User:Noracrentiss/sandbox/Ralph McDonald

1) Pastry patent

NEW ZEALAND

https://app.iponz.govt.nz/app/Extra/IP/Mutual/Browse.aspx?sid=637505528488212616

AUSTRALIA

http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/applicationDetails.do?applicationNo=1961011043

2) Pastry history - (Ralph worked for Ernest Adams)

Te Ara Dictionary of New Zealand Biography:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5a4/adams-ernest-alfred

3) NZ Ice Cream Manufacturers Assn. archives

extensive history of McDonalds Ice Cream - Includes photo of McDonald's French Fries stand

https://www.nzicecream.org.nz/history-nz-mcdonalds.htm

4)

Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand digitised newspapers database):

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/

5) Carole Prentice material:

McDONALD’S FRENCH FRIED HOT CHIPS

A FAST-FOOD FIRST FOR AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND 1950-60’s

Ralph John McDonald (1913 -  2001) operated fast food outlets in the 1950s and 1960s in New Zealand prior to the arrival of international fast food franchises. He was also an early innovator in the catering industry.

Ralph John McDonald, a New Zealander was born on 4 September 1913 in Ormandville, Manawatu, New Zealand. His parents were Stuart Brown McDonald and Elinore (sometiems spelt differently) McDonald nee Grondin

Early Life

Bought up in Wellington Ralph moved to Auckland in 1930 and worked alongside his four brothers for their father Stuart McDonald who ran a delicatessen. In the early 1930’s Stuart McDonald along with his wife Elionora nee Grondin and their five teenage sons, arrived in Auckland’s Karangahape Road where they set up a delicatessen at #245 which they named `Nikau Delicatessen’. As competition grew they refocused the shop into a Café selling tea and coffee, breads, pies and cakes;  including ice-creams featuring a Rangitoto Special along with a Strawberry Cream, the summer treat when fresh strawberries were ferried from across the harbour grown in Birkenhead. Stuart utilised his five boys for his workforce before and after school hours and taught them well in the art of baking. As the eldest was about to enter married life, Stuart started a second tearoom around the corner down in Queen Street next to the St James Theatre.

By 1939, with their father Stuart having passed away earlier that year, news arrived of the outbreak of WWII. By 1941 all five boys had been called up for service with the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Corps and the two tearooms were closed down. The boys were by then 29, 27, 25, 24 and 22 years consecutively. Due to various ailments four of the five boys served at home. Only the youngest, Leslie, was sent overseas where he served in the Army Supply Corps as Field Baker and driver in both Egypt and Italy. Prior to this, Ralph turned twenty and secured a well-paid job outside the family bakery working for Adams Bruce in Karangahape Road and was able to purchase his first car.

Career

1933        Graduating from his father’s business, Ralph held his first paying position employed by Adams Bruce known for their Queen Anne ice-cream.

1940       establishes a self-catering business

1941       called up for home service WWII

1944       returns from home service and is employed by Irvine Pies

1950        `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips’, sets up his first fast food outlet

1954-77  `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips’ sells at annual  carnivals - Auckland, Orewa, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington.

1957        `McDonald’s Catering Service’, establishes a catering service in The Grey Dove, Greys Avenue, Auckland

1958        upgrades to a fast food Kiosk at the annual Easter Show held in the expansive Epsom showgrounds - designs a glassine waxed paper bag and corrugated metal stand to hold bagged chips - purchases an American Donut machine

1954-58  `McDonald Crumpet Bakery’, experiments and sells crumpets in a rented factory, rear of Panmure shops above Panmure Basin

1960       `McDonald French Fried Hot Chips’ continues to sell seasonally at Festivals and Agricultural Shows

1960       `McDonald’s Ready Rolled Pastry’. Invents and applies for patent in 1960 to be sealed in 1966 for a term of 16 years, to expire in 1977

1964        `The Coffee Break’, opens a café in Dominion Road, Balmoral

1964-67  `McDonald French Fried Hot Chips’, sells chips, hamburgers, toasted sandwiches from a kiosk, corner entrance to Playland Amusement Arcade, next to Oxford Theatre opposite Auckland Central Post Office, Downtown Queen Street, Auckland

AUCKLAND STAR article around easter

1965-77  `Tiffany’s Cafe’, opens a second coffee lounge in Manurewa in the new Southmall shopping mall. Also opens a successful fast food takeaway in Symonds Street

1976-77  opens his last venture in Pt Chevalier

1977       closure of Pt Chevalier shop just prior to America’s McDonalds second venture into New Zealand

1978       moves with family to Australia for a fresh start

1978       secures a job in the Café at David Jones Department Store.

