Ray Kroc

Early life
Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1902 and went on to become an ambulance driver during the First World War where he worked with Walt Disney. He tried his hand at a number of trades between then and the early 1950s, by which time he had become a Multimixer milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country peddling his wares. It was this work which led him to the two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, who were using eight of his machines at their innovative San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant.


McDonald's
Immediately realizing the potential of the brothers' business, which they had already begun to franchise, Kroc went into business with them and acquired franchising rights to open a McDonald's restaurant of his own, in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955.

Although the McDonald brothers had themselves invented the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, establishing the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant, and had begun franchising their restaurants before they met Kroc, it was he who recognized the enormous potential their restaurant had. He encouraged the brothers to put him in charge of franchising, and founded McDonald's Corporation (originally "McDonald's Systems, Inc.") with the opening of his first franchise.

Kroc's enthusiasm for the company was strong, and in his first year with McDonald's he unsuccessfully attempted to convince Walt Disney, a fellow WWI ambulance driver with whom he had been acquainted, to let him open a restaurant in the forthcoming Disneyland.

In 1961, Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for the price of $2.7 million dollars and the condition that the brothers would be able to keep their original restaurant. Their relationship was not harmonious, and Kroc denied them the rights to the McDonald's name and, after renaming their restaurant Big M's, Kroc opened up a new McDonald's down the street to force them out of business. Under Kroc, McDonald's promulgated a version of its history that emphasized Kroc as "McDonald's founder," barely mentioning the role the McDonald brothers played. Kroc's first restaurant was inaccurately claimed to be "McDonald's #1" (it was actually the 9th McDonald's restaurant), and the company dated its founding to 1955, not 1940. However, in his autobiography he acknowledged the contributions of the McDonald Brothers.


Epilogue
In the early 1970s, Kroc became owner of the San Diego Padres, and on Opening Day in 1974 he got on the stadium public-address system to criticize the team during a poor performance, saying, "This is the stupidest ballplaying that I have ever seen."

Kroc was investigated by the FBI for donating large amounts of money to CREEP (the Committee to RE-Elect the President) in order to obtain a monopoly on food sales at 1976 U.S. bicentennial celebrations. [1]

In 1977, he wrote his autobiography, Grinding It Out, which inspired the 2004 song Boom, Like That by Mark Knopfler.

Kroc is interred at El Camino Memorial Park, in La Jolla, Ca., next to his wife who survived him.


Ray Kroc in pop culture
The single Boom, Like That from the album Shangri-La by the British guitarist Mark Knopfler features the story of Ray Kroc, including some quotations from his autobiography.


Quotes
"All money means to me is a pride in accomplishment."
"As long as you're green, you're growing. As soon as you're ripe, you start to rot."
"Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday."
"Early to bed, early to rise, advertise, advertise, advertise."
"I have ALWAYS believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems.": First sentence of his book Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's ([2])
"If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business."
"If you have time to lean, you have time to clean."
"In my experience, good executives don't make mistakes."
"Look after the customer, and the business will take care of itself."
"The quality of an individual is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."
"We're not in the hamburger business, we're in show business."
"I believe in God, family, and McDonald's -- and in the office, that order is reversed."
"It is ridiculous to call this an industry. This is not. This is rat eat rat, dog eat dog. I'll kill 'em, and I'm going to kill 'em before they kill me. You're talking about the American way -- of survival of the fittest."
"If my competitor were drowning I'd stick a hose in his mouth and turn on the water."