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Who is Ray Kroc?
Ray Kroc was an American entrepreneur best known for expanding McDonald’s from a local chain to the world’s most profitable restaurant franchise operation.
What was the goal of Kroc?
Kroc focused his efforts on growing suburban areas, capturing new markets with familiar food and low prices. While some criticized the nutritional content of McDonald’s food, its treatment of teenage workers and Kroc's reputation for ruthless business dealings, the model he engineered proved extremely profitable.
What did McDonald's do under Kroc's ownership?
Under Kroc’s ownership, McDonald’s retained some of its original character while incorporating new elements. Kroc kept the assembly-line approach to hamburger preparation that the McDonald brothers pioneered in the 1940s while taking care to streamline operations across every restaurant. Franchise owners, chosen for their ambition and drive, went through a training course at “Hamburger University” in Elk Grove, Illinois. There, they earned certificates in “hamburgerology with a minor in french fries.” Kroc focused his efforts on growing suburban areas, capturing new markets with familiar food and low prices.
What movie did Michael Keaton play in after Kroc's death?
In 2016, more than three decades after his death, Kroc's story made it to the big screen in the movie The Founder, starring Michael Keaton as the massively successful businessman.
When did Kroc buy McDonald's?
Kroc purchased the company outright in 1961, and his strict operational guidelines helped transform McDonald's into the world’s largest restaurant franchise before his death in 1984, at the age of 81.
Who was the Red Cross driver in World War 1?
Kroc participated in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver, lying about his age to begin serving at 15. During his training, Kroc met Walt Disney, with whom he would maintain a professional relationship for most of his life.
Who was the chairman of McDonald's in 1977?
These innovations contributed to the success of the McDonald’s brand on a global scale. In 1977, Kroc reassigned himself to the role of senior chairman, a position he held for the rest of his life.
What did Ray Kroc do for McDonald's?
Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation, which was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every burger would taste the same in New York or Tokyo. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not correct or to customers who had to wait more than 5 minutes for their food. However, Kroc let the franchisees decide their best approach to marketing the products. For example, Willard Scott created the figure now known internationally as Ronald McDonald to improve sales in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Ray Kroc is used as an extensive example in George Ritzer's sociological writings.
How much did Kroc buy McDonald's?
Kroc eventually became frustrated with the brothers' desire to maintain only a small number of restaurants. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million (enough to pay each brother $1 million each after taxes). (When negotiating the contract the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive.)
Who was Ray Kroc?
In 1917, 15-year-old Ray Kroc lied about his age to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver, but the war ended before he completed his training. He then worked as a piano player, a paper cup salesman and a Multimixer salesman. In 1954, he visited a restaurant in San Bernardino, California that had purchased several Multimixers. There he found a small but successful restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, and was stunned by the effectiveness of their operation. The McDonald’s brothers produced a limited menu, concentrating on just a few items – burgers, fries and beverages – which allowed them to focus on quality and quick service.
What is Ray Kroc's legacy?
From his passion for innovation and efficiency, to his relentless pursuit of quality, to his many charitable contributions, Ray Kroc’s legacy continues to be an inspirational and integral part of McDonald’s – today and into the future.
What is Kroc's philosophy?
So while many of McDonald’s most famous menu items – like the Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, and Egg McMuffin – were created by franchisees, the McDonald’s operating system required franchisees to follow the core McDonald’s principles of quality, service, cleanliness and value.
What did Ray Kroc want?
Ray Kroc wanted to build a restaurant system that would be famous for providing food of consistent ly high quality and uniform methods of preparation. He wanted to serve burgers, fries and beverages that tasted just the same in Alaska as they did in Alabama .
What did the McDonald's brothers do?
The McDonald’s brothers produced a limited menu, concentrating on just a few items – burgers, fries and beverages – which allowed them to focus on quality and quick service. They were looking for a new franchising agent and Kroc saw an opportunity.
Did Ray Kroc stop working at McDonald's?
The Legend Lives On. Right up until he died on January 14, 1984, Ray Kroc never stopped working for McDonald’s. His legacy continues to this day, providing McDonald’s customers with great tasting, affordable food; crew and franchisees with opportunities for growth; and suppliers with a shared commitment to provide the highest quality ingredients ...
Who is Joan Kroc?
Joan Kroc parlayed his fortune to become one of the greatest philanthropists of the 20th century, inventively supporting liberal causes that would have made the conservative businessman recoil in horror. Some called her “St. Joan of the Golden Arches,” but what made Joan so compelling is that she was hardly angelic, but, rather, ...
Who was Norman Cousins?