1940

Ralph marries and set up a business catering for large gatherings. He purchased his cream from a local farmer in West Tamaki Road owned by an Irish family. The catering business demanded long hours but once WWII arrived and Ralph was called up for home service, the business closed. During this period, 1942 to 1944 with eggs, sugar, tea, butter and meats rationed, US troops stationed in Auckland’s Victoria Park were looking for American style fast foods like the hamburger and the doughnut. Ralph observed the American soldiers dining preferences as they inquired about casual styled eateries such as hamburger bars, milk bars, ice-cream parlours and cafés.

1944

After the war Ralph secured employment working for Irvine Pies in Remuera as his father had taught his boys well on how to make a good pastry. He also learnt catering for large groups working for a Dutch couple at Sorrento Caterers situated in One Tree Hill.

1950-60

Ralph set up his first fast food outlet at Western Springs where the Auckland’s Anniversary Carnival was being held. He began selling his `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips’ from out of a small tent for the Anniversary Carnival held by the local Council. The Public Relations Office in charge, offered Ralph metal rigging for a larger frame-work. He was free to add walls and layout and signs of his own design. He started with a potato peeler, a chipper and a fryer and cooked his chips in oil which was unusual at a time when most people fried food in lard. He sold his chips for one shilling a bag, in an easy takeaway white paper bag rather than the customary newspaper wrapping. He continued to sell annually at the Western Springs Carnival, including Auckland, Orewa, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington. Having initially worked out of a tent stand with one sack of potatoes he went on to further upgrade to a large Food Cart.

1954-58

Always on the lookout for new ideas, Ralph made inquiries to manufacture a Mint Sauce to accompany New Zealand’s love of lamb. He sought land on which to grow the mint and found an industrial chemist interested to help, but as is often the case, someone else picked up on the idea before he could progress it.

Around this time he hit on the idea of selling crumpets. McDonald Crumpet Bakery, situated at the rear of the Panmure shops overlooking the Panmure Basin became the premises for a small production making fresh crumpets on top of hot-plated pot belly stoves. Although he employed staff, with the limited equipment available to him, he found he couldn’t produce the quantity required to keep up with the daily demand. Automation machinery not being available at the time.

1955

Ralph married a second time having met Jean Margaret Cameron in the Orange Ballroom Dance Hall in Newton Road at a time when men sat on one side, ladies on the other at the dances.

1957     

He again set up a Catering Service renting the top floor of The Grey Dove in Greys Avenue, part of a beautifully decorated Reception Centre inside the Kirk Motors building. He decorated a large square portioned off in the centre for a dance floor to cater for his clientele which included large wedding groups.

1958+

As Ralph’s fast-food outlets continued to develop he designed his own paper bag to hold a single serve of hot chips. The bag was lightweight, heat-proof and grease-proof against sogginess should the drop of vinegar and salt which was always available self-service style from off the counter-top, be added. The wording `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips’ was again printed in yellow and red on the paper bags made of glassine waxed paper. Counter-top  stands made of corrugated metal were designed to hold and display multiple bags of hot chips waiting and ready for the flow of customers expected to hit the counter at peak times.

The large crowds visiting the annual Easter Exhibition Show held in Auckland’s Epsom showgrounds called for a revolutionary scale of food production. Prior to this, large scale fast food outlets were unheard of, only a few fast food carts selling hotdogs on a stick were on offer. Ralph sourced ideas from a mid 50’s Australian Post Magazine featuring the latest in food technology and machinery on display at the Melbourne International Fair. Since 1881 the Melbourne Fair saw 1,000s of visitors daily go through the 63 acres of Carlton Gardens, all looking for quick fast food. This information aided his entrepreneurial imagination to successfully cater for the large crowds at the Auckland Showgrounds. Also with some inspiration from his mother who came from a family of twelve and whose French roots meant food and togetherness were held in high esteem. Mother Eleonora had plenty of recipes for Ralph to trial. These recipes required adjustments of course so the job of reducing or increasing the percentages became a part of the exercise.

