Ray Kroc Biography

Ray Kroc is the individual responsible for the franchise success of McDonald’s Corporation. Although McDonalds had already been opened in California by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, Kroc partnered with the brothers to market the franchise opportunities and he bought a franchise himself. The McDonald brothers had already begun franchising when Kroc came on the scene, however Kroc had something the McDonald brothers did not and that was vision and influence. He was the founder of the McDonald’s Corporation in 1955. Additionally, Kroc’s vision and ability to franchise the fast food chain allowed him to buy out the McDonald’s brothers for $2.7 million in 1961.

Kroc died in 1984 and lived long enough to see his franchise grow to unprecedented heights. However, Kroc did little to give credit to the McDonalds brothers for their role in the fast food chain and called his franchise the first McDonalds even though it was really the ninth. He also dated the company’s inception to 1955 rather than to 1940 so as to keep the McDonalds influence out of the success of the company. Despite the obvious rancor that existed between the brothers and Kroc, the name was retained and to this day McDonald’s restaurants exist in almost every city in the United States not to mention in many cities worldwide.

Kroc died in 1984 with a fortune of over $500 million. He did very well franchising America’s favorite fast food that was originally created by two brothers in California.