An intriguing subplot involves how Kroc’s first wife (well-played by Laura Dern) stood by his myriad dreams and schemes, even when the franchise business was faltering. Cleverly left untold is how he came to make the wife of a franchise his second wife.
Full Answer
What did Ray Kroc do for McDonald's?
Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turning it into the most successful fast food corporation in the world. Due to the company's growth under Kroc, he has also been referred to as the founder of the McDonald's Corporation.
What was Ray Kroc’s net worth?
Ray Kroc was worth $3 billion. He was married three times and when he died he was married to his third wife Joan Kroc. The McDonald’s empire is made up of many different companies and it actually makes a lot of sense since they are in the same business. This is a huge amount of money, about the same as the amount of money Bill Gates is now worth.
Is Joan Kroc married to Ray Kroc?
Marriage and family. Joan met McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc while playing organ at the Criterion Restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1957. Kroc said in his autobiography that he "was stunned by her blonde beauty". However, they were both married. They met again at a McDonald's conference in 1969.
How did Ray Kroc and Walt Disney meet?
They had met as ambulance attendant trainees at Old Greenwich, Connecticut during World War I. Kroc wrote, "I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disney Development".
Who is Ray Kroc's daughter?
Who is Joan Kroc?
What did Joan Kroc do for the Salvation Army?
Why is Kroc called Angel?
Where is the chain reaction sculpture?
Who wrote Ray and Joan?
See 3 more
About this website
What happened to Ray Kroc first wife?
Kroc's first two marriages to Ethel Fleming (1922–1961) and Jane Dobbins Green (1963–1968) ended in divorce.
Who inherited Joan Kroc's fortune?
A friendship with Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh at the University of Notre Dame led to Kroc's $6 million gift establishing The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Did Ray Kroc betray the McDonald brothers?
And how Ray ended up owning the company, made a fortune and cheated the McDonald brothers, who despite being the original creators of the fast food restaurant ended up with way less money than Ray.
Did Joan Kroc's daughter inherit anything?
Linda Smith, an only child, is heir apparent to the Kroc family fortune. Kroc, also a patron of the anti-nuclear movement, is the widow of McDonald's restaurants founder Ray Kroc and a major stockholder in the fast-food chain.
Did the McDonalds brothers ever get their royalties?
The brothers did get a percentage of the profits. The original deal was 1.9 percent of a franchisee's profits. It went to the McDonald's Corporation and 0.5 percent of that went to Dick and Mac McDonald.
How old was Joan when she married Ray Kroc?
Her relationship with Ray was straight out of Peyton Place. She was 28 and married to a man named Rollie Smith when she collided with Kroc, 52, in 1957 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
What happened to the original owners of McDonalds?
Maurice McDonald died from heart failure at his home in Palm Springs, California, on December 11, 1971, at the age of 69. Richard McDonald also died from heart failure in a nursing home in Manchester, New Hampshire, on July 14, 1998, at the age of 89.
How accurate is the founder movie?
The final representations, including two full-sized working McDonald's restaurants maintained "absolute high fidelity." You can rest assured that The Founder is a film whose crazy story is in fact pretty darn accurate.
Who is the real founder of McDonalds?
They were looking for a new franchising agent and Kroc saw an opportunity. In 1955, he founded McDonald's System, Inc., a predecessor of the McDonald's Corporation, and six years later bought the exclusive rights to the McDonald's name and operating system. By 1958, McDonald's had sold its 100 millionth hamburger.
How much did Joan Kroc give to the Salvation Army?
In 1998, Mrs. Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, donated $90 million to The Salvation Army to build a comprehensive community center in San Diego, California.
Did Ray Kroc honor his handshake deal?
Did Ray Kroc renege on his handshake deal to pay the McDonald brothers a percentage of the revenue from the franchises? Did Ray Kroc really credit himself with being the founder of McDonald's? Yes. After the McDonald brothers sold the company to Ray Kroc in 1961 for $2.7 million, he began to take credit for its birth.
How much money did Joan Kroc leave NPR?
$200 MillionJoan B. Kroc, widow of the founder of the McDonald's Corporation, has left $200 million to National Public Radio, the Washington Post reports. Unlike the $50 million bequests Kroc made to the University of Notre Dame and the University of San Diego, this was a first gift.
