Dick and Mac McDonald
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Early history
The brothers' first food venture was a hot-dog stand in Arcadia, California called the Airdome, opened in 1937. Using the profits generated, they closed it and opened their first restaurant, a barbecue drive-in named McDonald's', a small drive-in venture called the McDonald Brother's Burger Bar in San Bernardino, California, in 1940.When the brothers realized that hamburgers were responsible for almost all their profits, they decided to concentrate on making them alone and gave up their signature item, Hickory Smoked BBQ, to focus on a limited menu. Inspired by the assembly line of Henry Ford, in 1948 they closed their restaurant for several months, and pared service back to the essentials, offering a simple menu of hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes, produced on a continuous basis (rather than made to order, as all restaurants had done) and with no substitutions offered. Food could thus be served nearly instantaneously -- a new idea that Dick called "fast food". The carhops were fired; customers walked to a single window to place and receive their orders. They made the food preparation area visible to the customers, to exhibit its standards of cleanliness, and they eliminated all china and cutlery, serving only in paper bags. The system worked so well because parents would drive up and send their children up to the window to place the orders, still in full sight of the parents. The employees were instructed to "Treat Every Customer with Respect" and so children were made to feel special when they ordered.
The result was the "Speedee Service System." The brothers can arguably be said to have invented the modern fast-food restaurant, although similar ideas had already been implemented at White Castle and the similar Krystal. The food was not only served quickly, to a consistent standard; it was also cheap. A McDonald's hamburger cost only 15 cents, less than half of what it might cost at a typical diner.
Franchising and later history
The brothers also began franchising in 1955, beginning with Phoenix, Arizona with Dave Fox. They only franchised the system and when Dick went to check on Dave he was shocked to see an exact replica to the San Bernadino store right down to the name McDonald's. When Dick asked Dave why he kept it the same and didn't call his unit "Fox's" Dave said "Why change it is great as it is" and from then on the brothers started franchising the entire concept. Franchised restaurants were built to a standard design featuring the Golden Arches, which in the early days were literally two arches, one on each side of the building.In 1954 a milkshake machine salesman, Ray Kroc, became inspired by the evident financial success of the brothers' concept, immediately grasping the restaurant's enormous potential. He partnered with the brothers, and within a few years turned their small restaurant into a huge franchise that would later become the McDonald's Corporation.
Kroc was not alone in seeing the potential of what the brothers had created; the Taco Bell, Hardee's, Burger Chef, Whataburger, and Burger King chains were founded by others who had visited McDonald's and attempted to duplicate it.
Kroc became frustrated with the brothers' willingness to accept their chain having a handful of restaurants; fearing that the restaurant had to expand massively to fill demand, before a competitor did. In 1961 he purchased the company from the brothers. The agreement was for the McDonald Brothers to receive $2.7 million for the chain and to continue to receive an overriding royalty of 1% on the gross sales.
The agreement was a handshake agreement between the parties because Ray insisted he couldn't show the royalty to the investors he had lined up to capitalize his purchase. At the closing table Ray became outraged that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original unit. The brothers had told Ray that they were giving the operation, property and all to the founding employees. Ray closed the transaction then refused to acknowledge the royalty portion of the agreement because it wasn't in writing. He also opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the original one (now renamed "The Big M" as they had neglected to retain rights to the name) to force it out of business.
Although Kroc turned McDonald's into a global giant, its guiding principles remained largely unchanged from those the McDonald brothers had devised in 1948.
Mac McDonald died of cancer in 1971.
In 1984, Dick McDonald served the ceremonial 50,000,000,000th (50 billionth) McDonald's burger, having cooked the first one ([picture]).
In 1998 Richard McDonald worked with Ronald McDonald (an actual person in the McDonald family) to write "The Complete Hamburger." The book contains the history of McDonald's, as well as the history of the hamburger and the fast food industry. During the writing of the book, Dick and Mac requested use of archive photos from the McDonald's Corporation. When the corporation asked for and read a copy of the manuscript, they refused to allow the use of the photos. Their reasoning was that "[the book] was not flattering to Mr Kroc."
The book stated that Mr Kroc's claims to being the founder of McDonald's were outrageous, and that neither Kroc nor McDonald's had the right to put brass plaques in every store stating that fact. The book also points out that the first McDonald's restaurant was not in Des Plaines as many placemats in McDonald's restaurants claimed. After the book's publication, McDonald's Corporation explained that "Mr. Kroc was the founder of the corporation that exists today, and [that] Des Plaines was his first store. The book is now out of print but is being reprinted as "Ronald McDonald's International Burger Book." Ronald also did an article on Richard for Icon Magazine just before Richard died.
Richard McDonald died in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1998, at age 89.
Only part of the original sign remains of the first McDonald's, but plans exist for a company-sponsored museum.
Ronald L. McDonald is still active in the hospitality industry and is living in Tampa, Florida [link]
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