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Biographies & Primers |
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Grinding It Out: The Making Of McDonald's
written by Ray Kroc
Studio : St. Martin's Paperbacks
by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publisher : St. Martin's Paperbacks
Released : 1992-04-15
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780312929879
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 25 reviews)
List Price : $7.99
Our Price : $3.95
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Product Description |
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Few entrepreneurs can claim to have actually changed the way we live, but Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food service automation, franchising, shared national training and advertising have earned him a place beside the men who founded not merely businesses but entire new industries.
But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business legend is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 when he met the McDonald brothers and opened his first franchise.
Now meet Ray Kroc, the man behind the business legend, in his own words. Irrepressible enthusiast, perceptive people-watcher, and born storyteller, he will fascinate and inspire you. You'll never forget Ray Kroc.
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Ray Croc, a great businessman, not a great man or author |
Ray Kroc's autobiography provides an interesting glimpse of the McDonald's system and it's development. The book is well written and interesting to read. Despite this, I do not recommend the book. It offers no wisdom or lessons learned to take away from the book besides Kroc's greatness. (Kroc never suffered from an excess of humility.) In addition, I found it difficult to like Kroc. He rarely found fault with himself and blamed others for his and his businesses problems. Particularly galling to me was when Kroc had the opportunity to invest in McDonalds and another earlier business opportunity, his wife of 30 years was unconvinced of the plans wisdom. Rather than spend the time to bring her aboard, he tossed her aside continued with his business plans.
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An entertaining look into the making of an industry |
It is not often you unearth a business biography that starts your stomach rumbling with hunger while maintaining your attention. No matter what your perception of the fast food hamburger industry, Grinding it Out provides a pleasant look into the origin of franchising and fast food. One will also find some gratification discovering the extent to which Ray Kroc put quality and integrity on an equal basis with profit; something possibly unexpected to those with prior negative perceptions of the mogul due to his abundant wealth.
Anderson provides a wealth of detail outlining the business dealings behind the growth of the McDonalds franchise. This book will be of interest to those with a curiosity towards the making of an industry. I recommend reading this book but suggest doing so with a full stomach.
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How It's done! |
A very good book, a definite read for anyone looking to learn more about start up business or true entrepreneurship.
Although, I think it's very important to look at the fact that things are much different now of days then when Ray Kroc started up Mcdonalds. It is very inspiring though to find out how old he was when he started this business. Though, it's nice to read of all these young kids starting up business, it's also nice to read about a man in his 50's finally doing a start up that he'd dream t of. |
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Kroc on everything from tips for sleeping to the hulaburger |
There's a lot to say about McDonald's, or about any business. But this isn't a book about McDonald's, it's about the life of the man behind it. It's a quaint book. It doesn't tell you about the pathos of the man's life; he mentions his daughter I believe just once throughout the whole book. Instead, we're given a nostalgic rosey-colored view of what got this man up in the morning, the ideas that chewed at his mind, and his drive to achieve them.
Ray Kroc didn't even become interested in McDonalds until he was in his 50's. In fact, the autobiography is most interesting when discussing the series of events leading up to his making the acquaintance of the McDonald brothers, who had a small family-owned venue which was able to pop out hamburgers for a nickel a piece. Before this time, Kroc worked various odd jobs around the city, during prohibition he even played piano at an illeagal salon. He eventually settled in as a sales-rep, eagerly hopping from one product to another, from one costumer to the next. It might not be the ideal life, but Kroc's enthusiasm sure makes it seem that way. At one point he was truly excited about marketing some type of outdoor fold-in chair that his friend had made - he was positive that it was going to take the world by storm. And later he gets into marketing a product called a multi-mixer, which can make six milk shakes at once! This, he thought, will really bring in the dough.
In the meantime, he hauled from one business to another, trying out various ideas. Some days he would hardly sleep - in one passage in the book, he talks about his tricks for getting to sleep as quickly as possible after his head hit the mat. That way he wouldn't lose valuable time trying to fall asleep.
There are a lot of fun anecdotes in the first third of the book. But what brings the book to the next level is the description of how he stumbled upon the McDonald's brothers, and made their business (unfortunately, without them) one of the most successful businesses of the century. Kroc applies the same raw enthusiasm and smarts, but the scale of his business keeps exponentially increasing. In this section, the nature of the anecdotes changes - they're more like what you would expect, with meeting so-and-so who now has millions of dollars, and striking a deal with so-and-so who is now stinking rich. And then there are still the more humbling stories, which match up with the folding-chair experience above - like the creation of the HulaBurger, a fried pinapple with cheese and fixins in a bun. Kroc thought it was the best thing he had ever tasted, how could it ever fail?
McDonald's didn't change Ray Kroc, it's clear that the business came straight out of a person who knew what people wanted. Throughout the book, Kroc is solving problems, working his hardest, observing human nature. The ideals you see in a young piano-playing or door-peddling Ray are the same ideals that created the double arches. By connecting all of these dots, this autobiography depicts a very inspiring man, albeit from rose-tinted lenses, along with the values of remaining honest, genuine, and business-like.
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Great for entrepreneurs |
This is a great book for all entrepreneurs who are starting out and a good reminder for established ones. The title fits the book very well since it does show that Ray did make a lot of gambles to make it all work out and he started out an average middle income citizen like everybody else. Lessons like:
- Sweating it out
- Constantly trying new things
- Learning from mistakes
Very good lessons in business and life.
Although the first few chapters on his biography do not have much to do about business. |
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