The Ray Kroc Story

“If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the

phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I
think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic
Ocean with them.” —Ray Kroc

How do you create a restaurant empire and

become an overnight success at the age of 52? As
Ray Kroc said, “I was an overnight success all right,
but 30 years is a long, long night.”

OriginsIn 1917, 15-year-old Ray Kroc lied about his

age to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver,
but the war ended before his training finished. He
then worked as a piano player, a paper cup
salesman and a multi-mixer salesman.

In 1954 he was surprised by a huge order for 8

multi-mixers from a restaurant in San Bernardino,
California. There he found a small but successful
restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac
McDonald, and was stunned by the effectiveness
of their operation.  They produced a limited menu,
concentrating on just a few items—burgers, fries
and beverages—which allowed them to focus on
quality at every step.

Kroc pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s

restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In
1955 he founded the McDonald’s Corporation, and
5 years later bought the exclusive rights to the
McDonald’s name. By 1958, McDonald’s had sold
its 100 millionth hamburger.

A Unique PhilosophyRay Kroc wanted to build a

restaurant system that would be famous for food
of consistently high quality and uniform methods
of preparation. He wanted to serve burgers, buns,
fries and beverages that tasted just the same in
Alaska as they did in Alabama.

Getting to Know Us...

McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 32,000 local restaurants serving more
than 60 million people in 117 countries each day. More than 75% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are
owned and operated by independent local men and women.

We serve the world some of its favorite foods - World Famous Fries, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken
McNuggets and Egg McMuffin.

Our rich history began with our founder, Ray Kroc. The strong foundation that he built continues today with
McDonald's vision and the commitment of our talented executives to keep the shine on McDonald's Arches for
years to come. To read more about McDonald's history, vision and executives, click on their links in the left
menu.

Mac Donald's history

McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 32,000 local restaurants serving more
than 60 million people in 117 countries each day. More than 75% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are
owned and operated by independent local men and women.

We serve the world some of its favorite foods - World Famous Fries, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken
McNuggets and Egg McMuffin.

Our rich history began with our founder, Ray Kroc. The strong foundation that he built continues today with
McDonald's vision and the commitment of our talented executives to keep the shine on McDonald's Arches for
years to come. To read more about McDonald's history, vision and executives, click on their links in the left
menu.

To achieve this, he chose a unique path: persuading

both franchisees and suppliers to buy into his vision,
working not for McDonald’s, but for themselves,
together with McDonald’s.  He promoted the slogan,
“In business for yourself, but not by yourself.” His
philosophy was based on the simple principle of a 3-
legged stool: one leg was McDonald’s, the second, the
franchisees, and the third, McDonald’s suppliers. The
stool was only as strong as the 3 legs.

Rewarding InnovationRay Kroc believed in the

entrepreneurial spirit, and rewarded his franchisees for
individual creativity. Many of McDonald’s most famous
menu items—like the Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish and the Egg
McMuffin— were created by franchisees. At the same
time, the McDonald’s operating system insisted
franchisees follow the core McDonald’s principles of
quality, service, cleanliness and value.

The Roots of QualityMcDonald’s passion for

quality meant that every single ingredient was
tested, tasted and perfected to fit the operating
system. As restaurants boomed, the massive
volume of orders caught the attention of suppliers,
who began taking McDonald’s standards as
seriously as McDonald’s did. As other quick service
restaurants began to follow, McDonald’s high
standards rippled through the meat, produce and
dairy industries.Again, Ray Kroc was looking for a
partnership—this time with McDonald’s suppliers
—and he managed to create the most integrated,
efficient and innovative supply system in the food
service industry. These supplier relationships have
flourished over the decades: in fact, many
McDonald’s suppliers operating today first started
business with a handshake from Ray Kroc.

Hamburger UniversityIn 1961, Ray launched a

training program, later called Hamburger
University, at a new restaurant in Elk Grove Village,
Illinois. There, franchisees and operators were
trained in the scientific methods of running a
successful McDonald’s. Hamburger U also had a
research and development laboratory to develop
new cooking, freezing, storing and serving
methods. Today, more than 80,000 people have
graduated from the program.

The End of a LegendRight up until he died on

January 14, 1984, Ray Kroc never stopped working
for McDonald's. Even when he was confined to a
wheelchair, he still went to work in the office in
San Diego nearly every day. He would keep a
hawk's eye over the McDonald's restaurant near
his office, phoning the manager to remind him to
pick up the trash, clean his lot, and turn on the
lights at night.

From his passion for innovation and efficiency, to

his relentless pursuit of quality, and his many
charitable contributions, Ray Kroc’s legacy
continues to be an inspirational, integral part of
McDonald’s today.

 Sources

Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray

A. Kroc, ©Ray A. Kroc 1977.

McDonalds: Behind the Golden Arches by John F.

Love ©John F. Love 1995.
aboutmcdonalds.com 2009.

"We’ll help you wake up first thing in the morning and unwind
at the end of the day with our very own blend of 100% Arabica
beans, sourced from around the globe."

A whole new concept mc Donald's introduced in Melbourne

Australia by  Ann Brown in 1993, McCafé is a coffee-house-
style food and drink chain, owned by McDonald's. The chain
spread to 13 countries by 2002, with the first one in the United
States opening in Chicago, Illinois, in May 2001 when there
were about 300 worldwide. In 2007, the chain expanded to
Japan as part of McDonald's efforts to boost sales with
healthier soup and sandwich offerings and reach out to new
customers who favoured traditional coffee shops. Despite
being a relatively small part of McDonald's overall strategy,
there are currently 1,300 worldwide.
McDonald's is introducing a coffee line called "McCafé"
nationwide in the United States. Unlike in other countries,
"McCafé" is just a drink, not a full coffee shop due to space limits.

Mc Donald's and its success.

To start off we first have to explain what we think is success, in comparison to what mc Donald's view of
success is. The people at mc Donald's find the number of customers visiting the restaurants most important,
therefore they do everything to give the people a good impression about the restaurant so they will keep
coming back.
We belief success can be defined in how many people know your company's name. Let's say you ask a random
person, wherever you are on the world, to give me the name of a fast-food company, and the first thing most
people will say will be mc Donald's. Of course this is what Mc Donald's finds very important, because the more
people who know your name the more people will come and have a meal at your restaurant. Mc Donald's uses
varied strategies to obtain this goal. We will discuss these later on.