Ray Kroc(October 5, 1902 - January 14, 1984)

Before setting up the a fast-food restaurant chain, Ray Kroc was a high school dropout,
ambulance driver, jazz pianist, Florida real-estate salesman, radio station manager, and paper cup
salesman.
In 1954 he was a distributor for a line of blenders which could mix 5 milk shakes at the same
time. One of his customers was a restaurant in San Bernardino, California owned by Maurice and
Richard McDonald.
Kroc set up a chain of drive-in restaurants based on the McDonald brothers model of assembly
line preparation for high volume food sales. He opened his first restaurant on April 15, 1955 in
Des Plaines, Illinois. By 1961 he had 228 restaurants and he bought out the McDonald brothers.
When he died in 1984 there were over 7,500 McDonald's restaurants.

Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984)[1] was an American
businessman who took over the small-scale McDonald's Corporation franchise in 1954 and built
it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The
Most Important People of the Century,[2] and amassed a $500 million fortune during his lifetime.
[3]
He was also the owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team starting in 1974.

Founder of McDonald's Corp.Founded: 1955

"The definition of salesmanship is the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way."-Ray
Kroc

amburger U
Ray Kroc believed that the success of his company lay in his franchisees following "the
McDonald's Method" to the letter. To ensure this, he developed a 75-page manual that outlined
every aspect of running a McDonald's operation. Nothing was left to interpretation. Burgers had
to be exactly 1.6 ounces, served with a quarter ounce of onion, a teaspoon of mustard and a
tablespoon of ketchup. Fries had to be cut at nine-thirtyseconds of an inch thick. The manual
even specified how often the restaurant needed to be cleaned.

In 1961, Kroc came up with a way to gain even greater control over his franchisees. In the
basement of a McDonald's in Elk Grove, Illinois, he opened a training center that would
eventually become Hamburger University, where students earned their degrees in
"Hamburgerology" with a minor in french fries.

McTrivia

• There are more than 25,000 McDonald's in operation worldwide today.

• 1 in 8 Americans has worked for McDonald's
• According to a recent survey, the McDonald's golden arches are now more recognizable
around the world than the Christian cross.

http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/ray-kroc/index.htm
Ray Kroc was the mastermind behind the worldwide McDonald's fast food franchise. He bought
the fledgling restaurant chain in 1955 and grew it into the largest, most influential fast food chain
in the world.

Ray Kroc was born on October 5, 1902 to Czech-Americans in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of
four, Kroc's father took him to phrenologist, a person who determines fate based on the shape
of someone's skull. The Phrenologist told young Ray Kroc that he would someday work in food
service. But, as the first World War erupted, Kroc became interested in learning how to drive
ambulances for the war effort instead. The war, however, ended before he had a chance to test
his training and Kroc looked elsewhere for employment.

During the late 1950s, Kroc tried his hand at selling paper cups and even worked as a pianist for
a short period of time before settling into a position as a milkshake machine salesman. He
traveled around the country and sold milkshake machines to various different cafes and
restaurants, all the while observing the layout and management of the industry. Kroc was
convinced that many restaurants suffered from poor management and were not living up to their
potential. It was during this time that he ran across a small hamburger restaurant in San
Bernardino, California named McDonald's.

The restaurant, owned by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, ran eight of the same
milkshake machines sold by the fifty-two year old Kroc. Since each machine could spin five
milkshakes at once, Kroc was intrigued by the idea of a restaurant that needed the ability to
make forty milkshakes at a time. He traveled to California and, upon seeing the orderly, efficient
restaurant that served a huge community, Ray Kroc was convinced he could sell the machines
to every McDonald store that opened.

In order to capitalize on the venture, Kroc approached the brothers with a business plan and
they eventually settled on a deal. As a result of the partnership, however, Kroc would receive
only 1.4% of the franchisees' profit, giving 0.5% to the brothers. It didn't take very long for Kroc
to realize that his profit would be minimal. So, in order to gain access to more of his investment,
Ray Kroc convinced the brothers to sell him the rights to the McDonald's name.

Kroc envisioned a restaurant that ran like a factory and produced hot food, fast service, and with
consistent quality no matter where he opened a restaurant. He saw food preparation as a
process and broke it down into steps that could be duplicated in any of his restaurants. This way
he could keep the product the same no matter where the McDonald's was located.

Low franchise fees made it easy to open new stores but cut into any potential profits for Kroc.
As a result, Kroc decided to purchase the land on which McDonald's would open and ultimately
serve as a landlord. He set up the Franchise Realty Corporation in 1956 and was able to
purchase tracts of land in order to help him produce a profit for his company. By 1960 there
were over 200 McDonald's around the United States. (Kroc saw his franchise as a way to sell as
service, not food. After all, Big Boy, Dairy Queen, and A&W were already established restaurant
chains. Ray Kroc needed McDonald's to stand out. Consistency was the key and he made sure
that every McDonald's ran the same. He established national advertising campaigns to support
his restaurants and took the brand international in 1971 to Japan and Germany.

Ray Kroc died on January 14, 1984 of old age. At the time he was worth an estimated $500
million.