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Ray Kroc

1902–1984 · 82 years Tier II

The mixer salesman who drove out to see about the milkshakes

Portrait of Ray Kroc — Unknown author — circa 1978 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

His father made a fortune speculating on Illinois land through the 1920s and lost all of it in the crash of 1929, which is a useful thing for a boy to watch. Kroc had already quit high school at 15 against his parents' wishes and lied about his age to enlist as a Red Cross ambulance driver, though the war ended almost as soon as he did. He trained at Old Greenwich, Connecticut, alongside another teenager named Walt Disney. He married Ethel Fleming in 1922. For the next 30 years he sold things: paper cups, real estate, and finally milkshake mixers for a company called Prince Castle, playing piano in bands when the selling went badly. He was 52 and losing to a cheaper competitor when he noticed one order.

A hamburger stand in San Bernardino had bought eight of his mixers, so in 1954 he drove out to see why. What he took from Richard and Maurice McDonald was not the food but the choreography, the Speedee Service System they had installed in 1948. His own contribution was the franchise structure. Where the trade sold whole territories, Kroc sold one store at a time, which kept the operator dependent and the product identical: fixed portions, fixed cooking times, a refund if the order was wrong or took longer than five minutes. He refused to allow soybean filler in the patties. Harry Sonneborn, whom he made the company's first president, supplied the other half, buying the land and leasing it back to the franchisee. By the time Kroc died the chain had 7,500 outlets in 32 countries.

He bought the brothers out in 1961 for 2.7 million dollars, the figure they named when pressed, and went ballistic at it. At the closing they would not hand over the original San Bernardino restaurant, having promised the property to the men who ran it, and they had also neglected to keep the rights to their own surname, so their store became the Big M. Kroc opened a McDonald's down the street from it. The story that he shook hands on a continuing one percent royalty rests on a single account by a nephew. Neither brother complained publicly, and Richard McDonald said he had no regrets. Kroc opposed the New Deal, welfare and the minimum wage, and gave 255,000 dollars to Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign, which Senator Harrison Williams called an attempt to buy a veto of a wage bill.

He had a stroke in 1980 and entered an alcohol rehabilitation facility, and died of heart failure in San Diego on January 14, 1984. The Padres wore his initials on their sleeves that season and reached the World Series. Then the money did something he had not planned. His widow Joan, whom he had met in 1957 while she played organ in a St. Paul restaurant, spent 19 years giving it away: roughly 200 million dollars to National Public Radio, about 1.5 billion to the Salvation Army in her will, peace institutes at Notre Dame and the University of San Diego, and millions on nuclear disarmament advertising. The 2016 film The Founder put the brothers back into the story.

Lifespan

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Ray Kroc's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

McDonald's Corporation company
His first store opened at Des Plaines, Illinois, in April 1955 1955
The single-store franchise other
One location at a time, instead of the industry's territorial licences 1955
McDonald's Franchise Realty Corporation company
Harry Sonneborn's model — own the land, lease it to the franchisee —
Ronald McDonald House company
The Kroc Foundation's best-known creation, housing families near hospitals —
Purchase of the San Diego Padres other
Twelve million dollars, which kept the team out of Washington 1974
Grinding It Out book
His memoir, and the basis for the 2016 film The Founder 1977

Life in brief

with age at each point

October 5, 1902 aged 0 Born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Czech-American parents
1917 aged ~15 Lies about his age to train as a Red Cross ambulance driver A fellow trainee at Old Greenwich, Connecticut, was Walt Disney.
1929 aged ~27 His father loses a land fortune in the crash
1954 aged ~52 Drives to San Bernardino to see who is buying eight milkshake mixers
April 1955 aged 52 Opens his first McDonald's at Des Plaines, Illinois It was the ninth McDonald's and the first of his own.
1961 aged ~59 Buys the company from the McDonald brothers for 2.7 million dollars
1974 aged ~72 Buys the San Diego Padres and takes the stadium microphone At his first home game as owner he told the crowd he had never seen such stupid ballplaying in his life. A streaker crossed the field while he spoke.
1980 aged ~78 Enters an alcohol rehabilitation facility after a stroke
January 14, 1984 aged 81 Dies of heart failure in San Diego at 81