He understood the acumen of growing a business. Business success was demonstrated for him from an early age not just from his father’s endeavours but also the wider family connections. As a youngster he observed and tasted his Uncle Angus McDonald’s successful ice-cream business. Angus began his business with a single Model T delivery van and eventually purchased a fleet of vans delivering from Hamilton up to Whangarei.

To cater for the growing crowds Ralph eventually invested in the purchase of an electric potato peeler that tumbled out a large volume of peeled potatoes at any one time. Additionally, a large chip cutter, and three deep fryers, each holding three baskets. The production line meant the chips could be basketed in at one end and lifted out at the other end. The day he opened he had installed three Turnball and Jones Fryers but it quickly became obvious that in the turn-around time required, they could not produce the higher heat necessary for crisp hot chips. It was said, his first batch of chips were shaken out into a large soggy mess.

It didn’t take long to realise how imperative it was that temperatures be maintained at optimum. He added more elements to raise the temperature and maintained it with the help of thermostats. The chips went into hot oil and came out piping hot and crisp! He then had new fryers made up strictly to his design. Experimenting with oil, he started with Soybean rather than the expected solid animal fats, followed by a mixture of various oils, until he finally settled on the delicious unrefined peanut oil which was imported in large tin drums. Peanut oil proved true in maintaining the heat and of course smelt divine. He found it necessary to top up the fryers every three hours at peak working times, and, true to a conscientious chef, quickly replaced the oil as soon as it stained from the burnt sediments. At peak turnover his power usage at Epsom Showgrounds took one-third of the showground’s power!

An American Donut machine was purchased, recommended by his younger brother Les who had discovered the sugar coated delight while working at the Alexandra Park racecourse in Epsom.

On closing time at the showgrounds, Ralph’s McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips stall stayed open as a late night drawcard for the surrounding stall owners trapped most of the long day marketing their own wares. The aroma of hot peanut oil drifting throughout the showground day and evening no doubt annoyed the hell out of the hungry stall owners. As soon as the gates closed to the public, a long queue of businessmen would line up outside McDonald’s wanting their late night bag of hot chips for one shilling a bag. Being the last to close, McDonald’s became the arena for hob-knobbing with the cream of Auckland’s business society including well known personalities as Phil Shone of Radio 1ZB, Jimmy McAlpine of McAlpine Refigerators, Wolfe and Gus Fisher, Maurice Paykel, and Chief Lake the local traffic cop of the Auckland City Council, and the likes.

The Auckland Chamber of Commerce with Mel Tronson as CEO started the Carnival Shows at Western Springs which continued for a number of years. During this time, a lot of people including family members were employed to work the chip stand. After Ralph’s successful feat of catering for the growing crowds, and for reasons unknown, the board in charge of running the stalls moved Ralph’s kiosk from the designated space, a location by then well known amongst the crowded displays, and allowed other chip stalls to take its place which left him with an unexpected and sudden loss of turnover and surplus of raw ingredients to deal with.

Consequently, he was forced to develop new entrepreneurial ideas and began renting permanent outlets in various suburban locations around Auckland.

Auckland Star clipping 1960

''`EASTER SHOW’ CHIPS – THE REAL OIL … Chips … hundreds of thousands of them … long ones, short ones, crisp and curly ones, and succulent fat ones steaming from the fryer. That’s what the Easter Show means to Ralph McDonald.''

Ralph’s “saga of the chips” is as big a success story as is the story of the show itself, and points up just what can be done when a person sets out to take a firm hold on opportunity.

It all started nine years ago, when Ralph McDonald asked for a chip concession at the Western Springs Carnival.

“In those days,” says Ralph, “people weren’t used to having their chips fried in oil, and because I chose to use oil for cooking, I finished up having to practically give the things away.”

