Ray Kroc

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Ray Arthur Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American entrepreneur, most famous for significantly expanding the McDonald's Corporation from 1955. He did not actually found the restaurant chain itself, rather it 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.

1 Early life
2 McDonald's
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Early life

Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1902 and he trained to become an ambulance driver during the First World War with Walt Disney, though the war ended before Kroc ever saw any action. He tried his hand at a a number of trades including paper cup salesman and piano player, between then and the early 1950s. He eventually became a Multi-mixer milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country peddling his wares. It was this work which led him to the two brothers, Mac and Dick MacDonald, at their innovative San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant. Ray Kroc and his inventions, well his franchise has made fast food history.

[edit] McDonald's

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.

All though 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.

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.

[edit] Trivia

The Mark Knopfler song Boom, Like That (found on his 2004 album Shangri-La) tells Ray Kroc's story written from his point of view ("You gentlemen ought to expand / you're going to need a helping hand, now / so, gentlemen, well, what about me? / We'll make a little business history"). The song references and uses several quotes from Kroc's autobiography ("Competition? Send 'em south / If they're gonna drown / put a hose in their mouth" in the last verse, "dog eat dog / rat eat rat" in the chorus) and even mentions Kroc's name in the chorus.