She was an early proponent and funder of hospice and AIDS research; a funder of Norman Cousins’ pioneering work at UCLA in the study of the mind’s effect on health and disease resistance; the first individual to give a million dollar gift to the Democrats; and a passionate, active supporter of the no-nukes movement.
Who was Joan's employer?
Soon, Joan’s employer, Jim Zien, was buying in to the fast-food game and, not coincidentally, hiring Joan’s husband to manage his McDonald’s outpost in St. Louis Park—store number 93. With a bonus Rollie earned for his hard work, he, Joan and their daughter decamped to Rapid City in 1959 for the chance to open the first outpost ...
How much was Kroc worth when he died?
At the time of his death in 1984, Kroc was personally worth more than $600 million and McDonald’s was taking in $8 billion, globally, per year. If nothing else, the man knew how to make money.
Who did Ray Kroc train for?
He simply lied about his age, got training with the Red Cross, and was sent overseas in 1918 to serve as an ambulance driver in France as part of Ambulance Company A. Wikimedia Commons. 31. Walt and Ray. While training for the Red Cross, Ray Kroc met another soon-to-be famous native of Illinois: Walt Disney.
Why did Ronald McDonald start the Kroc Foundation?
He set up The Kroc Foundation in order to combat diabetes, alcoholism, and multiple sclerosis, among other medical conditions. This charity would eventually establish the Ronald McDonald House, which continues to improve the well-being of sick children everywhere to this day. Wikimedia Commons. 35.
What is the book that Kroc wrote?
Kroc was also a published author, and he co-wrote a successful 1977 self-help book called Grinding it Out with the goal of inspiring people to go out there and work hard for their dreams.
How old was Ray Kroc when he hit McDonald's?
Ray Kroc took the long road to success, and it wasn’t until he was 52 years old that he finally hit it big with McDonald’s and could enjoy the spoils of his capitalistic victory. Just goes to show, never give up, because success can come at any time if you just keep at it! Getty Images. 42.
When did Ronald McDonald become the clown?
The original Ronald McDonald premiered in 1963, but as Kroc and the corporation expanded the branding of their clown mascot across the country, they thought it would be too hard to find other actors with the same stocky build and heft of the original actor, Willard Scott. So, unfortunately for Scott, he ended up losing his gig and McDonald’s established the skinny Ronald that we all know today.
Did Ray Kroc have a secretary?
If you served as an executive under Ray Kroc, you were not allowed to have a secretary. Kroc believed that executives should be more hands-on, and thus they were required to answer their own phone calls and reply to messages directly. Can you imagine? Those poor, poor millionaires!
How much did Kroc make in 1960?
By 1960, Kroc had franchised 228 McDonald's that were pulling in $56 million annually. The McDonald brothers and Kroc had both become wealthy, but Kroc would become filthy rich when he bought them out in 1961 for $2.7 million. The brothers figured that after taxes they'd each have a million bucks. While that certainly wasn't chump change, had they never sold the business, by the end of the 1970s their 0.5 percent stake would have been paying them $15 million a year.
How many Kroc locations are there?
According to The New York Times, by the time Kroc came to the brothers in 1954 to transform their burger joint to the global machine it is today, the brothers already had over 20 locations. (Other estimates put it at six locations .)
Why did the McDonald brothers lose their fortune?
The brothers lost out on a fortune and had their legacy all but erased for decades because of going into business with Ray Kroc.
Where were the McDonald brothers born?
The brothers were born into a poor family of Irish immigrants in rural New Hampshire in the early 1900s, and saw their father struggle later in life. Their father Patrick McDonald had worked as a shift manager at the 20,000-employee G.P. Krafts shoe factory in Manchester when he was laid off after 42 years.
Where did the McDonald brothers buy the Mission Theater?
The brothers bought the 750-seat Mission theater 20 miles outside of Los Angeles, put in a snack bar, and renamed it the Beacon. The 1930 opening of the theater couldn't have been during a worse time and the brothers were constantly behind on their bills during the Great Depression. Hard times got so desperate that they even buried some silver in their backyard in case the bank foreclosed on the Beacon. After seven years, the McDonald brothers called it quits and sold their movie theater before deciding to try their luck in the food business.
Did Kroc's brothers sell the Big M?
Even with the name change, Kroc was still sore over the deal and took revenge by opening a new McDonald's a block away. Within six years, The Big M turned off its grills and the brothers sold the building. "I ran'em out of business," Kroc would say years later with pride.
Did Ray Kroc write the McDonald's brothers out?
In his eyes, though, the McDonald brothers largely seemed to be insignificant to the history of McDonald's. Probably the most notable example of Kroc attempting to write the McDonald brothers out ...
Where did Kroc live?
