Happy Throwback Thursday, friends! With all the current history in the making going on, it’s been difficult to look backward and find something from the WayBack vault.
Nevertheless, we’re in luck. On today’s date, just 37 years ago, America lost one of its beloved businessmen. Raymond Albert Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois on October 5, 1902. When the U.S. got involved in World War I, Ray lied about his age to enter the armed forces. Because of this, at the tender age of 15, he became a Red Cross ambulance driver (and he trained in Old Greenwich, Connecticut alongside another unknown at the time – a Mr. Walt Disney). The war ended soon after he enlisted.
After the war, Ray’s parents lost everything in the 1929 stock market crash. So, to help out, he worked a variety of jobs selling paper cups, as a real estate agent in Florida, and sometimes playing the piano in various bands.
After World War II, Ray took a job as a milkshake mixer salesman for Prince Castle, a foodservice equipment manufacturer. But after Hamilton Beach put out a lower-priced model, Prince Castle sales plummeted, and Ray was without a job. He remembered a duo of brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald, who had purchased some mixers from him for their San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant, and decided to go visit them in 1954.
Turns out, the McDonald brothers had a total of 8 restaurants, but they were looking to franchise. Ray heard opportunity knocking and offered to invest. After finalizing his franchise agreement with the McDonald brothers, Ray opened the ninth McDonald’s restaurant in April, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Soon thereafter, Ray penned a letter to his former friend, Mr. Walt Disney. In it, he said, “I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald’s system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald’s in your Disney Development.” (He was of course referencing the up-and-coming Disneyland park in California.)
According to one account, Walt agreed, but only under the stipulation that he could increase the price of fries from ten cents to fifteen cents, allowing himself the profit.
However, Ray refused to gouge his loyal customers, which left Disneyland to open without a McDonald’s restaurant. (It should be noted that writer Eric Schlosser wrote in his book “Fast Food Nation” that he believes this is a doctored retelling of the transaction by some McDonald’s marketing executives. Most probably, the proposal was simply returned without approval.)
Since then, Ray Kroc was credited with making a distinctive number of innovative changes in the food-service franchise model. Above all else, he wanted to maintain uniformity in both service and quality among all of his restaurants’ locations.
During the 1960s, a wave of new fast food chains appeared which threatened the McDonald’s model. Ray grew frustrated with the McDonald brothers’ wish to preserve only a small number of restaurants and their strict adherence to their original blueprint. So, in 1961, Ray purchased the McDonald brothers’ share of their company for $2.7 million, a price calculated so that each brother received $1 million after taxes.
Mr. Kroc maintained the “Speedee Service System” assembly line for hamburger preparation that was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, guaranteeing that each burger would taste the same in every restaurant. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, including portion sizes, cooking methods, and packaging.
At the time of Ray’s death on January 14, 1984, McDonald’s had 7,500 restaurants located in the United States and 31 other countries and territories worldwide.
Dean Burnetti Law's Blog 
Reblogged this on Autism Candles.
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