Adam Wolf 27A Reading Reflection No. 3

For reading reflection number 3, I chose to Grinding it Out:  The Making of McDonald’s about Ray Kroc.  I was most surprised that Ray Kroc was not the original founder.  The McDonald brothers were the ones who created the efficient operation.  Then this idea was expanded by Ray Kroc.   I most admire the creation of a nonprofit organization called the Ronald McDonald House.  I least admire that Kroc basically forced the brothers from retaining rights to their name.  Their new name, “The Big M”, had little chance of success.  Ray encountered many problems when working with the brothers’ regulations.  He fought their decision to maintain a small number of restaurants.  Kroc also had trouble obtaining formal, legal documents such as letters from the brothers. 

Ray Kroc had competencies when making innovative changes in the fast food industry.  The biography described how he had strict regulations for food preparation and customer service.  For example, he demanded each burger be made identical to the others and food must be delivered to customers within 5 minutes.  I was confused about the transfer of rights between Kroc and the McDonald brothers.  I didn’t understand many of the legal issues that occurred.  Question 1:  Do you think fast food is the solution to fixing long-term problems of a growing population?  Question 2:  What would you do differently if you could start over again?  I think Ray Kroc’s opinion of hard work is to devote at least 12 hours to his business each day.  Hard work is solving all issues before ending the day and advancing some aspect of the business each day.