Kroc meanwhile went on to live a very comfortable life and moved to a huge house in Beverly Hills, followed by an even bigger one in San Diego where he bought the San Diego Padres baseball team.
Who is the lead actor in the movie Kroc?
The story of how the deal was made is set to play a key part in a biopic of Kroc starring Michael Keaton in the lead role
Why did Ronald McDonald take over Kroc's business?
In an interview with Daily Mail Online, the brothers' nephew Ronald McDonald said that Kroc took over the business because he was all about 'ego, ego, ego'.
Why did Richard never criticize Kroc?
Ronald said that in public Richard never criticized Kroc because he wanted to keep the peace and protect his family.
What did Ronald say about Kroc?
Ronald claims that Kroc used the brothers' claim on their original restaurant as a way to justify his actions. Ronald said: 'It was just Ray's way of getting out of his agreement. He had to find a way out. 'Mac ended up taking it really hard. He died of heart failure.
Did Kroc cheat on Maurice McDonald?
Relatives told Daily Mail Online that Kroc also cheated Richard and Maurice McDonald - who was so torn up he later died of heart failure - out of their 0.5 per cent royalty which would have been worth $15 million a year by 1977.
Who tore into Richard and Maurice McDonald?
Ray Kroc tore into Richard and Maurice McDonald when they demanded $2.7 million for their company in 1961.
Overview
Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turning it into the most successful fast food corporation in the world. Due to the company's growth under Kroc, he has also been referred to a…
Early life
Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago, to Czech-American parents, Rose Mary [née Hrach] (1881–1959) and Alois "Louis" Kroc (1879–1937). Alois was born in Horní Stupno, part of Břasy near Rokycany. Rose's father Vojtěch was from Ševětín and her maternal grandfather Josef Kotilínek was from Bořice. After immigrating to America, Alois made a fortune speculating on land during the 1920s, only to lose everything with the stock market crash in 1929.
Developing and purchasing McDonald's
After World War II, Kroc found employment as a milkshake mixer salesman for the foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. When Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeted because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Kroc was impressed by Richard and Maurice McDonald, who had purchased eight of his Multi-Mixers for their San Bernardi…
Baseball
Kroc retired from running McDonald's in 1973. While he was looking for new challenges, he decided to return to baseball, his lifelong favorite sport, when he learned that the San Diego Padres were for sale. The team had been conditionally sold to Joseph Danzansky, a Washington, D.C. grocery-chain owner, who planned to move the Padres to Washington. However, the sale was tied up in lawsuits when Kroc purchased the team for $12 million, keeping the team in San Diego…
Personal life and death
The Kroc Foundation supported research, treatment and education about various medical conditions, such as alcoholism, diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It is best known for establishing the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit organization that provides free housing for parents close to medical facilities where their children are receiving treatment.
In 1973, Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
In popular culture
Kroc's acquisition of the McDonald's franchise as well as his "Kroc-style" business tactics are the subject of Mark Knopfler's 2004 song "Boom, Like That".
Kroc co-authored the book Grinding It Out, first published in 1977 and reissued in 2016; it served as the basis for a biographical movie about Kroc.
Michael Keaton portrayed Kroc in the 2016 John Lee Hancock film The Founder. The film's depicti…
See also
• List of ambulance drivers during World War I
• History of McDonald's
• Den Fujita
Further reading
• Boas, Max; Chain, Steve (1976). Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story of McDonald's. New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-52506-675-0.
• Byers, Paula K., and Suzanne M. Bourgion (eds.). (1997). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale Research. ISBN 978-0-787-62221-3. s.v. "Kroc, Raymond."
Who Was Ray Kroc?
Early Life and Career
- Raymond Albert Kroc was born to parents of Czech origin in Oak Park, Illinois, on October 5, 1902. As a child, he took piano lessons and displayed his developing business instincts through such ventures as opening a lemonade stand and working at a soda fountain. Kroc participated in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver, lying about his age to begin serving at 15. During his trai…
McDonald’s Empire
- In 1954, Kroc visited a restaurant owned by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California, that reportedly had the need for several of his multi-mixers. He was impressed by the simple efficiency of the operation, which rapidly catered to its customers by focusing on a simple menu of burgers, french fries and shakes. Grasping the potential for a chain of restaurants, Kroc …
Family Life and Other Endeavors
- Kroc was married to his first wife, Ethel Fleming, from 1922 to 1961. He then was married to Jane Dobbins Green from 1963 to 1968, and finally to Joan Mansfield Smith from 1969 until his death. Along with overseeing McDonald's, Kroc became the owner of a Major League Baseball team when he purchased the San Diego Padres in 1974. Three years later, he published his autobiogra…