(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA SpecialEnglish. Today, we tell about Ray Kroc, the man who helped make thefast food industry famous. He expanded a small business into aninternational operation called McDonald’s.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
You probably know what fast food is. It is cooked food that isready almost as soon as you enter a public eating place. It does notcost much. It is popular with most Americans and with many peoplearound the world. Some experts say that at least twenty-five percentof American adults eat fast food every day. Most fast foodrestaurants offer ground beef sandwiches called hamburgers andpotatoes cooked in hot oil called french fries. Other fast foodplaces serve fried chicken, pizza or tacos.
VOICE TWO:
You see fast food restaurantsalmost everywhere in the United States. The names and the designs ofthe buildings are easily recognized – Burger King, Kentucky FriedChicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and of course, McDonald’s. Most arechain restaurants. That means each one is part of a huge company.
Each restaurant in the chain has the same large, colorful signthat can be recognized from far away. Each offers its own carefullylimited choice of foods. Each kind of hamburger or piece of chickentastes the same at every restaurant in the chain.
VOICE ONE:
The fast food industry began withtwo brothers in San Bernardino, California in the nineteen-forties.Mac and Dick McDonald owned a small, but very successful restaurant.They sold only a few kinds of simple food, especially hamburgers.
People stood outside the restaurant at a window. They told theworkers inside what they wanted to eat. They received and paid fortheir food very quickly. The food came in containers that could bethrown away. The system was so successful that the McDonald brothersdiscovered they could sell a lot of food and lower their prices.
VOICE TWO:
Ray Kroc sold restaurant supplies. He recognized the importanceof the McDonald brothers’ idea. He saw that food sales could beorganized for mass production — almost like a factory. Mister Krocpaid the McDonald brothers for permission to open severalrestaurants similar to theirs. He opened the first McDonald’srestaurant near Chicago, Illinois, in nineteen-fifty-five. Soon,more McDonald’s were opening all across the United States. Otherpeople copied the idea and more fast food restaurants followed.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Raymond Albert Kroc was a verywealthy businessman when he died in nineteen-eighty-four. But he hadnot always been successful. Ray was born in Illinois innineteen-oh-two. His parents were not rich. He attended school inOak Park, near Chicago.Ray never completed high school, however. Heleft school to become a driver for the Red Cross in World War One.He lied about his age to be accepted. He was only fifteen. The warended before he could be sent to Europe.
VOICE TWO:
After the war, Ray became a jazz piano player. He played withfamous music groups. He got married when he was twenty. Then hebegan working for the Lily Tulip Cup Company, selling paper cups.Hekept trying new things, however. He attempted to sell land in thesouthern state of Florida. That business failed. Ray Kroc remembereddriving to Chicago from Florida after his business failed. He said:”I will never forget that drive as long as I live. The streets werecovered with ice, and I did not have winter clothing. When I arrivedhome I was very cold and had no money.”
VOICE ONE:
Ray Kroc went back to being a salesman for the Lily Tulip CupCompany. He was responsible for product sales in the central UnitedStates. His life improved when he started a small business that soldrestaurant supplies. He sold a machine that could mix fivemilkshakes at one time.
In nineteen-fifty-four, he discovered a small restaurant that wasusing eight of his machines. He went there and found that the ownersof the restaurant had a good business selling only hamburgers,french fries and drinks.
At first, Mister Kroc saw only the possibility for increasing thesales of his mixers to more restaurants. Then he proposed anagreement with the McDonald brothers to start a number ofrestaurants. Under the agreement, the McDonald brothers would get apercentage of all sales.
VOICE TWO:
The first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois,in nineteen-fifty-five. Ray Kroc was fifty-two years old — an agewhen many people start thinking about retirement. He opened tworestaurants. Soon he began to understand that the real profits weremade in selling hamburgers, not the mixers. He quickly sold themixer company and invested the money in the growing chain ofMcDonald’s restaurants.
In nineteen-sixty, Mister Kroc bought the legal rights to therestaurants from the McDonald brothers. By then, the chain had morethan two-hundred restaurants.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Fast food restaurants spread quickly in the United States becauseof franchising. Franchising means selling the legal right to operatea store in a company’s chain to an independent business person. Ifthe company approves, the business person may buy or lease the storefor a period of years.
Many people want to own a McDonald’s restaurant, but only a feware approved. Each restaurant buys its supplies at a low cost fromthe parent company. Each restaurant also gives the company about tenpercent of the money it earns in sales. Today, about seventy percentof McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated byindependent businessmen and women.
VOICE TWO:
Ray Kroc was good at identifying what the public wanted. He knewthat many American families wanted to eat in a restaurant sometimes.He gave people a simple eating place with popular food, low prices,friendly service and no waiting. And all McDonald’s restaurants soldthe same food in every restaurant across the country.
Ray Kroc established rules for how McDonald’s restaurants were tooperate. He demanded that every restaurant offer “quality, serviceand cleanliness.” People lucky enough to get a franchise mustcomplete a program at a training center called Hamburger University.They learn how to cook and serve the food, and how to keep thebuilding clean. More than sixty-five-thousand people have completedthis training.
(MUSIC BRIDGE)
VOICE ONE:
McDonald’s began to expand around the world innineteen-sixty-seven. Ray Kroc’s business ability made McDonald’sthe largest restaurant company in the world. There are now more thanthirty-thousand McDonald’s restaurants on six continents.
The company operates in about one-hundred-twenty countries. Everyday, McDonald’s restaurants around the world serve aboutfifty-million people.
VOICE TWO:
In later years, Ray Kroc established the Kroc Foundation, aprivate organization that gives money to help others. He alsoestablished a number of centers that offer support to families ofchildren who have cancer. They are called Ronald McDonald houses.
Many people praised Ray Kroc for his company’s success and goodworks. But other people sharply criticized him for the wayMcDonald’s treated young employees. Many of the workers were paidthe lowest wage permitted by American law. Health experts stillcriticize McDonald’s food for containing too much fat and salt.
In the nineteen-seventies, Ray Kroc turned his energy fromhamburgers to sports. He bought a professional baseball team inCalifornia, the San Diego Padres. He died in nineteen-eighty-four.He was eighty-one years old.
VOICE ONE:
That first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, wastorn down. It was replaced by a store and visitors center thatattempts to copy what was in the original building. Another museumin nearby Oak Park describes the life of Ray Kroc. Ray Kroc’s storyremains an important part of McDonald’s history. And his way ofdoing business continues to influence fast food restaurants thatfeed people around the world.
(THEME)
VOICE TWO:
This program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis was theproducer. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for anotherPEOPLE IN AMERICA program in VOA Special English.