Claims of purportedly authentic photos depicting a statue of a giant cheeseburger, specifically the popular McDonald's menu item the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, have been shared online for years.
A Reddit thread in April 2025 showed another alleged photo of the statue along with the statement, "This is an actual monument in the USA." Other users replied that the statue was allegedly located in South Dakota.
Alleged images of the Quarter Pounder statue have spread in multiple posts on X (archived, archived), Instagram (archived) and other Reddit threads going as far back as 2020.
This is an actual monument in the USA
byu/K0234 inDamnthatsinteresting
The claim that the photos authentically depict a statue of a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese in South Dakota is true. The statue in question is at a McDonald's restaurant in Rapid City, South Dakota, where it was unveiled in 2020 as part of the company's impending 50th anniversary celebration of the menu staple.
Inscribed on the statue is the Latin "calidum et deliciose succosum," which translates to "hot and deliciously juicy." Further, a 360-degree image of the statue can be seen when looking at the street view of the location in Google Maps.
The history of the statue goes back to Feb. 18, 2020, when McDonald's announced a variety of promotions to celebrate the then-upcoming 50th anniversary of its popular burger.
In a news release, the company said, "On February 26, we will be honoring one lucky city that takes their fandom for the Quarter Pounder to new heights. To pay tribute, we'll be unveiling a larger-than-life monument of this iconic burger."
The release described the scale of the sandwich by saying "the sesame seeds on the bun are more than 20 times the size you experience on the delicious Quarter Pounder." On Feb. 26, 2020, the statue was unveiled in Rapid City.
At the time of the statue's dedication, local paper the Rapid City Journal wrote, "Rapid City was identified as a top market because it uses fresh beef and all the city's McDonald's locations have extremely high volume in general," according to Josh Ullmark, district supervisor for McDonald's.
Though there are multiple McDonald's in the Rapid City area, the restaurant at 3919 Cheyenne Blvd. was ultimately chosen to host the statue "because it had the biggest lot and because of its proximity to the interstate."
Rapid City also touts a collection of presidential statues as part of its advertised tourist attractions, about which Ullmark told the Rapid City Journal, "It worked out perfect that way since we're known for the monuments anyway."
According to the paper, "the burger sculpture was designed by Utah-based sculptor Raymond Gibby, and Bott Monument of Riverton, Wyo., created the engraved pedestal."
A search for the McDonald's address on Instagram showed location results for both the restaurant (archived) and the statue itself (archived), each of which has a multitude of users sharing their own photos of the giant cheeseburger statue.
The Quarter Pounder debuted on the McDonald's menu in 1971.