Who inherited Mcdonalds?
While many are familiar with the story of the man who made the McDonald's fortune, most have not heard about the woman who gave most of that money away. Joan Kroc, Ray's third wife, an erstwhile cocktail pianist, inherited $500 million when Ray died in 1984 — and donated millions when she died two decades later.
What happened to the original McDonald's founders?
Death and legacy. Maurice McDonald died from heart failure at his home in Palm Springs, California, on December 11, 1971, at the age of 69. Richard McDonald also died from heart failure in a nursing home in Manchester, New Hampshire, on July 14, 1998, at the age of 89.
How much is the Kroc family worth?
Ray Kroc Net WorthNet Worth:$600 MillionDate of Birth:Oct 5, 1902 - Jan 14, 1984 (81 years old)Place of Birth:Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.Profession:Businessman; franchisorNationality:American
Who is the current owner of McDonald's?
Chris Kempczinski (Nov 4, 2019–)McDonald's / CEOChristopher John Kempczinski is an American business executive, and the president and chief executive officer of McDonald's Corporation. Wikipedia
Linda Smith Plans to Divorce Padres’ Boss - Los Angeles Times
Linda Smith, the daughter of multimillionaire San Diego Padres owner Joan B. Kroc, said Wednesday that she is filing for divorce from Ballard Smith, her husband of more than 16 years and Padres ...
Who was Ray Kroc's second wife?
Jane Dobbins Green was the second wife of an American businessman Ray Kroc and she came to the limelight in the 1960s’ because of Ray’s notorious affairs. So in this article, we will be talking about all the detail we have on Jane like where she is now, her marriage and divorce with Ray Kroc.
Who was Ray Kroc married to?
Ray Kroc was married to Ethel Fleming in 1992 but later they got separated in 1961 and after two years of their divorce, Ray got married to Jane in 1963. They were married for about five years and in 1968 they got a divorce. After Ray divorced Jane, he then married Joan Kroc in 1969.
Why did Ray and Jane's marriage break?
As mentioned above Ray and Jane’s marriage broke because of Ray’s notorious affair. After four years of Ray’s marriage with his first wife Ethel Fleming, he met with Joan Kroc. At the time Ray was 52 and Joan was only 28 years old and Joan was also married to Rollie Smith and had an 11-year-old daughter named Linda.
Where did Ray and Joan meet?
They met for the first time in 1957, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joan was blonde and really beautiful so Ray was attracted to her. They started to have an extramarital affair but later in 1961 Ray divorced his wife Ethel. After the divorce, Ray asked Joan to come and live with him but Joan rejected him under the pressure of her family so Ray married Jane in 1963, and after few years of their marriage Ray invited Joan to McDonald’s convention in 1969 which affected his marriage with Jane.
Who plays Joan in Ray Kroc?
Linda Cardellini plays Joan, the woman who becomes Ray Kroc’s third wife. Here, she’s offerng him a choice between chocolate or vanilla powdered milkshakes, with their stabilizers, emulsifiers. etc. “Delicious!” she says, claiming that they taste just the same as milkshakes made from ice cream and fresh milk.
Who is the founder of McDonald's?
One of the names that come to our mind when we talk or think about businessmen or fast food is Ray Kroc. Kroc was the one who started McDonald’s in 1961 turned it into the most successful fast food corporation in the world. His story has inspired many people and there is even a movie called The Founder which tells the story of Ray Kroc.
Who is Ray and Joan?
Ray and Joan, by former New York Times technology reporter Lisa Napoli, is a thorough, careful look at the complicated romance that drove the brand. Napoli spoke to MEL about fast love, fast food and fast fortunes.
What did Joan and Ray like?
They liked music, and piano playing, smoking cigarettes, drinking. They loved McDonald’s. Even before Joan left Rollie to go ultimately live with Ray, she was so high on McDonald’s that she met people and would say, “McDonald’s is great, you gotta buy in.”. She had seen it from the ground up.
Why did Joan go through divorce?
When Joan reneged, he just went through the divorce anyway because he couldn’t be back in the old situation with [first wife] Ethel. That’s actually pretty honest. If he were dishonest, he’d have gone back, and said, “Oops, my lover has reneged and I can’t be alone.”.
Did Ray and Joan run into each other?
