Ray Kroc was 52 years old, and he had been selling paper cups, and then milk-shake mixers, for over 30 years. He was a driven man, obsessed by detail, ruthless in his ambition to get on.
In San Bernardino, California in 1954, he saw the McDonald brothers’ hamburger restaurant selling tasty food to big queues, and he had a vision of its endless possibilities.
Ray Kroc was attracted by the cleanliness, simplicity, efficiency and profitability of the McDonald brothers’ operation. They had stripped fast food delivery down to its essence, eliminating choices and needless efforts (no waitresses, no china) in order to make a swift assembly line for a meal at reasonable prices: 15 cents for a burger, ten cents for fries, and ten cents for a soft drink.
The McDonalds applied automation to food, just as Henry Ford had to car-manufacture.
Ray Kroc instinctively liked the friendly Scottish sound of their name and the golden arches in their restaurant. He struck a deal with the McDonald brothers to buy locations and franchise their restaurants all over the country, guaranteeing uniform quality, service, cleanliness and value.
Later, Kroc and the McDonald brothers quarrelled, and Kroc brought the brothers out for US$2.7 million. When they would not sell him the original San Bernardino restaurant, now renamed The Big M, Kroc opened a McDonald’s across the road, and drove them out of business.
The first McDonald’s opened in Des Plaines, Illinois in June 1955. In five years there were 200 restaurants. After ten years the company went public, and the share price doubled to $50.00 in the first month. By 1995 there were over 18,000 restaurants worldwide.