Ray Kroc

Extremally Rare Vintage 1995 Ray Kroc - Modern Day McDonald's Founder Portrait - #37 of 100 Framed Art Print By Charles Stout

Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 from the McDonald brothers 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 by revenue.

Product Description

Pastel Portrait In A Matted 20.5" x 20.5" Ornate Wood Frame - Professionally Mounted By Michaels Inc. - I Do Not Know Any History Of This Print Since The Internet Has No Information - Purchased At An Auction In Ohio.

Item Features

• Artist Signed - By Charles Stout
• Hand Numbered - #37 of 100
• Portrait Of Modern McDonald's Founder - Ray Kroc
• Framed and Matted in a 20.5" x 20.5" Ornate Wood Frame
• Issue Year - 1995
• Great Vintage Condition

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Print In Great Vintage Condition - Frame In Great Vintage Condition 

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About this item:

Age: For Adult Collectors 

Contents: (1) Ray Kroc Portrait

Approx. Size: 20.5" x 20.5"

Approx. Box/Card Size: N/A

Weight: 3 lbs. 12.0 oz. 

Brand: Artist Charles Stout

Manufacturer: Charles Stout

MPN: #37 of 100

UPC: N/A

Made In: USA

Year: 1995

Condition: Print In Great Vintage Condition - Frame In Great Vintage Condition  - Sold As Is - What You See Is What You Get - See Photos & Video for any Issues! 

Note: Due to many unpaid items, if you have less than a 5 positive feedback score, please contact us prior to bidding!

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 from the McDonald brothers 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 by revenue.

Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and worked a variety of jobs, including as a paper cup salesman and a musician, before eventually becoming a milkshake mixer salesman. In 1954, he visited a hamburger restaurant in San Bernardino, California, owned by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Kroc was impressed with the efficiency and speed of the restaurant's operations, and he convinced the brothers to allow him to franchise the concept.

Under Kroc's leadership, McDonald's grew rapidly, and he implemented several key innovations, including the creation of a standardized menu and the development of a highly efficient assembly-line system for food preparation. Kroc also focused on aggressive expansion, opening new restaurants across the United States and eventually in other countries as well. He became the owner of McDonald's Corporation in 1961 and was credited as its founder.

After retiring from McDonald's, he owned the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 until his death in 1984.

McDonald's

After World War II, Kroc found employment as a milkshake mixer salesman for the foodservice equipment manufacturer Prince Castle. When Prince Castle mixers 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 mixers for their restaurant in San Bernardino, California, and visited them in 1954.

After finalizing a franchise agreement with the McDonald brothers, Kroc sent a letter to Walt Disney. They had met as ambulance attendant trainees in 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". According to one account, Disney agreed but with a stipulation to increase the price of fries from ten cents to fifteen cents, allowing himself the profit. Kroc refused to gouge his loyal customers, leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant. Writer Eric Schlosser, writing in his book Fast Food Nation, believes that this is a doctored retelling of the transaction by some McDonald's marketing executives. Most probably, the proposal was returned without approval.

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. Kroc recognized that the sale of exclusive licenses for large markets was the quickest way for a franchisor to make money, but he also saw in the practice a loss in the franchisor's ability to exert control over the course and direction of a chain's development. Above all else, and in keeping with contractual obligations with the McDonald brothers, Kroc wanted uniformity in service and quality among all of the McDonald's locations. Without the ability to influence franchisees, Kroc knew that it would be difficult to achieve that goal. By granting a franchisee the right to only one store location at a time, Kroc retained for the franchise some measure of control over the franchisee, or at least those desiring to someday own the rights to another store.

Kroc became frustrated with the McDonald brothers' desire to maintain a small number of restaurants. The brothers also consistently told Kroc he could not make changes to things such as the original blueprint, but despite Kroc's pleas, the brothers never sent any formal letters that legally allowed the changes in the chain. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million, calculated so as to ensure each brother received $1 million after taxes. Obtaining the funds for the buyout was difficult due to existing debt from expansion. However, Harry Sonneborn, whom Kroc referred to as his "financial wizard", was able to raise the required funds.

At the closing, Kroc became annoyed that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original San Bernardino location. The brothers had told Kroc they were giving the operation, property and all, to the founding employees. 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 later closed. It is alleged that as part of the buyout Kroc promised, based on a handshake agreement, to continue the annual 1% royalty of the original agreement, but there is no evidence of this beyond a claim by a nephew of the McDonald brothers. Neither of the brothers publicly expressed disappointment over the deal. Speaking to someone about the buyout, Richard McDonald reportedly said that he had no regrets.

Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation that was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every burger would taste the same in every restaurant. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not correct or to customers who had to wait more than five minutes for their food.

By the time of Kroc's death in 1984, McDonald's had 7,500 outlets in the United States and in 31 other countries and territories. The total system-wide sales of its restaurants were more than $8 billion in 1983, and his personal fortune amounted to some $600 million.

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 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 most attendance was 644,772 in 1972. The San Diego Union said Kroc was "above all, a fan of his team".

On April 9, 1974, while the Padres were on the brink of losing a 9–5 decision to the Houston Astros in the season opener at San Diego Stadium, Kroc took the public address microphone in front of 39,083 fans. "I've never seen such stupid ballplaying in my life," he said. The crowd cheered in approval. In 1979, Kroc's public interest in future free agent players Graig Nettles and Joe Morgan drew a $100,000 fine from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Frustrated with the team, he handed over operations of the team to his son-in-law, Ballard Smith. "There's more future in hamburgers than baseball," Kroc said.

After his death, the Padres in 1984 wore a special patch with Kroc's initials: RAK. They won the NL pennant that year against his hometown team Chicago Cubs and played in the 1984 World Series, which they lost to the Detroit Tigers. Kroc was inducted posthumously as part of the inaugural class of the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in 1999.

^{Read More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc} 

Ray Kroc - Founder of McDonald's Corp.