Grinding It Out The Making of McDonald’s

Jul 14, 2026

Upload by Miles

Ray Kroc’s autobiography and an account of McDonald’s corporate history, emphasizing how opportunity, risk-taking, and success are driven by hard work. The text frames Kroc as a sales-driven, detail-oriented leader and outlines the book’s themes of perseverance and the operating strategies behind McDonald’s growth. It includes references to Kroc’s business philosophy and his engagement with business students.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages186

Reading Time4 h 46 min

AccessFree to download

Begin Reading Table of Contents About the Author Copyright Page Thank you for buying this St. Martin’s Press ebook. To receive special offers, bonus content, and info on new releases and other great reads, sign up for our newsletters. Or visit us online at [us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup](us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup)[ ](us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup)[For email updates on the author](For email updates on the author), click here. The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher [at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy](at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy). My wife, Joni, shares with me the enjoyment of dedicating this book to all our friends in the McDonald’s family who have helped so greatly in this enterprise. He searches through his competitors’ garbage cans—he scolds his San Diego Padres over the P.A. system—he either enchants or antagonizes everyone he meets. But even his enemies agree there are three things Ray Kroc does damned well: sell hamburgers, make money, and tell stories. Preface “Opportunity is dead in the United States!” “The tax structure has destroyed all incentive!” How often we have heard such laments during the past thirty years, when in fact greater fortunes have been made and higher living standards achieved than ever before on earth! Those of us who teach courses at graduate schools of business, courses with titles like Entrepreneurship or New Enterprise Management, know that such gloom is unfounded. We have case studies based on true examples of individual success and corporate growth to prove it. Every now and then a unique and vibrant personality like Ray A. Kroc comes along, a flesh-and-blood example of a Horatio Alger story, who illustrates in practice what one is preaching and who repudiates the lamenters entirely. Grinding It Out, Ray Kroc’s autobiography and the history of McDonald’s Corporation, is a dramatic refutation of all who believe that risk takers will no longer be properly rewarded. It reminds us that opportunity abounds, that all one needs is the knack of seizing the chances that exist, of being in the right place atthe right time. A little bit of luck helps, yes, but the key element, which too many in our affluent society have forgotten, is still hard work—grinding it out. Ray Kroc visited our classes at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration on the Dartmouth College Campus in 1974 and returned two years later in March 1976, bringing with him several key members of his corporate team including Fred Turner, McDonald’s President and Chief Executive Officer. (The very circumstances of that second visit proved the quality of energy and determination that has marked his business career, for when a major snowstorm cl

Jul 14, 2026

Upload by Miles