13A- Reading Reflection

1.      Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc was a very fun and interesting autobiography on how Ray took a restaurant idea from nothing and turned it into one of the most successful food franchises in the world.  The first McDonald’s was founded in 1940 by the McDonald brothers as a typical drive-in restaurant that was successful among teenagers.  One thing that surprised me was that the brothers closed this originally successful restaurant to transfer it into a new style of restaurant.  I understand as an entrepreneur it is important to take risks in an idea that you believe in, but the original McDonald’s was already successful.  The new McDonald’s was a resturant with the minimum in service and menu similar to what we know today.  I admire the brothers’ understanding of satisfying both customer needs and wants.  They understood that creating a restaurant that was convenient and simple would be very popular among consumers.  Also, I admire Kroc’s mindset as an entrepreneur by spending over twenty years trying to expand McDonald’s across the world.  Kroc combined his knowledge selling Multimixers and passion as an entrepreneur to help expand the business model of McDonald’s.  The only problem I see with the expansion of the McDonald’s brand is that it promoted unhealthy foods in exchange for convenience.  I understand that in the mid-1900s health was not a concern, but the McDonald’s brand could have pushed healthier foods as well as convenience earlier on than it actually did.  Early on in Kroc’s business with Multimixer, he faced adversity on the ownership o his business.  This stressful time for Kroc taught him valuable business lessons which in the future helped him develop successful franchising opportunities for McDonald’s.

2.      Ryan Kroc’s knowledge on franchises helped him expand the brand of McDonald’s across the world.  Many McDonald’s stores were franchised and created a culture of small businessmen.  This helped expand McDonald’s because each franchisee pays a percentage of its gross sales to the McDonald’s corporation.  This allowed McDonald’s to spread its brand all across the world while also getting money at the same time.

3.      The only part that I was confused by was the specific role the McDonald brothers had in comparison to Ray Kroc.  Ray Kroc credits himself as the reason the McDonald’s brand has been able to expand but I would like to hear from the perspective of both McDonald’s brothers on how much they contributed to the expansion of McDonald’s across the world.

4.      Would you change anything in the way you conducted business early on in the production of the McDonald’s brand?

-As successful as McDonald’s has become, there are always small changes or problems that could have been made or solved that were originally not seen as an issue.

What are the plans for the future to continue to expand the McDonald’s brand?

-To continue to maintain a successful business for a long period of time one must continue to try new things to please the changing needs and wants of customers.

5.      For Ray Kroc, I think his opinion on hard work is determined by success.  Kroc has spent over 20 years expanding the McDonald’s brand across the world and I do not think he had intentions to fail.  As a businessman Kroc understood there would be obstacles to face but was determined to succeed.