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RUNNING HEAD: RAY KROC’S LIFE AND BESINESS ADVENTURES

Ray Kroc’s Life and Business Adventures

Name

Institution Affiliations
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RAY KROC’S LIFE AND BUSINESS ADVENTURES

Ray Kroc’s Life and Business Adventures

Ray Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park Chicago bearing an originality of

Czechoslovakian immigrants. His father was Alois Kroc who was from a village known as Brasy

near Plzen, Bohemia ( the modern day the Czech Republic). His mother was Rose Mary. Kroc

married thrice; first marriage was in 1922-19961 with Ethel Fleming. The second marriage was

in 1963 to 1968 with Jane Dobbins Green. Lastly, he married Joan until the end of his life. Kroc

died out of heart failure on 14th January 1984.

He rose from a low life citizen to a much famous person in the world history. At the age

of 15, he was trained to be an ambulance driver during the First World War. Kroc between 1918

and 1950s tried making a living in several areas of trade. He served as paper cup salesman, jazz

musician, and a band member. He at one time decided to venture into broadcasting where he

joined Oak Park radio station (“Who is Ray Kroc? Everything You Need to Know”, n.d). Kroc

learned restaurant business strategies by working for room and boarded at one of the restaurants

owned by Ray Dambaugh.

Kroc having learned the strategies became a multi-mixer milkshake machine salesman.

He would travel all around the country. He was a very prominent businessman in America. He

was referred to as the equivalent of Henry Ford. In 1954 he transformed McDonald’s

Corporation into one of the most successful fast-food operations in the world. He initialized

standardization to make sure that McDonald’s food had food that was similar in all outlets.

Kroc was named in the top 100 most important people of the century. He revolutionized

the American restaurant industry into the new, developed operating and delivery system.
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RAY KROC’S LIFE AND BUSINESS ADVENTURES

Ray Kroc’s Life and Business Adventures

During the period when the sale of Prince Castle Multi-Mixer was taking place Kroc

noticed McDonald brothers, who had bought eight of his multi-mixers. In 1961, Kroc purchased

McDonald Company from the brothers having an agreement that the McDonald would receive

an amount of $2.7million for the chain and the brothers continually receive a primary loyalty of

$1.9 on the gross sales.

However, Kroc turned down the agreement and said he could not offer loyalty to

investors (Kroc, n.d). The deal was therefore engrossed by the split of the two parties. Kroc was

very disappointed since the brothers did not transfer any real estate and rights to the original unit

to him. The brothers allowed Kroc to modify and make changes to things like the blueprints but

did not send him any formal letters enabling him to alter the chain legally. Kroc opened a new

McDonald’s restaurant bearing a ‘the big m’ in the name (Kroc, n.d).

Later the agreement was finalized between Kroc and the brothers, and he sends a letter to

Disney stating that he had taken over the national franchise of the McDonald and wished to

inquire if there was a space for a McDonald’s in his Disney development. Disney agreed only if

Kroc agreed to raise the price of fries from ten to fifteen, but Kroc refused. He left Disney to

open without a McDonald’s restaurant.

Kroc brought in a variety of fast foods. He affected standardization in production in that,

for each ‘big Mac,' a McDonald’s burger tasted the same no matter where the customer had it.

He introduced a revolution in the methods of franchising and set strict rules on how food is
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RAY KROC’S LIFE AND BUSINESS ADVENTURES

prepared. He allowed the franchises to make decisions on the most appropriate strategies for

marketing the products.

Ray Kroc’s Life and Business Adventures

Kroc owed tremendous assets which were worth lots of money starting from the

restaurants. He generated ways to push people out of business like the brothers. High demands

on a burger and fast foods made him earn a lot due to high demands. At the time of death, he had

7,500 locations in 31 countries and was worth $8 billion. His personal fortune was approximated

at $500 million.

Ray Kroc was a major founder of great strategies used today in the entrepreneurial field

of restaurants and real estates. Many people will live to pay tribute to his contributions to the

industry all around the globe. Kroc had great achievement.

References List
Retrieved 9 April 2017, from https://hbr.org/2015/05/mcdonalds-has-to-more-than-
manipulate-its-stock-price

Kroc, R. Ray Kroc. Biography. Retrieved 9 April 2017, from

Who is Ray Kroc? Everything You Need to Know. Thefamouspeople.com. Retrieved 9 April
2017, from https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ray-kroc-164.php