See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Sam Walton Story.
Life Lesson #34 – Build a Positive Work Ethic.
All around the neighborhood people were talking about that kid named Ray Kroc. “He’s a worker,” they would say as he worked his lemonade stand in front of his parents’ home in Oak Park, Illinois. That was during the very early 1900s. Selling lemonade was how Ray would earn his spending money. After that, but while he was still in school, he worked at a grocery store and a at drug store, and people would still say, “He’s quite the worker!”
Ray started his first real job in Chicago in 1922. He began selling paper cups to restaurants and other companies.
Later, he sold milkshake machines to restaurants. That’s when he began hearing stories about two brothers named Richard and Maurice who had a new kind of restaurant in San Bernardino, California. He decided to fly out to California to meet them. When he did, he saw a brand new way to cook and serve food very quickly so the customers didn’t have to wait. Richard and Maurice told Ray they had an idea that would help some other people to start their own restaurants. Everybody’s restaurants could have the same name and all of the owners could work together and do things the same way. That idea is called franchising. Ray thought the idea would go nationwide and even worldwide! So he made a deal with the two brothers.
Once again, Ray was hard at work. He opened his first restaurant back home in Illinois. It wasn’t long before more and more restaurants were opened, and soon they became known by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Yes, Ray Kroc, that little boy with the front yard lemonade stand knew all about hard work. And by working hard, he grew up to HELP many, many people become restaurant owners themselves. All of their restaurants, by-the-way, were named after the two brothers, Richard and Maurice whose last name was… McDonald. McDonald’s?! That’s right, McDonald’s!
– Jim Lord