RAY KROC

1902–1984

Known as “fast food’s founding father,” milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc saw the franchise potential in a family-owned hamburger bar called McDonald’s, transforming it into a global brand.

Raymond Albert Kroc worked in various jobs before becoming a salesman for the Multimixer, a blender that could mix five milkshakes simultaneously. In 1954, Kroc visited a hamburger bar in San Bernardino, California, run by Maurice and Richard McDonald, which used eight of his Multimixers. He was immediately struck by its assembly line system, which enabled super-quick delivery of beverages, hamburgers, and fries to customers.

Spotting a business opportunity, Kroc offered the McDonalds a deal: he would set up a chain of McDonald’s and pay the brothers a fee. Kroc began selling single-restaurant franchises so that owners would be running their own McDonald’s hamburger bar. Kroc’s vision was to establish uniformity across every outlet. To do this, he set up a training program in which franchisees were taught how to run a McDonald’s to the required standards of “Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value.” These operational principles, along with the provision of familiar food and concentration of restaurants in suburban areas, attracted a new market: families. By 1961, Kroc had set up over 200 McDonald’s outlets across the US, and by the time he died in 1984, there were 7,500 globally.

The famous golden arches, part of the design of many McDonald’s restaurants since 1953, were incorporated into the company’s logo in 1962.