Uniontown McDonald's Franchisee Who Created Big Mac Dies
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- "Two all-beef patties, special sauce"... you know the rest. But did you know the inventor of the Big Mac was from the Pittsburgh area?
Sadly, he died Monday night in Fox Chapel, but his legacy lives on.
In April 2002, KDKA visited the Harmarville McDonalds, owned by Jim Delligatti.
Thirty-five years before that visit, he had dreamed up the triple-decker idea at his franchise in Uniontown. He said it was an experiment.
"I made the Big Mac with our regular small bun, but it was just too sloppy to move around, so I went out and got a double-cut bun to make the sandwich the way it is now. That was 1967. In 1968, it went national. Everybody had it," he said.
The Big Mac Museum opened in North Huntingdon in 2007. Customers had lined up all night, to savor the sandwich and honor the inventor.
Delligatti never shared the secret in that special sauce. But he did divulge his payment for coming up with a multi-million seller.
He received a plaque.
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