Hamburger University


Hamburger University is a training facility of McDonald's, located in the West Loop of Chicago, Illinois. This corporate university was designed to instruct personnel employed by McDonald's in the various aspects of restaurant management. More than 80,000 restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner-operators have graduated from the university.
Prior to 2018, Hamburger University was situated on an campus in Oak Brook, Illinois. Starting in 2017, McDonald's put up for sale or sold most of its Oak Brook campus. John Paul DeJoria, the billionaire who co-founded John Paul Mitchell Systems, purchased the original Oak Brook complex for an undisclosed amount in June 2019. Restaurant employees receive approximately 32 hours of training in their first month with McDonald's and more than 5,000 students attend Hamburger University each year. Founder Ray Kroc oversaw lessons at its beginning. In 2011, about 275,000 people were recorded graduates from Hamburger University.
In 2016, McDonald's Corporation announced it would move its U.S. and world headquarters including Hamburger University from its long-time home in Oak Brook to a newly built complex on property which formerly housed Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios in Chicago.

In popular culture

Hamburger University was satirized in the 1986 comedy Hamburger... The Motion Picture. It was also spoofed by McDonald's itself in a commercial with Ronald McDonald in which several animatronic hamburgers were shown graduating from school.