31 Facts About Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 from the McDonald brothers and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973.

Ray Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and worked a variety of jobs, including as a paper cup salesman and a musician, before eventually becoming a milkshake mixer salesman.

Ray Kroc was impressed with the efficiency and speed of the restaurant's operations, and he convinced the brothers to allow him to franchise the concept.

Ray Kroc focused on aggressive expansion, opening new restaurants across the United States and eventually in other countries as well.

Ray Kroc became the owner of McDonald's Corporation in 1961 and was credited as its founder.

Ray Kroc was born on October 5,1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago, to Czech-American parents, Rose Mary [nee Hrach] and Alois "Louis" Ray Kroc.

When Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeted because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Ray Kroc was impressed by Richard and Maurice McDonald, who had purchased eight of his Multi-Mixers for their San Bernardino, California restaurant, and visited them in 1954.

Ray Kroc refused to gouge his loyal customers, leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant.

Ray Kroc has been credited with making a number of innovative changes in the food-service franchise model.

Ray Kroc recognized that the sale of exclusive licenses for large markets was the quickest way for a franchisor to make money, but he saw in the practice a loss in the franchisor's ability to exert control over the course and direction of a chain's development.

Above all else, and in keeping with contractual obligations with the McDonald brothers, Ray Kroc wanted uniformity in service and quality among all of the McDonald's locations.

Ray Kroc became frustrated with the McDonald brothers' desire to maintain a small number of restaurants.

However, Harry Sonneborn, whom Ray Kroc referred to as his "financial wizard", was able to raise the required funds.

At the closing, Ray Kroc became annoyed that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original San Bernardino location.

The brothers had told Ray Kroc they were giving the operation, property and all, to the founding employees.

Ray Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation that was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948.

Ray Kroc set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging.

Ray Kroc rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties.

However, the sale was tied up in lawsuits when Ray Kroc purchased the team for $12 million, keeping the team in San Diego.

The San Diego Union said Ray Kroc was "above all, a fan of his team".

Ray Kroc was inducted posthumously as part of the inaugural class of the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in 1999.

The Ray Kroc Foundation supported research, treatment and education about various medical conditions, such as alcoholism, diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

In 1973, Ray Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Ray Kroc donated $255,000 to Richard Nixon's reelection campaign in 1972, and was controversially accused by some, notably Senator Harrison Williams, of making the donation to influence Nixon to veto a minimum wage bill making its way through Congress.

Ray Kroc and Fleming met in 1919, soon fell in love before getting married in 1922, and then moving to Chicago, Illinois.

Ray Kroc's third wife, Joan Kroc, was a philanthropist who significantly increased her charitable contributions after Kroc's death.

Ray Kroc donated to a variety of causes that interested her, such as the promotion of peace and nuclear nonproliferation.

Ray Kroc died four years later of heart failure at a hospital in San Diego, California, on January 14,1984, at the age of 81, and was buried at the El Camino Memorial Park in Sorrento Valley, San Diego.

Ray Kroc co-authored the book Grinding It Out, first published in 1977 and reissued in 2016; it served as the basis for a biographical movie about Ray Kroc.

Ray Kroc is featured in the documentary series The Food That Built America on the History channel.

Ray Kroc is featured in Tim Harford's BBC World Service radio show 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy in the episode, "Fast food franchise", which depicts the boom that his franchisee model provided for the fast food industry.