingdom.-History:The Wimpy brand was created in the 1930s. The name was inspired by the character of J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons created by E. C. Segar...

chain's "Quarterpounder."