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Ray Kroc Biography

Article Overview: The biography of Ray Kroc is a story of firsts. He was one of the first fifteen year olds to serve as an ambulance driver with the Red Cross during the First World War after lying about his age. He was the first to see the nationwide potential of a small family business operating out of California. And, he was the first man to apply the principles of mass production to the service industry.

Ray Kroc Biography

The biography of Ray Kroc is a story of firsts. He was one of the first fifteen year olds to serve as an ambulance driver with the Red Cross during the First World War after lying about his age. He was the first to see the nationwide potential of a small family business operating out of California. And, he was the first man to apply the principles of mass production to the service industry.

While his is a story of astounding success, it is not all golden arches and smiling faces. He had both diabetes and arthritis, and was also forced to have his gall bladder and thyroid gland surgically removed. In fact, Kroc was already 59 years old when he paid the $2.7 million to buy out the McDonald brother’s operation. Yet, he continued to grow his newly acquired franchise with the energy and enthusiasm of a young entrepreneur.

This life story began in Oak Park, Illinois in 1902, and his travels as a salesman for a multi-mixer milkshake machine would take him all over the country. However, it would be in San Bernardino, California where the story truly took off. It was there that he met Mac and Dick MacDonald – the two men who would change his life forever.

The MacDonald brothers were operating a simple hamburger-and-fries restaurant in California and using a unique assembly line system to deliver efficient service. As is typical throughout the biography of Ray Kroc, the salesman demonstrated amazing foresight in determining that this restaurant had great potential for expansion. He first became the MacDonald brothers’ exclusive agent, and later, in 1961, bought them out completely.

It is here where the story of this entrepreneur begins to stand out. In fact, the $2.7 million he paid for the brothers’ operation is considered by many to be one of the greatest acts of salesmanship in history. From there, the story only continues to get better. Kroc created the Franchise Realty Corporation, which would buy land and lease it to McDonald’s franchisees, and began a rapid rate of expansion. He also created Ronald McDonald – the company’s mascot that has endured almost four decades.

By 1987, McDonald’s had sold over 65 billion hamburgers and it had just opened its ten thousandth store. This success story was becoming something of a legend. As the franchise achieved saturation of the domestic market, it began to expand outward. Today, one-third of new McDonald’s franchises are opened in foreign markets.

The story of this businessman is not simply a story of enlightened entrepreneurship. Outside of the business world, he was admired for having purchased the San Diego Padres major league baseball team in order to prevent them from being moved to Washington, D.C.

In 1984, the biography of Ray Kroc came to an end, when he passed away at the age of eighty-one. It would be just ten months shy of the sale of McDonald’s fifty billionth hamburger.

Related Articles
  Lesson #4: Use Failure As A Catalyst for Success
  Grinding Out Success: How Kroc Made McDonald’s A Golden Triumph
  Lesson #1: Take Your Business Seriously
  The Burger King: Ray Kroc is Born
  Lesson #2: You’re Only As Good As The People You Hire

Article Tags: 59 years, ambulance driver, assembly line, astounding success, biography of ray kroc, efficient service, first man, first world war, gall bladder, golden arches, great potential, mass production, mcdonald brothers, oak park illinois, realty corporation, salesmanship, san bernardino california, smiling faces, thyroid gland, young entrepreneur



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Re: Quote of the Day - ?"Everything happens for a reason and a p - Thanks for the quote and the link. I just watched the Tony Robbins video where he high-5s Al Gore. Good stuff! "Effective leaders have the ability to consistently move themselves and others to action because they understand the "invisible forces" that shape us." Also, "Biography is not destiny... decision is."
Ray Kroc was 52 When He Started! - Wow - thanks Evan! I didn't realize Ray Kroc was already 52 when he STARTED McDonald's - it's a great story to help us all realize that if we put our minds to it we can grow our businesses quickly no matter how old we are! Julie.
Hello, I'm a newbie too - Hi, I was introduced to your site by a friend from a different forum. I had asked the question "how many people became successes after age 45?" and one response led me here. I'm still looking for the answer to that question, I've been studying a variety of things, and I've read Ray Kroc's autobiography, which led me to wonder how many people became a success after the age of 45. So far I've come up with Kroc, Colonel Sanders, and a few singers. Can any one assist me with this? Thanks, Anita
Drones work at franchises - [quote="RussellWebb":1no28ggu]I think franchising is for the conforming mindset. I understand Ray Kroc of Mcdonalds was quite ruthless with franchisees about adhering to his system. And many of the good franchise systems are based on his principles. Conform, conform, conform.... it's just not in my dictionary.[/quote:1no28ggu] Hi Russell, Have you ever worked for any franchises in the past? And if so, did you find your experience to be a good or unpleasant one? As I've mentioned numerous times before in the forums, I used to work for McDonalds during my undergrad. And while I respected their "military like" operation, I really didn't like being asked to recite store policies (e.g. to list the proper way to assemble a customer's order) on my evaluations. I don't think there's anything wrong with working for someone else, but I [u:1no28ggu]HATE[/u:1no28ggu] the idea of being nothing more than a non-thinking [u:1no28ggu]replaceable drone[/u:1no28ggu]. We're all human beings, so why do franchises treat their employees like "worker bees" (i.e. work them till they quit or die or at least wish for their own deaths)?


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