Raymond Kroc was an American Businessman. He was born on 5th October 1902 and died on 4th January 1984. In this span of time, he has done a lot of inspiring things which you will get to know through this article. Here is a glimpse into the life of Ray Kroc.
The Start of His Career
Ray Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois. At the age of 15 years old, during World War I, he lied about his age and became a Red Cross Ambulance Driver. After the war during the Great Depression, he did a variety of jobs selling paper cups, playing piano in bands, real estate agent, etc.
Then Kroc was hired as a milkshake mixer salesman for foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. In 1954 he visited Richard and Maurice as they purchased eight of his Multi-Mixers for their San Bernardino, California restaurant. There he found a small but successful restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald and was surprised by the effectiveness of their operation.
McDonalds
The McDonald Brothers were looking for a new franchising agent and Ray Kroc saw an opportunity and opened his first McDonald’s franchise with the partnership of McDonald Brothers in Des Plaines, Illinois. After that 2 more stores were opened in the same year. Ray Kroc expanded McDonald’s by selling franchises on terms that the owners will manage their restaurants. He also instituted a training program for owner-managers and frequently emphasized the automation and standardization of McDonald’s operations.
There was one case in which Ray Kroc sent a letter to Walt Disney to inquire if they can open a franchisee of McDonald’s in their Disneyland. Disney agreed but on the condition that they will increase the price of fries from ten cents to fifteen cents, allowing himself the profit. Kroc didn’t agree to the condition because he didn’t want to betray their loyal customers and dropped the plan of opening McDonalds in Disneyland.
One of the Kroc Policies was to locate all the franchises in suburban areas and not downtown since poor people might eat in them after the main Business hours were over. Kroc strictly insisted that the restaurants were to be kept properly sanitized at all times, and the staff must be clean, properly groomed, and polite to children. The food was to be of a strictly fixed, standardized quality, and restaurants were not allowed to deviate from specifications in any way.
He once said- “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” By the time Ray Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers in 1961 for a mere $2.7 million, he had established 228 restaurants and sales had reached $37 million Kroc retired from running McDonald’s in 1974.
Before Kroc’s death, McDonald had 7,500 outlets in the United States and 31 other countries and territories. The total sales of its restaurants were more than $8 billion in 1983, and his personal fortune amounted to some $600 million.
Baseball after retirement
In 1974, he decided to go back to his favorite sport which was baseball. He recognized that San Diego Padres were for sale, So Kroc purchased the team for $12 million keeping it in San Diego, while first Joseph Danzansky, a Washington, D.C. grocery-chain owner, was buying it who planned to move the Padres to Washington.
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The pardes lost 102 games in the first year of ownership, yet drew over 1 million in attendance. On April 9 while the Pardes was on the brink of losing a 9-5 decision to the Houston Astros in the season opener at San Diego Stadium, Ray Kroc address the public and said that “I have never seen such stupid ballplaying in my life”. The crowd cheered in approval. In 1979, frustrated with the team he handed over the operations of the team to his son-in-law, Ballard Smith by saying- “There’s more future in hamburgers than baseball”.
Kroc Foundation
The Kroc foundation by Ray Kroc supported research, treatment, and education about different medical conditions such as diabetes, alcoholism, Arthritis, etc. The foundation also established a Ronald McDonald house for providing free housing for parents close to medical facilities where their children are receiving treatment.
Personal Life
Kroc married 3 times, the third wife was a philanthropist who continued her charitable contributions after Kroc’s death. In 1973, Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2016, more than three decades after his death, a movie was made on Kroc’s story- “The Founder”, starring Michael Keaton as the massively successful businessman.
