Who was Ray Kroc?
Ray Kroc was the founder of McDonald’s. Back in 1954, as a 52-year-old salesman, Ray Kroc was an exclusive distributor for “Multimixer” milkshake machines when he came across the small hamburger stand of Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. He took one look at the rapidly moving line of customers buying bags of hamburgers and French fries and thought, “This will go Anyplace!” After the McDonald brothers explained that they didn’t have the personal desire to oversee the expansion of their concept across the nation, Ray Kroc became their exclusive franchising agent for the entire country. A great salesman had discovered his ultimate product. Kroc formed the new franchising company on March 2, 1955, under the name of McDonald’s System, Inc. This was the start of McDonald’s, as we know it today. Many of our core values and guiding principles that are the foundation of our business today were developed throughout the years by Ray Kroc.
