A Nugget of History
Leadership and Legacy
FAST FOOD TODAY
Around the nation and world, people everywhere are affected by an everyday thing, something on the corner of almost every street: fast food restaurants. While fast food restaurants are so common that they generally disregarded by most people and blend into the background of a busy day, they hold a lot of history behind their neon signs. In this modern age, everything is being updated constantly to become faster and faster, and food has been no exception.
There are many fast food chains today, all with different histories and with different goals. Despite this, there is one chain that has been the most successful fast food restaurant anywhere: McDonald's. Yes, we all can vividly piture the symbolic golden arches of this quite historic restaurant. But where did it all begin? And how did McDonald's succeed where others fail, and become the massive corporation it is today? It all started with one man.
Thesis Statement
The purpose of our project is to outline the beginnings of the fast food chains through the creation of McDonald's, and educate on how Ray Kroc brought the McDonald's franchise to where it is today, thereby initiating the growing dominance of fast food restaurants in the modern world. Ray Kroc was the businessman and entrepreneur who discovered the small yet considerably successful operation run by brothers Mac and Dick McDonald; bu founding the McDonald's corporation, Ray Kroc was able to take McDonald's from a roadside joint to a nationwide success with over 1 million burgers sold in only 5 years. The legacy Ray Kroc left behind can be seen on what seems like every other street, from the restaurant franchises in the fast food chain of McDonald's that are located in over 119 countries worldwide, to the over 80,000 graduates from the Hamburger University he created, symbolized by the legendary golden arches of McDonald's. Leadership was definitely a prominent quality in Ray Kroc, as it takes great innovation, perseverance, and primarily unfailing leadership to turn the McDonald's franchise into the world renowned company it is today considering the starting point Kroc took it from- a roadside burger joint- bv having the initiative to start a corporation and a university that promoted the success of the restaurant. Kroc also showcased great leadership in his refusal to stop working from his McDonald's office until nearly the day he died in 1984.