Even though Ray wasn’t rich when he married her and was still struggling, he was on this path and she fit that new persona. But eventually he and Joan run into each other at a convention, and pretty soon after he just up and leaves the second wife the night before a cruise for their fifth anniversary.
Who is Ray Kroc?
Ray Kroc. Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and served as its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turning it into the most successful fast food corporation in the world.
Where was Ray Kroc's first McDonald's?
Ray Kroc's first ( McDonald's ninth) restaurant, which opened April 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, US. After World War II, Kroc found employment as a milkshake mixer salesman for the foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. When Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeted because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, ...
How much did Kroc donate to Nixon?
Kroc donated $255,000 to Richard Nixon 's reelection campaign in 1972, and was controversially accused by some, notably Senator Harrison Williams, of making the donation to influence Nixon to veto a minimum wage bill making its way through Congress.
What did Ray Kroc do in World War 1?
Ray Kroc grew up and spent most of his early life in Oak Park. During World War I, he lied about his age and became a Red Cross ambulance driver at the age of 15 years old, alongside Walt Disney. The war, however, ended shortly after he enlisted.
What is Kroc's role in the food service industry?
Kroc has been credited with making a number of innovative changes in the food-service franchise model. Chief among them was the sale of only single-store franchises instead of selling larger, territorial franchises which was common in the industry at the time.
Why was the McDonald's restaurant renamed the Big M?
In his anger, Kroc later opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the original McDonald's, which had been renamed "The Big M" because the brothers had neglected to retain rights to the name. "The Big M" closed six years later.
When did Kroc retire from McDonald's?
Kroc retired from running McDonald's in 1974. While he was looking for new challenges, he decided to get back into baseball, his lifelong favorite sport, when he learned that the San Diego Padres were for sale. The team had been conditionally sold to Joseph Danzansky, a Washington, D.C. grocery-chain owner, who planned to move the Padres to Washington. However, the sale was tied up in lawsuits when Kroc purchased the team for $12 million, keeping the team in San Diego. In Kroc's first year of ownership in 1974 , the Padres lost 102 games, yet drew over one million in attendance, the standard of box office success in the major leagues during that era. Their previous top attendance was 644,772 in 1972. The San Diego Union said Kroc was "above all, a fan of his team".
Who is Joan Kroc?
Joan Kroc parlayed his fortune to become one of the greatest philanthropists of the 20th century, inventively supporting liberal causes that would have made the conservative businessman recoil in horror. Some called her “St. Joan of the Golden Arches,” but what made Joan so compelling is that she was hardly angelic, but, rather, ...
Who was the first lady to give away her company?
All this before First Lady Betty Ford came forth with her own struggles; Joan later funded her efforts. After his death in 1984, she inherited his controlling stake in the company, and almost immediately began giving it away.
Who was Joan's employer?
Soon, Joan’s employer, Jim Zien, was buying in to the fast-food game and, not coincidentally, hiring Joan’s husband to manage his McDonald’s outpost in St. Louis Park—store number 93. With a bonus Rollie earned for his hard work, he, Joan and their daughter decamped to Rapid City in 1959 for the chance to open the first outpost ...
Who is Lisa Napoli?
By Lisa Napoli. December 22, 2016 4:32 PM EST. Napoli is a journalist and the author most recently of Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who Gave it All Away. A new film, The Founder, starring Michael Keaton as McDonald’s founding chairman Ray Kroc, is about to serve up a dollop of American nostalgia.
Is McDonald's a story?
The story of McDonald’s is, like it or not, an indelible part of American history. But more compelling than the founder is the woman who, a stylishly dressed Robin Hood with a meticulously hairdo, took his fortune and practiced wide-ranging compassion. When you learn about Joan, you’ll never look at a Big Mac the same way again.
Who sold McDonald's to Ray Kroc?
After the McDonald brothers sold the company to Ray Kroc in 1961 for $2.7 million, he began to take credit for its birth. "Suddenly, after we sold, my golly, he elevated himself to the founder," said Richard McDonald in a 1991 interview ( Sun Journal ).
When did Ray Kroc buy McDonald's?
In 1954, Kroc got wind that the brothers were looking for help expanding, so he offered to buy the U.S. franchise rights. -Sun Journal. An ad that appeared in the Des Plaines Journal on April 14, 1955 announces the opening of Ray Kroc's first McDonald's (the ninth overall).
