McDonald’s: Ray Kroc

All the early McDonald’s drive-ins attracted crowds. One visitor to the San Bernardino operation was Ray Kroc, born in 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. After a variety of odd jobs, he had settled on selling Lily paper cups. After seventeen years of selling cups successfully, he launched the Prince Castle Sales Corporation. Its main product was the Multimixer for soda fountains and restaurants. He also sold Multimixers to many fast food franchisees, including Dairy Queen and Tastee Freez. These customers had given Kroc a deeper understanding of the fast food business and some knowledge of the problems related to franchising. In the early 1950s, increased competition had reduced the sales of Multimixers, and Kroc needed new outlets. He was surprised to learn that a small San Bernardino drive-in had bought eight Multimixers. His curiosity aroused, Kroc visited the McDonald brothers in 1954.