Talk:Ray Kroc

First days of McDonalds!
The claims here contradict both the article on the McDonald brothers and the one on the McDonalds corporation. The other articles suggest that the McDonald brothers had more than one restaurant and had started franchising before Kroc joined them. The claim here that Kroc "booted out" the brothers strikes me as, at the very least badly, phrased.

BBO (talk) 11:59, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The McDonald's started off in 1937 with "The Airdrome" restaurant in Monrovia, moved the whole building to San Bernardino in 1940 and opened their first three franchises (Phoenix, Saginaw and Downey) in 1953. The Downey one, at the junction of Lakewood Bvd and Florence Ave, is still operating. 6 July 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.22.177.206 (talk) 17:53, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Correction: the reference to the second franchise being in Saginaw, Michigan is incorrect. The first franchise in Michigan was not until 1957 in Lansing. Therefore the second franchise in 1953 was the one in Downey, California. 24 July 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.22.163.60 (talk) 16:36, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

WP:FOOD Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagging here -- TinucherianBot (talk) 10:54, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Ray Arthur or Ray Albert? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.222.110.171 (talk) 20:38, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Origins
I added his fathers origin in the Czech Republic. The village he came from is today named Břasy but used to be called Stupno, according to the Wikipedia article. Just wanted to mention this. /BobbyRipper

"Years later, he returned the favor by coming to Ray Dambaugh's funeral in Evans City, Pennsylvania to pay his respects."
I don't think attending the funeral of someone who once did you a favor qualifies as "returning the favor." Can something less awkward be added? Or the reference to this funeral deleted entirely? I don't believe it qualifies as a landmark of his "Early life and career," informative link to the Evans City, Pennsylvania Wikipedia page notwithstanding. Relgif (talk) 19:58, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Ray Kroc, Prince Castle Multi-Mixers and the McDonald's
The article says he was working as a Prince Castle Multi-Mixer salesman and had sold some to the McDonald brothers. When was this? The reason I ask is because the Prince Castle website says that the Prince was founded in 1955 but the History of McDonald's page has Kroc visiting McDonald's at San Bernardino in 1954! 23 July 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.22.189.158 (talk) 22:37, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The mixers were from Sterling, a manufacturer in illinois, which started making its version in the 1930s. That company still exists, and mentions Ray Kroc in a history of the product. See http://multimixers.com/multimixer_history.html Note that this machine was used for a "Prince Castle" milkshake, which is probably the source of the confusion. --98.216.228.197 (talk) 08:28, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

stroke / heart failure / diet ?
any info if ray was always eating the burgers and french fries? would be an interesting health angle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.172.122.94 (talk) 23:57, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
 * In what way? He died at the age of 81, on the happy side of average. Kafziel Complaint Department: Please take a number 01:08, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

might be 'average' death age for a middle or lower class man, but not a wealthy one with top health care like kroc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.84.95.229 (talk) 04:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Says who? Average life expectancy for an American man born in 1902 was 49.8 years. So yeah, I'd say 81 is pretty firmly on the happy side no matter how you look at it. Kafziel Complaint Department: Please take a number 04:51, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

This needs cleaning up
Lots of good info, with some really unusual phrasing - like the work of someone smart who is not a native English speaker. Needs cleaning up, while keeping the goods. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.245.2.198 (talk) 15:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree, it's not the best. I'll try to get to it, but feel free to make some changes yourself in the meantime! Kafziel Complaint Department: Please take a number 15:51, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Putting it mildly. Such as 'Kroc remained active in Des Plaines until the end of his life, frequently phoning the manager of the store across the street to remind him to clean his restaurant properly'. WTF is this? A perhaps? For someone so noteworthy this is abominable.


 * The article launches into a discussion about Prince Castle, without any clue as to why this is relevant. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the subject so cannot make the changes myself. Olires (talk) 14:49, 11 December 2016 (UTC)

Musical talent
The article says Kroc was a "pianist, jazz musician, band member and radio DJ" - where did his musical talent come from, how and when did he learnt to play music, who were his influences and partners, are there any accounts on the quality of his music-making, did he continue to play music even after he became the chairman of MD, etc.??? In fact, there should be more information on the cultural background of the man. --Insert coins (talk) 08:57, 6 March 2013 (UTC) Edit: Okay, here I see he "played the jazz piano with the famed Isham Jones and Harry Sosnick...."--Insert coins (talk) 09:00, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
 * According to McDonald's Behind the Arches by John F. Love, Ray Kroc "...opened his own music store to put his considerable talents as a piano player to commercial use..." when he was still in high school. (page 31. Checks Facts (Talk) 03:25, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

2% of what?
(When negotiating the contract the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive.)

Needs clarification for what this 2% is referring to or what it is alloted for, thx.

