Founders · Feb 25The Making of McDonald's: The Biography of Ray Kroc
The brothers ran eight multimixers making 40 shakes at once with a minimal menu, and wanted no growth. They refused to put 1% of sales into shared advertising and never put approved plan changes in writing.
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- Ray Kroc followed an odd customer signal to the McDonald brothers' stand▶ 0:59He came home from that trip in 1954 with a signed contract to franchise McDonald's.
- Ray Kroc signed a weak contract and acted as his own lawyer▶ 20:11He agreed to 1.9% of franchise gross sales, with half a percent going to the McDonald brothers, leaving him 1.4%.
- The McDonald brothers made every detail perfect and limited the number of details▶ 19:40Their stand ran eight multimixers making 40 shakes at a time to a steady flow of customers.
- Ray Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million with money from 12 lenders▶ 40:23The lenders made $12 million, the total cost to McDonald's was about $14 million, and Kroc says the half percent would be $15 million a year on 1977 sales of over $3 billion.
- Ray Kroc treated advertising as an investment while the McDonald brothers treated it as an expense▶ 38:45After the campaign he said it turned Californians into their parking lots as though blindfolds had been removed.
