Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's
He and his wife Ethel divorced in 1961, the same year he spent $2.7 million to buy out the brothers' stake in the company. His obsession with work only intensified after he met the McDonald brothers. Ethel had opposed his decision to start selling milkshake machines, believing he was giving up a good job and was too old (35) to start a new career. He put everything he had into work, leaving little time for his family. Though he had earned nice commissions as a paper cup salesman, his relationship with his wife Ethel (Laura Dern in the movie) and daughter Marilyn was strained as a result. However, in fact-checking The Founder, we confirmed that Kroc's relationship with his family had been deteriorating before he became involved with McDonald's (as shown in the movie). The ad promotes the restaurant's streamlined menu, low prices and speedy service.ĭid taking over McDonald's really contribute to Ray Kroc's first marriage deteriorating? BBC McDonald's DocumentaryĪn ad that appeared in the Des Plaines Journal on Apannounces the opening of Ray Kroc's first McDonald's (the ninth overall). He flew out to Los Angeles and then drove to see the restaurant the following morning. And I said, 'That's for me.'" In real life, Kroc didn't make a cross-country drive to California. They were serving hamburgers for fifteen cents, french fries for ten cents and milkshakes for twenty cents, and basically that was the menu. "In those days, nobody had eight Multimixers in one business," recalled Kroc. Initially, Kroc envisioned how much money he could make if there were hundreds of McDonald's across the country, each equipped with eight of the milkshake machines (Multimixers) that he sold. The restaurant was drawing attention, especially after making the cover of American Restaurant Magazine in 1952. This was partially due to the fact that they focused on just a few items (burgers, fries and drinks) and had a chain of employees working together to prepare each order. In particular, Kroc was amazed by how quickly the restaurant could fulfill a customer's order. Upon his first visit in 1954, Kroc was blown away by the low prices and effectiveness of the restaurant's operation, which had been put in place by its owners, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. That's the type it takes to sell anything." -Sun Journal "He says, 'My name is Ray Kroc.' My brother and I were impressed with him. "This little fellow came in with a high voice," recalled Richard McDonald in a 1991 interview. The five-spindled milkshake machine promised to make five shakes at a time. The McDonald brothers, who owned a small restaurant chain based out of San Bernardino, California, became clients of Kroc's in 1954 after they had purchased eight Multimixers, which sold at $150 a piece (a hefty price back then). (Some of his other jobs to help make ends meet included pianist and DJ on a local Oak Park, Illinois radio station.) He transitioned from a successful career selling paper cups into working as a traveling milkshake machine salesman ( Ray Kroc Documentary). In fact-checking The Founder movie, we learned that after serving in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver, Ray Kroc mainly worked in sales, and for 17 of those years, he worked as a paper cup salesman for Lily Tulip Cup Company. Everybody seemed to be in a hurry, and here we had this very slow system." -Sun Journalĭid Ray Kroc first become involved with McDonald's when he was a milkshake machine salesman?
"This was after the war years," recalled Richard McDonald. They focused on just hamburgers, french fries and soft drinks, and they did away with carhops, which were time-consuming. It was successful for eight years, but they eventually decided that the service was too slow and shut it down in the fall of 1948 in order to reopen with a streamlined menu and a more efficient system. The Founder true story confirms that brothers Richard and Maurice "Mac" McDonald opened a drive-in barbecue and burger restaurant in Arcadia, California in 1937 and then moved it to San Bernardino in 1940.