Ray Kroc

Ray Arthur Kroc (born October 5, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois – died January 14, 1984) was founder of the McDonald's Corporation in 1955, although not the restaurant chain itself, which was started by Dick and Mac McDonald in 1940. Dubbed the Hamburger King, Kroc was included in the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential builders and titans of industry and amassed a $500 million fortune during his lifetime. Kroc was of Czech ancestry and was survived by his third wife, Joan B. Kroc. He was also once the owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team starting in 1974.

McDonald's

An ambulance driver in the First World War, Kroc had tried his hand at a number of trades by the early 1950s, when he was a Multimixer milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country peddling his wares. He found out two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, were using eight of his machines at their innovative San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant. Immediately realizing the potential of the brothers' business, which they had already begun to franchise, Kroc went into business with them and acquired franchising rights to open a McDonald's restaurant of his own, in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955.

Although the McDonald brothers had themselves invented the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, establishing the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant, and had begun franchising their restaurants before they met Kroc, it was he who recognized the enormous potential their restaurant had. He encouraged the brothers to put him in charge of franchising, and founded McDonald's Corporation (originally "McDonald's Systems, Inc.") with the opening of his first franchise.

Kroc's enthusiasm for the company was strong, and in his first year with McDonald's he unsuccessfully attempted to convince Walt Disney, a fellow WWI ambulance driver with whom he had been acquainted, to let him open a restaurant in the forthcoming Disneyland.

In 1961, Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for US $2.7 million. Their relationship was not harmonious, and Kroc denied them the rights to the McDonald's name for their first restaurant, opening a new McDonald's nearby to force them out of business. Under Kroc, McDonald's promulgated a version of its history that emphasized Kroc as "McDonald's founder," barely mentioning the role the McDonald brothers played. Kroc's first restaurant was inaccurately claimed to be "McDonald's #1" (it was actually the 9th McDonald's restaurant), and the company dated its founding to 1955, not 1940. However, in his autobiography he acknowledged the contributions of the McDonald Brothers.

Epilogue

In the early 1970s, Kroc became owner of the San Diego Padres, and on Opening Day in 1974 he got on the stadium public-address system to criticize the team during a poor performance, saying, "This is the stupidest ballplaying that I have ever seen."

In 1977, he wrote his autobiography, Grinding It Out, which inspired the 2004 song Boom, Like That by Mark Knopfler.

Kroc is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery, next to his wife who survived him.

Ray Kroc in Pop Culture

The single Boom, Like That from the album Shangri-La by the British guitarist Mark Knopfler features the story of Ray Kroc, including some quotations from his autobiography.

Quotes

First Sentence of his book The Making of McDonald's: I have ALWAYS believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems. (^*)

"We're not in the hamburger business, we're in show business."

"Look after the customer, and the business will take care of itself."

"Early to bed, early to rise, advertise, advertise, advertise."

"In my experience, good executives don't make mistakes".

"If you have time to lean, you have time to clean." - Ray A. Kroc

External links

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McDonald's

Epilogue

Ray Kroc in Pop Culture

Quotes

External links