''“There was something about a different smell or a different taste that wasn’t popular for a start, but once they got used to the idea, the thing started snowballing. These days chips are the most popular thing in the food line at a show like this.”''

From the small start in 1954, the business has grown to the point where Ralph now has permanent stands at shows in Hamilton, Wellington, Palmerston North and Auckland every year.

''The size of the business can be judged from the fact that in one day at last year’s show the stall got through a massive three and a half tons of potatoes. This sort of turnover means, of course, the best of equipment, and that’s where Ralph as triumphed.''

''The stall at the Epsom Showgrounds makes use of machine peelers, chippers and two six-foot fryers that are the last word in up-to-date equipment. On busy days at the show all of the installations are going all the time and there is a continuous stream of potatoes from the store to the peelers, through the chippers, and into the hot oil, from which they emerge as golden brown, “bob-a-bag” delicacies.''

''With all the gear going continuously like this, the power bill during show time is phenomenal. Last year, Ralph used a third of the power consumed by the whole show, and paid a power bill of almost €80.''

''This year, the electrical contractor has installed a special power line to the chip concession, and a huge switchboard handles all the load. “That’s as far as they can go now,” says Ralph. “If I need any more power I’ll have to bring in a new line from the road.''

''“We’ve only ever had one electrical breakdown, and we had the whole of the machinery stripped before we found that the fault was in the switchboard. That was wonderful fun!”''

Ralph keeps a staff of at least three people employed fulltime, with others relieving them for meals.

''“It’s hard work for the girls,” he says. “By the time the show is over they probably can’t stand the sight of potato chips.”''

1960’s

Seasonally Ralph continued to set up his fast food outlet selling `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips‘ at Festivals and Agricultural Shows in Hamilton, Pt Chevalier Beach Reserve in Auckland and across the Auckland Harbour Bridge to Orewa Beach Holiday Camping Grounds. In between shows he invented a Ready Rolled Pastry and applied for a patent in 1960. It was sealed in 1966 for a term of 16 years, to expire in 1977. Lacking financial support he was unable to develop the patent into an ongoing concern. It seemed the idea of a ready rolled pastry was before its time as the public didn’t take to it. It didn’t take long however again for it to be developed by a more lucrative outsider.

1962-4

Opens `The Coffee Break’, a café in Dominion Road, Balmoral, Auckland, which became financially viable. It was successfully sold as a going concern. The large red signage used in his kiosk was kept inside the shop as it didn’t fit on the outside façade. During a visit to a Wellington Trade Fair Ralph discovered the latest `Expresso Coffee Machine’ and making a purchase began selling Expresso coffee back in Auckland.

1965–7

Opens `McDonald’s French Fried Hot Chips’ Kiosk, selling chips, hamburgers, toasted sandwiches, on the corner entrance to Playland Amusement Arcade in Downtown Queen Street and opposite Auckland Central Post Office. Situated next to the Oxford Theatre which showcased continental pictures there was plenty of passing pedestrian traffic. Three years later the Amusement Arcade closed down and Ralph was again forced to start over.

1977

At this time he also opened a second coffee shop in a new shopping mall called Southmall in Manurewa. This he named `Tiffany’s Coffee Lounge.’ A big elegant coffee shop with a ten table seating, busy and popular and employing a large staff. Seeing this, the Mall manager immediately pressured Ralph pay more rent until it became obvious that the offset was no longer financially viable. With the Mall Manager threatening to close him down Ralph took the precedent and packed up his equipment and left, having been in operation for only six months. The windfall of events sent him into bankruptcy.

Another small but busy venture opened in Symonds Street in his wife Jean’s name, where the customers sought out his hamburgers. This business was successful and it was sold with thoughts of retirement on his mind.

1976 – 1977

Opens a smart little shop in Pt Chevalier, Auckland, which was to be his last venture in New Zealand. The location being a bit off the beaten track to attract enough customers, it was not successful. Again, the large `McDonald French Fried Hot Chips‘ sign was displayed inside the shop as it was too big to fit on the small frontage. Instead Ralph had a sign written in large red lettering onto the outside side wall, clearly seen by all passing through the shopping centre. During this time he noticed the two smartly dressed young men standing outside looking up at his sign in deep discussion. They entered the shop and with American accents engaged him in a casual discussion concerning his operation. They were keen to know details such as the oil he used for cooking his chips and left after asking how long he intended to keep the shop. Only after their departure did it occur to him that they were sussing out his business and wondered about the reason for their inquiries. Closure of the Pt Chevalier shop came just prior to America’s McDonalds second venture in New Zealand this time in Auckland’s Queen Street in July.

