Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s

Raymond Albert Kroc, popularly known as Ray Kroc, was an American businessman, who brought about a revolution in the fast food industry, making McDonald’s the biggest fast food chain in the world.

Once referred to by Harvard Business School as “the service sector’s equivalent of Henry Ford”, Kroc but had a modest beginning. Initially, he sold various items such as paper cups, milkshake mixers before coming in contact with McDonald brothers, who ran a small but popular fast food joint in California, at the age of 51.

Subsequently he acquired the franchise of small-scale McDonald’s Corporation, he transformed it into one of the most successful fast food operations in the world. Ray Croc eventually bought the company, at the age of 59. He also utilized standardization to ensure that the McDonald’s food products to taste the same in all the outlets.

Kroc revolutionized the American restaurant industry with the new and developed operating and delivery system. By the time of his death, the chain had 7,500 outlets across the world with gross sales of $8 billion.