Early Life & Career
Raymond Albert Kroc or "Mr. Big Mac" was born into the family of Luis and Rose Kroc on October 5th, 1902. He had two siblings, a brother, Robert, and a sister Lorraine. In 1906, at the age of four years old, his father took him to a phrenologist, to predict his future just by the shape of his head. Kroc was predicted to have a career in food industry, nobody knew then that was, in fact, what he would do. His father, Luis, never having finished school, was determined to push his kids through school to get a good education; Ray Kroc was the wrong kid for that. After dropping out of high school and lying about his age, he trained to become an ambulance driver during World War I. The war ended before he could complete his training. While never having served in the war, he soon moved on to other occupations which consisted of owning his own music store, being a jazz musician, selling cups for Lily Paper Cup Company, and playing the piano for a local radio station. "I took to the piano naturally." (Grinding It Out 16) His job of selling Mult-I-Mixers, a five-spindle blender that made milkshakes popular in diners, would lead him to become what he is famous for today.
One day, Ray Kroc got an order requesting eight Mult-I-MIxer blenders to be sent to the same location, a popular diner in San Bernardino, California. He wanted to find out why this particular diner was ordering eight Mult-I-Mixers. When he arrived he found several people waiting in line to enter the diner. "I talked to several people in line, and I've never stood in line for a hamburger before and the people said 'well you'll be glad you did here,' and I was." (McDonald's Founder Ray Kroc, CNBC Online) The popular restaurant was owned by Dick and Mac McDonald. "McDonald's" had a menu consisting of hamburgers for $.15, french fries for $.10, and milkshakes for $.20, while the average serving time for each customer was just fifteen seconds each! Ray Kroc's business started just there. In 1951, 51-year old Ray Kroc offered to buy their franchise for $500,000 but the brothers refused. After many increasing offers, the brothers finally settled on the amount of $2.7 million dollars. That deal was known as "the bargain of the century." (The Biography Channel Online) Ray Kroc hit the road opening up his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. Following in the McDonald brothers' footsteps, using the "hamburger assembly line" to ensure that every hamburger, french fry, or milkshake bought in Illinois would be the same one bought in California.
Business was booming for Ray Kroc and the 'golden arches' were adopted; this symbol is currently more recognizable than the Christian Cross (Biography: Ray Kroc Fast Food Millionaire) To fully ensure that his customers get the quality they deserved, he opened up 'Hamburger University' in 1972. This "University" would teach new burger-flipping hopefuls how to operate a cash register, flip a burger correctly, and how many ounces the proper burger should weigh, along with other hands-on activities to prepare and train new employees. McDonald's employs about 1.6 million people globally and serves around 52 million people worldwide. At present, there are McDonald's restaurants on every continent except for Antarctica.(Big Mac: MAC Facts, CNBC Online)