[As it so happened around this time New Zealand’s largest restaurant chain originating back in 1967 owed it origins to another set of brothers, Wally and Hugh Morris who started with an IGA shop at Tauriko, Tauranga, and built the no-frills Shoprite chain to 112 supermarkets across the North Island from their base at Northcote, on Auckland’s North Shore just across the harbor from Auckland City. Building on their experience, the two brothers decided to expand into the fast-food business, then in its formative stages. 1980 saw the brothers pursuing their vision to bring American McDonald’s to New Zealand. Along the way they had to convince Ray Kroc, the legendary creator of the modern McDonald’s franchise, that New Zealand was worth the effort. At an initial meeting in 1975, Kroc said, ''‘New Zealand? We’re not going there… I cruised into New Zealand on a Saturday and there was no-one in the street anywhere, and on Sunday it was even worse. I never met a more dead-than-alive hole in my life. Where do all the people go on the weekend?’ N''ot to be put off, the Morris brothers and their team maintained contact and, following some hard negotiation, they were appointed joint venture partners in 1975. McDonald’s Restaurants (New Zealand) Limited registered its company in New Zealand on 4 November 1975. In 1976 the first American McDonalds opened in New Zealand’s Wellington suburb of Porirua on Monday 7 June 1976. Gary Lloyd, who had been the Morris brothers’ accountant in the early days, typified the McDonald’s approach to franchise management at the time, an approach which has been described by some as “the iron fist in the velvet glove”.]

1978

After having suffered a family tragedy, Ralph moved his family to Australia in 1978 for a fresh start. He secured a job at David Jones, a High End Men’s Department Store, with a cafe. At his interview he advised them `he was 55 years of age’. He not only loved the job but did better with the customers than the other staff. Eventually they fired him after finding out he was actually 75 years old but living on to a grand eighty-eight he maintained his delightful smile always at the ready to greet friend or customer. All things in perspective, in 2016 David Jones would buy out Kirkaldie & Stains, a high end department store back in Wellington City where Ralph, as a boy, was taken to shop on many a weekend by his mother and grandmother.

THE MCDONALD BROTHER’S,  LESLIE, JIM, ALAN, RALPH, LLOYD – ENTREPRENURIAL BAKING EXPLOITS & EQUIPMENT:

1.       Meanwhile the youngest of the brothers, Leslie McDonald, developed a Biscuit Machine which he kept in his backyard shed at Fontenoy Street in Pt Chevalier, where he and his brothers loved meeting up on the weekends to discuss its workings. He also went on to design cake tins in all sorts of shapes and sizes for special occasions – weddings, birthdays, etc. made especially for his side-line hobby of baking and cake decorating. He designed and had built a special set of roller cutters for shortbread biscuits.

2.       Jim McDonald worked in the bakery of the large department store Farmers before working for the popular bread making factory of VOGELS.

3.       Alan McDonald worked in various Auckland food ventures that required the making of a good dough and would even grace the floors of TIP TOP the large ice cream manufacturer.

4.       Ralph McDonald became well known for his various fast food outlets around Auckland.

5.      Lloyd McDonald while working at as a truck driver for W H Bond and Co Ltd was promoted to the position of Head Foreman working with sheet metal in the canister making factory located in Manukau Road. After making his own set of baking tins he designed and built small boxed butter coolers at a time when refrigerators were not the norm for everyday households. They were made in his garden shed to his own design and specifications. The frame for the mould was made of a light coloured timber. A dark golden brown stiff jelly-like substance formed the mould. Plaster of Paris was poured into the mould and allowed to set. The interior of the butter cooler was lined with tin and it had provision for two shelves and a hinged door. The exterior top had a round indentation for water to be added to keep the plaster of Paris damp and cooling.