name:

Ray Kroc

relevance:

Founder of McDonald's

previous experience:

Ray Kroc was the founder of the McDonald's Corporation. Brothers Mac and Dick McDonald opened the first "Speedee Shakes and Burgers" drive-in called McDonald's in 1953 in St Bernadino, California. They were persuaded to sell the name to milkshake salesman, Kroc, who opened the first store of the McDonald's Corporation in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. McDonald's now has over 20,000 stores in 90 countries. The company claims it serves 29 million people a day and that a new store opens somewhere in the world every seven hours.

Kroc died in the 1980's but he has his own shrine in the Corporation's headquarters with video-audio hooks-ups so that he can answer trainee managers' questions from the grave. His widow, apparently a billionaire, is still alive and resides in La Jolla, California.