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Ray Kroc
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Ray Kroc (October 5, 1902 - January 14, 1984) took over and franchised the then single-restaurant[citation needed] McDonald's Corporation from 1955. (The first McDonald's restaurant was started by Richard and Maurice (Mac) McDonald in 1940.) Dubbed the Hamburger King[citation needed], Kroc was included in the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential builders and titans of industry and amassed a $500 million fortune during his lifetime.[citation needed] He was also the owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team starting in 1974.
Kroc was born to parents of Czech origin in Chicago, Illinois in 1902 and he trained to become an ambulance driver during the First World War with Walt Disney, though the war ended before Kroc ever saw any action. He was a piano player. Kroc found out how to make a burger stand by seeing one and taking it to be a novel idea. He tried his hand at a number of trades including paper cup salesman and pianist between the end of the war and the early 1950s. He eventually became a Multi-mixer milkshake machine salesman traveling across the country. It was this work which led him to the two brothers, Mac (Maurice) and Dick (Richard) McDonald, at their innovative San Bernardino, California hamburger restaurant that ran eight multi-mixers at a time. Convinced that he could sell 8 multi-mixers to every new restaurant that opened, he partnered with the brothers and began opening McDonald's restaurants. The two brothers only wanted to have their one restaurant and Ray Kroc wanted to have more new McDonalds. So he booted them out by opening a McDonalds right on the other side of the same street[citation needed]. The small restaurant of the two brothers had no more customers and Ray Kroc bought the brothers out in 1961 for $2.7 million.
Kroc died of a heart ailment at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego on January 14, 1984. Kroc was survived by his second wife,Joan B. Kroc.
A number of quotes about entrepreneurship and capitalism have been ascribed to Ray Kroc. According to one such quote, Kroc was purported to have said,
If any of my competitors were drowning, I'd stick a hose in their mouth and turn on the water. 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.
Some business programs reference the story of Kroc and McDonald's as a case study in successful entrepreneurship. However, some critiques point out that a number of negative repercussions have come about with the rise of the McDonald's model of fast food. Similarly, his many pithy aphorisms on entrepreneurship are cited both for their eloquence and their unapologetic and raw assessment of consumerism and the field of sales.
Mark Knopfler's song "Boom, Like That" poetically satirizes Kroc's life, and includes lyrics based on the quote above (see link below).
- Obituary, New York Times, January 15, 1984 Ray Kroc Dies at 81; Built McDonald's Chain
- TIME Magazine profile
- Ray Kroc quotes at Thinkexist.com
- Famous Entrepreneurs at motivational website EvanCarmichael.com
- Lyrics of Mark Knopfler's song "Boom, Like That" which satarizes Kroc
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since November 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | American businesspeople | Fast-food chain founders | McDonald's people | Baseball executives | San Diego Padres | People from Oak Park, Illinois | Czech-Americans | 1902 births | 1984 deaths | Deaths from cardiovascular disease