Reading Reflection 1: Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s



Marcus Manzoni
ENT3003
February 25, 2020

Reading Reflection 1: Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s

1. I read Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc and overall I thought it was a good book. I was surprised that Kroc first started out selling paper cups and this eventually led him to working in the food industry. I most admired Kroc’s willingness and ability to take chances. To be able to go from selling paper cups, to then selling milkshake mixers and then invest in a restaurant to start a fast-food franchise, I thought that was risky but incredible too. However, I least admired how Kroc just accepted that the paper cup company stole 60% of the profits from his contract with the multi-mixer company. This was a huge obstacle for Kroc because the profits he made was barely enough to live on. A second piece of adversity is when he opened the second McDonald’s location. He struggled with copying the recipes for the french fries specifically and that was the staple of the business.


2. Kroc was very good at identifying opportunities and understanding what actions to take to improve his pitch and business model. When the fries recipe was off he contacted experts that would help him get better - this relates to the fried chicken example we talked about in class. Furthermore, he was very good at his pitch and stress management. Despite his adversity he could still sell and believe in himself and the product.


3. I was confused about the fact that the paper cup company refused to sell the mixers so Kroc signs the contract on his own, but when he starts making money, then the paper cup company started claiming the profits. Kroc did not seem to challenge this either.


4. My two questions for Kroc would be - 1. How do you best capitalize on opportunity? 2. How much of your success was luck? The first question may help me make better decisions especially regarding business ventures and the second question is something that I always wanted to know about successful people. Do they truly believe that skill and hard work pays off, or does being in the right place at the right time play just as much or even more of a factor?


5. I believe Kroc’s view of hard work is working toward your goals as much as possible. He says how he would work 19 hour days between selling cups and playing piano to make money. I agree to some extent in this philosophy, however 19 hours a day seems a bit much to me.

Comments

  1. Janzen RichFebruary 28, 2020 at 12:12 AM

    Great post Marcus! I also wrote about Ray Kroc’s story because I find his path to success so interesting. I find it interesting that you ask him how much of his success is chalked up to luck. While I think he was lucky to meet the McDonald brothers initially, his climb to success was built by the hard work he put in after this opportunity.

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  2. Janine SantiagoMarch 4, 2020 at 4:00 AM

    Hi Marcus, great post! I previously did not know who Ray Kroc was or what his role was in the McDonald’s business. I thought your explanation of the incident with the paper cup company to be very interesting, and I wonder why he did not challenge the company. If I were to ask Kroc a question it would be, “How do you decide when to stand up for your business and when to take a step back?”

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