How old was Kroc when he found McDonald's?
Kroc was 52 when he found success with McDonald's. When teased that he was an overnight success at the age of 52 , Kroc reminded people of the long road it took to get there, "I was an overnight success alright, but 30 years is a long, long night.".
Why did Bill Tansey quit McDonald's?
The previous franchising agent, Bill Tansey, quit due to health issues. In 1955, Kroc founded the Franchise Realty Corporation (a predecessor of the McDonald's Corporation), which helped to facilitate the restaurant's expansion while giving Kroc a healthier return on his efforts.
When did Ray Kroc start training?
He started training in 1917 when he was only 15 and was sent to France in 1918. Though not shown in the movie, the real Ray Kroc met fellow Illinois native Walt Disney (pictured right) while training for the Red Cross. Disney had also lied about his age.
Who plays the McDonald brothers?
The real McDonald brothers, Dick and Maurice (bottom), weren't interested in selling franchises themselves, so they decided to give the job to Ray Kroc . Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch (top) portray Dick and Maurice (Mac).
Did Ray Kroc renege on his handshake deal to pay the McDonald's brothers a percentage of?
After the brothers refused to give Kroc the original restaurant, he supposedly cheated the brothers out of the 0.5 percent royalty agreement they had been getting, which would have been valued at $15 million a year by 1977 and as high as $305 million a year by 2012 (according to one estimate). In his book, Kroc wrote, "If they [the brothers] had played their cards right, that 0.5 percent would have made them unbelievably wealthy." Relatives of Richard and Maurice McDonald say that Maurice (Mac) was so distraught that it attributed to his eventual death from heart failure a decade later. -Daily Mail Online
How much did Kroc make in 1960?
By 1960, Kroc had franchised 228 McDonald's that were pulling in $56 million annually. The McDonald brothers and Kroc had both become wealthy, but Kroc would become filthy rich when he bought them out in 1961 for $2.7 million. The brothers figured that after taxes they'd each have a million bucks. While that certainly wasn't chump change, had they never sold the business, by the end of the 1970s their 0.5 percent stake would have been paying them $15 million a year.
How many Kroc locations are there?
According to The New York Times, by the time Kroc came to the brothers in 1954 to transform their burger joint to the global machine it is today, the brothers already had over 20 locations. (Other estimates put it at six locations .)
Why did the McDonald brothers lose their fortune?
The brothers lost out on a fortune and had their legacy all but erased for decades because of going into business with Ray Kroc.
How much did McDonald's sell for in 1961?
Ray Kroc's initial franchising deal with the McDonald's brothers looked like this: a franchise fee of $950 with a 1.9 percent service fee assessed on food sales, 0.5 percent paid to the McDonald brothers as a royalty, and the remaining 1.4 percent going to Kroc.
What happened to McDonald's in 1948?
The new McDonald's of 1948 had ditched everything that wasn't popular on the old 25 item menu (including the barbecue) and done away with the 20 female carhops. Customers were now expected to get out of their cars and walk to the counter to place their order. People weren't happy about the changes and the once bustling business came to a halt. Customers would drive-up and leave as soon as they realized a car hop wouldn't be coming over to take their order. Even efforts to stage a busy enterprise by having employees park in front failed to bring in much business.
Who owns McDonald's in 1961?
The McDonald brothers' 1961 deal to sell the rights to their growing business to Ray Kroc wasn't without its hiccups. Kroc wanted to own the entire McDonald's chain and and borrowed cash from several different sources to meet the brother's $2.7 million asking price. "I needed the McDonald name and those golden arches," he said in a 1973 interview with TIME (via CNN ). "What are you going to do with a name like Kroc?"
Where did the McDonald brothers buy the Mission Theater?
The brothers bought the 750-seat Mission theater 20 miles outside of Los Angeles, put in a snack bar, and renamed it the Beacon. The 1930 opening of the theater couldn't have been during a worse time and the brothers were constantly behind on their bills during the Great Depression. Hard times got so desperate that they even buried some silver in their backyard in case the bank foreclosed on the Beacon. After seven years, the McDonald brothers called it quits and sold their movie theater before deciding to try their luck in the food business.
