Ray Kroc – how the fast food empire was created
Ray Kroc is the founder of McDonald’s fast food chain. He was born in 1902 and died in 1984 – for his contribution to the development of the food industry, he entered the top 100 most influential people of the 20th century according to Time magazine. Raymond Kroc was the man who began by self-cleaning tables in his first restaurant, and made $500 million at the end of his life. So how was the Ray Kroc empire created? In fact, this is the case when everything went against the entrepreneur, but he was able to resist all adversity and create a company that is known in every corner of the globe.
Ray Kroc: How was the fast food empire created?
Ray’s parents were immigrants from the Czech Republic. Kroc’s father worked for Western Union, and his mother was a housewife. Besides Ray, there were two other children in the family. Raymond loved baseball, and when he got rich, he even bought out a club in the National League. Kroc’s parents weren’t very rich, and little Ray helped them as much as he could. That’s how he learned not to be afraid of any job, and he had a craving for perfect cleanliness like his grandmother. Ray’s specialty from a young age was his oratorical abilities and charisma, so he saw himself in trade.
Kroc hit the jackpot when he was already a war veteran, arthritis and diabetes sufferer, in his pre-retirement years. He was 52 years old. Ray was a musician on the radio, director of a record store, a salesman and a real estate broker.
In the late 30’s there was a multi-mixer, which could simultaneously beat up to 5 cocktails. Kroc started his own company with these machines. He began to invent his own cocktails, and things went up, but not for long – during the Second World War, the business was on the verge of bankruptcy, because the mixers needed copper. Nevertheless, the entrepreneur managed to survive, after the war he sold 9000 mixers. Then, in the 50s, there were more modern models, and Kroc’s sales began to fall. He got calls from clients asking for the same mixers as the McDonald brothers. Troubled, he went to their restaurant to find out what the wonders of technology they were installing and why they had so many mixers.
Once at the diner, he was pleasantly surprised. Orders were issued in 15 seconds, and everywhere it was clean and as automated as possible. The McDonald brothers were happy to run their business, but were not going to expand to the whole world, but Kroc saw great prospects in their restaurant. He persuaded them to sell him a license to distribute the McDonald’s format.
In 1955, Ray created the company “McDonald’s System Inc” and applied a completely new approach to franchising thanks to which his fast food chain was able to achieve such popularity . He helped his clients to achieve the highest possible goals, advised, helped with the establishment of all business processes. In his first year, a Chicago-based journalist became one of his customers. He bought a license for $950, and profits reached several hundred dollars every day. The journalist became the first franchisee, who got rich on McDonald’s, bought a luxury house and became a member of a decent society. This story played into Kroc’s hand, and after such a PR campaign clients began to line up for him. Crock also opened his own restaurant in Des Plaines.
In 1061, the McDonald brothers sold the entire trade mark to Kroc. In 1965, the world first saw the clown Ronald McDonald. He became the second most popular hero for children, after Santa Claus. In 1961, Kroc opened the first University of Hamburgerology – now there are 7 of them in the world, they teach corporate standards of the company.
