Ray Kroc biography -
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It was on one of his outings selling milkshake mixers in San Bernardino that he came across McDonald's Famous Hamburgers. Through his experience criss-crossing the country to sell his mixers, he saw that they had an unusual operation - especially since they wanted eight of his mixers (of which each one could mix five milkshakes at a time). Their mass-production (they could deliver a meal in 60 seconds) of food intrigued him and the next day he asked them if he could market their concept.
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonalds in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. Though the concept caught on quickly and sold several franchises, he ran into some financial problems that nearly bankrupted him early on. He recovered and in 1961 bought out Dick and Mac McDonald for $2.7 million. Kroc was now free to run the business as he thought best and by 1963 McDonalds had sold a billion hamburgers. Ronald McDonald made his first appearance later that year. A study in 1965 determined that more children new who Ronald McDonald was than who the President of the United States was.
In 1965 McDonalds went public and Ray Kroc's wealth shot up into the hundreds of millions - making the earlier deal with the McDonalds stand out as one of the great business deals of the century. By 1967 McDonalds decided to branch out - first to Canada, then to Europe, then to Asia and the rest of the world. McDonalds remained successful through their focus on quality, service, cleanliness and value.
His wealth, however, did not go to his head and he stayed actively involved in McDonalds until his death on January 14, 1984. After Ray Kroc's death, McDonalds lost some of its sparkle in America, but it continues to flourish in the rest of the world. Ray Kroc is remembered as the man that introduced the assembly line to food and leveraging it on a massive scale.