Ray Kroc Essay -- Food Industry Fast Food Restaurants Essays

Ray Kroc They are everywhere! From downtown Chicago to a rural town in Nebraska, fast-food restaurants have become a trademark of how Americans live today. Hurrying to make time for an afternoon appointment, a woman decides to make a short stop for lunch. Pulling her sports utility vehicle up to the window, she quickly grabs a delicious meal for a small price. But where did the idea come from? In the small town of San Bernadino, California, during the fifties, a young man named Ray Kroc had an idea that would drastically revolutionize the food industry with the efficient use of a multimixer, new ideas, and incredible entrepreneurship, the McDonalds corporation began a remarkable empire in the American and worldwide fast-food industry. Ray Kroc began his working career the same as most others do by finding a solid job with a steady cash flow, and hope of promotion. Determined to find work for his future wife's hand in marriage, Ray quickly became a salesmen for a Lily cup industry. Unfortunately for Ray, it didn't start off in the way that he thought it would. Struggling to support his wife and newborn baby under low pay, Ray would also play piano part time to earn extra money. While working for the chance of a promotion, he worked hard in his job going from place to place selling papercup products. It was in these early business days that Ray first showed a sign of his talent in economic ideas. He had an idea to modify a paper cup in that it could be formed in a way which kept the cup more durable. The cup's name was rightfully called the "One in a Million," and the introduction of this new product took off like a barn fire and boosted sales dramatically in a stagnant industry. The intelligent business decisio ns made by Ray were incredible. He advised the head of the company to raise the price of the new cup by two cents. Instead of selling at ten cents, the cup sold at twelve which made the boss an extra one hundred thousand dollars. With this invention by Ray Kroc, new ideas were stimulated and more inventions were created. The invention of the multimixer, by Earl Prince, was a five spindled milkshake machine that Ray believed had tremendous potential. When Earl Prince found out about Ray Kroc's business and selling tactics, he instantly proposed that Ray leave the Lily Tulip company and go into business with him. Ray would sell the... ... the demands of a changing society. Ray commented on all his success by saying, "Everything seems to be coming up roses. I'll be able to tell you more Manana...Manana..."(Kroc 207). At age fifty-two, Ray Kroc took an idea of the McDonalds brothers, and opened his first franchise. Within a decade he became a millionaire and his journey is a classic success story. Sadly, after thirty years of working for his own company, Ray died of heart failure on January 14, 1984. During 1983, the system wide sales of over four thousand restaurants accumulated almost nine billion dollars in sales. And in December of that year Ray was saluted as one of fifty individuals who had made the greatest contribution to the American way of life in the twentieth century. The West Coast Reviews of books writes, "Few entrepreneurs can claim to have actually changed the way we live, but Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertis ing have earned him a place beside the men who founded not merely businesses but entire new industries." Ray Kroc's influential life not only provided work for millions, but changed the life of billions.