Who is Ray Kroc's daughter?
The couple's only child, a daughter named Linda, was born the following year. Mansfield met McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc while playing organ at the Criterion Restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1957. Ray said in his autobiography that he "was stunned by her blonde beauty". However, they were both married.
Who is Joan Kroc?
Additionally, Joan established and endowed University of Notre Dame 's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Kroc preferred to give donations anonymously, but recipient organizations often insisted on publicizing her gifts, hoping to attract new donors.
What did Joan Kroc do for the Salvation Army?
In 2002, Kroc Center, a large Salvation Army community center that she helped fund—to the tune of $87 million—opened to the public. She later bequeathed an additional $1.6 billion to open Salvation Army Kroc Centers across the nation, the largest one-time gift ever recorded. Several institutions in the San Diego area are named after her, including the think tank Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice and the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies- the world's top peace institution- at the University of San Diego, the St. Vincent de Paul Joan Kroc Center for the Homeless (Part of Father Joe's Villages- San Diego's largest organization helping the homeless) in downtown and the Kroc–Copley Animal Shelter in the Morena District. Additionally, Joan established and endowed University of Notre Dame 's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Kroc preferred to give donations anonymously, but recipient organizations often insisted on publicizing her gifts, hoping to attract new donors.
Why is Kroc called Angel?
Kroc is affectionately known by the citizens of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, as the "Angel" because of her anonymous $15 million donation to assist the cities after a devastating flood occurred there in 1997.
Where is the chain reaction sculpture?
She anonymously gifted a Paul Conrad sculpture depicting a nuclear mushroom cloud, Chain Reaction, to the city of Santa Monica, where it still sits today. Because of her public no-nukes work, Cal Thomas, a conservative syndicated columnist, called her a "McNut.".
Who wrote Ray and Joan?
The biography Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made The McDonald's Fortune and The Woman Who Gave it All Away, published by Dutton in 2016 and written by Lisa Napoli, examines the Krocs' relationship.
Overview
Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turning it into the most successful fast food corporation in the world. Due to the company's growth under Kroc, he has also been referred to a…
Early life
Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago, to Czech-American parents, Rose Mary [née Hrach] (1881–1959) and Alois "Louis" Kroc (1879–1937). Alois was born in Horní Stupno, part of Břasy near Rokycany. Rose's father Vojtěch was from Ševětín and her maternal grandfather Josef Kotilínek was from Bořice. After immigrating to America, Alois made a fortune speculating on land during the 1920s, only to lose everything with the stock market crash in 1929.
Developing and purchasing McDonald's
After World War II, Kroc found employment as a milkshake mixer salesman for the foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. When Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeted because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Kroc was impressed by Richard and Maurice McDonald, who had purchased eight of his Multi-Mixers for their San Bernardino, California restaurant, and visited them in 1954.
Baseball
Kroc retired from running McDonald's in 1973. While he was looking for new challenges, he decided to return to baseball, his lifelong favorite sport, when he learned that the San Diego Padres were for sale. The team had been conditionally sold to Joseph Danzansky, a Washington, D.C. grocery-chain owner, who planned to move the Padres to Washington. However, the sale was tied up in lawsuits when Kroc purchased the team for $12 million, keeping the team in San Diego…
Personal life and death
The Kroc Foundation supported research, treatment and education about various medical conditions, such as alcoholism, diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It is best known for establishing the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit organization that provides free housing for parents close to medical facilities where their children are receiving treatment.
In 1973, Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
In popular culture
Kroc's acquisition of the McDonald's franchise as well as his "Kroc-style" business tactics are the subject of Mark Knopfler's 2004 song "Boom, Like That".
Kroc co-authored the book Grinding It Out, first published in 1977 and reissued in 2016; it served as the basis for a biographical movie about Kroc.
Michael Keaton portrayed Kroc in the 2016 John Lee Hancock film The Founder. The film's depicti…
See also
• List of ambulance drivers during World War I
• History of McDonald's
• Den Fujita
Further reading
• Boas, Max; Chain, Steve (1976). Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story of McDonald's. New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-52506-675-0.
• Byers, Paula K., and Suzanne M. Bourgion (eds.). (1997). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale Research. ISBN 978-0-787-62221-3. s.v. "Kroc, Raymond."