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Ray Kroc, 1902-1984: The Man Who Made McDonald's Popular Around the World |
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He helped develop the fast food industry. Transcript
of radio broadcast: |
VOICE
ONE:
I’m
Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE
TWO:
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Ray Kroc |
And I’m
Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we tell
about Ray Kroc, the man who helped make the fast food industry famous. He
expanded a small business into an international operation called McDonald’s.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
You
probably know what fast food is. It is cooked food that is ready almost
as soon as you enter a public eating place. It does not cost much.
It is popular with most Americans and with many people around the world.
Some experts say that at least twenty-five percent of American adults eat fast
food every day. Most fast food restaurants offer ground beef sandwiches called
hamburgers and potatoes cooked in hot oil called French fries. Other fast
food places serve fried chicken, pizza or tacos.
VOICE
TWO:
You see
fast food restaurants almost everywhere in the United States. The names
and the designs of the buildings are easily recognized – Burger King, Kentucky
Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and of course, McDonald’s. Most are chain
restaurants. That means each one is part of a huge company.
Each
restaurant in the chain has the same large, colorful sign that can be
recognized from far away. Each offers its own carefully limited choice of
foods. Each kind of hamburger or piece of chicken tastes the same at
every restaurant in the chain.
VOICE
ONE:
The
fast food industry began with two brothers in San Bernardino, California in the
nineteen forties. Mac and Dick McDonald owned a small, but very
successful restaurant. They sold only a few kinds of simple food,
especially hamburgers.
People
stood outside the restaurant at a window. They told the workers inside
what they wanted to eat. They received and paid for their food very
quickly. The food came in containers that could be thrown away. The
system was so successful that the McDonald brothers discovered they could sell
a lot of food and lower their prices.
VOICE
TWO:
Ray
Kroc sold restaurant supplies. He recognized the importance of the
McDonald brothers’ idea. He saw that food sales could be organized for
mass production -- almost like a factory. Mister Kroc paid the McDonald
brothers for permission to open several restaurants similar to theirs. He
opened the first McDonald’s restaurant near Chicago, Illinois, in nineteen
fifty-five. Soon, more McDonald’s were opening all across the United
States. Other people copied the idea and more fast food restaurants
followed.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Raymond
Albert Kroc was a very wealthy businessman when he died in nineteen
eighty-four. But he had not always been successful. Ray was born in
Illinois in nineteen-oh-two. His parents were not rich. He attended
school in Oak Park, near Chicago. Ray never completed high school,
however. He left school to become a driver for the Red Cross in World War
One. He lied about his age to be accepted. He was only fifteen. The
war ended before he could be sent to Europe.
VOICE
TWO:
After
the war, Ray became a jazz piano player. He played with famous music
groups. He got married when he was twenty. Then he began working for the
Lily Tulip Cup Company, selling paper cups. He kept trying new things,
however. He attempted to sell land in the southern state of Florida. That
business failed. Ray Kroc remembered driving to Chicago from Florida
after his business failed. He said: “I will never forget that drive as
long as I live. The streets were covered with ice, and I did not have
winter clothing. When I arrived home I was very cold and had no money.”
VOICE
ONE:
Ray
Kroc went back to being a salesman for the Lily Tulip Cup Company. He was
responsible for product sales in the central United States. His life
improved when he started a small business that sold restaurant supplies.
He sold a machine that could mix five milkshakes at one time.
In
nineteen fifty-four, he discovered a small restaurant that was using eight of
his machines. He went there and found that the owners of the restaurant
had a good business selling only hamburgers, French fries and drinks.
At
first, Mister Kroc saw only the possibility for increasing the sales of his
mixers to more restaurants. Then he proposed an agreement with the
McDonald brothers to start a number of restaurants. Under the agreement,
the McDonald brothers would get a percentage of all sales.
VOICE
TWO:
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Ray Kroc's
first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955 |
The
first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, in nineteen
fifty-five. Ray Kroc was fifty-two years old -- an age when many people
start thinking about retirement. He opened two restaurants. Soon he
began to understand that the real profits were made in selling hamburgers, not
the mixers. He quickly sold the mixer company and invested the money in
the growing chain of McDonald’s restaurants.
In
nineteen-sixty, Mister Kroc bought the legal rights to the restaurants from the
McDonald brothers. By then, the chain had more than two hundred
restaurants.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Fast
food restaurants spread quickly in the United States because of
franchising. Franchising means selling the legal right to operate a store
in a company’s chain to an independent business person. If the company
approves, the business person may buy or lease the store for a period of years.
Many
people want to own a McDonald’s restaurant, but only a few are approved.
Each restaurant buys its supplies at a low cost from the parent company.
Each restaurant also gives the company about ten percent of the money it earns
in sales. Today, about seventy percent of McDonald’s restaurants
worldwide are owned and operated by independent businessmen and women.
VOICE
TWO:
Ray
Kroc was good at identifying what the public wanted. He knew that many
American families wanted to eat in a restaurant sometimes. He gave people
a simple eating place with popular food, low prices, friendly service and no
waiting. And all McDonald’s restaurants sold the same food in every
restaurant across the country.
Ray
Kroc established rules for how McDonald’s restaurants were to operate. He
demanded that every restaurant offer “quality, service and cleanliness.”
People lucky enough to get a franchise must complete a program at a training
center called Hamburger University. They learn how to cook and serve the
food, and how to keep the building clean. More than sixty-five thousand
people have completed this training.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
McDonald’s
began to expand around the world in nineteen sixty-seven. Ray Kroc’s
business ability made McDonald’s the largest restaurant company in the
world. There are now more than thirty thousand McDonald’s restaurants on
six continents.
The company
operates in about one hundred twenty countries. Every day, McDonald’s
restaurants around the world serve about fifty million people.
VOICE
TWO:
In
later years, Ray Kroc established the Kroc Foundation, a private organization
that gives money to help others. He also established a number of centers
that offer support to families of children who have cancer. They are
called Ronald McDonald houses.
Many
people praised Ray Kroc for his company’s success and good works. But
other people sharply criticized him for the way McDonald’s treated young
employees. Many of the workers were paid the lowest wage permitted by
American law. Health experts still criticize McDonald’s food for
containing too much fat and salt.
In the
nineteen seventies, Ray Kroc turned his energy from hamburgers to sports.
He bought a professional baseball team in California, the San Diego
Padres. He died in nineteen eighty-four. He was eighty-one years
old.
VOICE
ONE:
That
first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, was torn down. It
was replaced by a store and visitors center that attempts to copy what was in
the original building. Another museum in nearby Oak Park describes the
life of Ray Kroc. Ray Kroc’s story remains an important part of
McDonald’s history. And his way of doing business continues to influence fast
food restaurants that feed people around the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
This
program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis
was the producer. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE
ONE:
And I’m
Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA
program in VOA Special English.