SawsAll (talk) 14:02, 28 March 2013 (UTC)
 * , the 2% refers to the royalties they McDonald brothers wanted, which is just before the opening parenthesis. Checks Facts (Talk) 00:25, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Czech surname
Is this short for anything like Kroczaleski perhaps? 64.228.91.73 (talk) 17:13, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Kroc [krots] is probably a Czech respelling of the German surname Krotz, or possibly Kratz (similarly like Šulc is respelling of Schultz, Šmicer is respelling of Schmitzer, etc.). People with the surname Kroc live mostly in Pilsen (City and Region), particularly in Rokycany District (and also in Prague, of course, where they are "immigrants" from Pilsen Region). The mayor of Břasy (Rokycany District, Pilsen Region), where Ray's father was born, is Miroslav Kroc (2017). Břasy was a Czech settlement with a German-speaking community (mostly expelled after the WWII). In 1890 the population of Kříše (a part of Břasy) is reported to consist of 1,179 Czech-speaking and 364 German-speaking citizens. Bibulus (talk) 08:13, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Ray Kroc personal life
According to npr(national public radio)his last marriage was extraordinary. He was in the twin cities and a lady playing the organ in church caught his attention. They were both married but they struck up a great friendship. Years later they both were divorced and then found each other. No details but his last wife Joan donated 100 million to NPR just because of one interview with her. Nothing about his previous two marriages or kids so there must not be anything worth mentioning like how many kids or grandkids. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:5B0:277C:D358:7596:9442:EBEC:43F6 (talk) 14:25, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Inconsistency in the beginning's dates
There is an inconsistency on the dates. In the first paragraph of the article, it says: "He joined McDonald's in 1954". Yet, later, it says: " Immediately after visiting the San Bernardino store in 1955, Kroc became convinced that the setup of this small chain had the potential to explode across the nation."

Something doesn't jive.

Lionkayak (talk) 15:46, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Inconsistency with the annuity %
The article states: "he bought the company for $2.7 million - enough to pay each brother $1 million after taxes- plus an annual royalty of 1.9%"

If the movie "The Founder" is to be believed, the 1.9% relates to the amount the franchisees need to pay to the McDonald's brother, but when Ray Kroc purchased the company back from them (as referenced in above-quoted sentence), the perpetual and annual royalty was supposed to be 1%. I think those 2 annual payments (the one each franchisee needed to pay to the "head office" and the one that was supposed to be paid after the sale to Ray Kroc) have been mixed together here.

Lionkayak (talk) 15:55, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Disney date non-sequitur
The current version of the article states that Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers in 1961. Then, "after finalizing the agreement with the McDonald brothers", contacted Disney inquiring whether there was an "opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disney Development". No agreement was reached, "leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant".

That's an impossible timeline, since Disneyland opened in 1955. Either "agreement with the McDonald brothers" is referring to some earlier agreement, or the agreement had to do with some other Disney project (possibly DisneyWorld, which may have been in the planning stages in 1961 though it didn't open until 1971). Or it was an attempt by Kroc to get into Disneyland after the theme park was already well established. Or it happened shortly after Kroc first joined with the brothers in 1954.

For that matter there are conflicting dates for when Kroc joined McDonalds. The opening paragraph says "he joined McDonald's in 1954 ..." but in the Purchasing McDonald's section it says he "visited them in 1955" and "became convinced that the concept and design ... had the potential to expand across the nation."2601:98A:4102:5980:2C0E:DD70:2AA4:75B1 (talk) 13:55, 7 August 2017 (UTC)


 * The whole article is pretty loose about sources and dates. The source cited for the Disney story makes it clear that it's the 1955 (54?) franchise agreement, not the 1961 sale agreement, that they're talking about. I have moved the paragraph up, but we still need dates for these events. Kendall-K1 (talk) 02:22, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

I propose to add a better image of Ray Kroc.
Hello,

I find the primary image that represents Ray Kroc a bit grainy in quality. I found this image from a Wiki. That's also a question of mind. Can any form of media from a Wikia be used on Wikipedia? Here's the link, it shows the image. http://mcdonalds.wikia.com/wiki/Ray_Kroc So, I propose to use this image instead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aviartm (talk • contribs) 02:59, 10 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't see anything at that site that indicates the image is licensed in such a way as to be usable here. Kendall-K1 (talk) 02:11, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

Possessive form
I'm not sure what the possessive form of "McDonald's" is but I'm pretty sure it's not "McDonald's'". Kendall-K1 (talk) 14:19, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

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confusing text re: Kroc's first McD's
Regarding Kroc's first McDonald's, the text reads, quote, "The restaurant was demolished in 1985. Recognizing its historic and nostalgic value, in 1990 the McDonald's Corporation acquired the stand and rehabilitated it to a modern but nearly original condition, and then built an adjacent museum and gift shop to commemorate the site now called McDonald's #1 Store Museum." If the place was demolished, what was left to acquire and rehabilitate? "Acquired the stand"....what stand? Somebody please clarify. Elsquared (talk) 21:33, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

Unclear sentence
Not sure what this means: " 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." Can somebody add a little context? &mdash; Chowbok  ☠  11:02, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

Conman
This guy was also a conman. He told them not to include the profit bit in the contract. Can we include this in the article?49.184.73.116 (talk) 07:21, 21 October 2021 (UTC)