In 1975, McDonald’s opened its first drive-through restaurant in Sierra Vista, Arizona—a small town closely connected to nearby Fort Huachuca, a major U.S. Army installation. At the time, base regulations prohibited soldiers from leaving their vehicles while wearing military fatigues off post, making it inconvenient for them to stop at local restaurants.
Rather than forgo this steady stream of customers, the Sierra Vista McDonald’s adapted. It allowed uniformed soldiers to order and receive food directly from their cars. What began as a pragmatic solution to a local military rule quickly revealed its broader appeal. The system was fast, efficient, and perfectly aligned with McDonald’s emphasis on standardized service and rapid turnover.
The experiment’s success had far-reaching consequences. Drive-through service spread rapidly to McDonald’s locations across the country and soon became a cornerstone of the fast-food industry. What started as an accommodation for military personnel evolved into a dominant mode of food service, reshaping consumer expectations and reinforcing America’s car-centered culture.
A regulation intended to enforce military discipline inadvertently helped transform how millions of Americans ate—embedding speed, convenience, and mobility into everyday life, one drive-through window at a time.
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