You’ve definitely heard the name Ray Kroc. If you watched the movie The Founder, you probably walked away thinking he was a ruthless visionary who essentially "stole" the company from two nice guys in California. But if you look at the sign on the original shop, it clearly says "McDonald’s." So, who is the founder of mcdo?
The answer isn't a single person. Honestly, it’s a messy, fascinating, and somewhat heartbreaking tug-of-war between two different types of geniuses.
On one side, you have Richard and Maurice McDonald—the brothers who actually invented the system. On the other, you have Ray Kroc, the man who turned their local burger joint into a global religion. Depending on who you ask, the "founder" title changes. McDonald’s Corporation officially dates its founding to 1955, the year Ray Kroc opened his first franchise. But the brothers had been flipping burgers for fifteen years by then.
The Real Origin: Two Brothers and a Tennis Court
Before the "Golden Arches" were a global icon, they were just a drawing on a napkin in San Bernardino.
In 1940, Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald opened a barbecue stand. It was a typical drive-in. They had carhops. They had a massive menu. But by 1948, they noticed something weird. Almost all their profit was coming from hamburgers.
They did something radical.
They shut down their successful business for three months. They fired the carhops. They ditched the silverware. They limited the menu to just nine items. To figure out the perfect kitchen layout, they took their staff to a tennis court and drew the kitchen dimensions in chalk. They made the employees "perform" the act of making burgers to see where they bumped into each other.
This was the birth of the Speedee Service System.
It was basically Henry Ford’s assembly line, but for lunch. No one had ever seen anything like it. By the time Ray Kroc showed up in 1954, the brothers were already making a fortune. They weren't struggling; they were just comfortable. They had a few franchises, but they didn't really want to travel. They liked their quiet life in California.
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Enter Ray Kroc: The 52-Year-Old Milkshake Salesman
Ray Kroc wasn't a young tech bro. He was a struggling salesman selling five-spindle milkshake machines called Multimixers. He was fascinated when he heard about a small restaurant in San Bernardino that was using eight of his machines at once.
"Why on earth does one stand need to make 40 shakes at a time?" he wondered.
When he arrived, he saw the future. He saw people getting their food in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. He saw the potential for a McDonald’s on every corner in America. He convinced the brothers to let him be their franchise agent.
Basically, Kroc became the "execution" man.
He founded McDonald’s System, Inc. on March 2, 1955. His first store in Des Plaines, Illinois, is what the company now considers "Store No. 1," even though the brothers already had several operational locations in California and Arizona. This is where the friction started.
Who Is the Founder of Mcdo: The 1961 Buyout
By 1961, the relationship between Kroc and the brothers had completely soured. Kroc wanted to move fast. He wanted to change the architecture. He wanted to use powdered milkshakes to save on refrigeration costs. The brothers, who were obsessed with quality and control, said "No" to almost everything.
Kroc was furious. He felt like he was doing all the work while they sat in California collecting checks.
Eventually, he asked them: "What’s your price to walk away?"
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The brothers asked for $2.7 million. They wanted $1 million each after taxes. At the time, this was a staggering amount of money. Kroc had to borrow heavily to make it happen. He famously grumbled that it cost him $10 million in interest by the time he paid it off.
The Handshake Deal That Vanished
This is where the story gets controversial. The brothers claimed there was a "handshake agreement" for a 0.5% royalty on all future sales.
If that deal had been honored, the McDonald family would be worth billions today. But because it wasn't in writing, it didn't exist in the eyes of the law. Kroc never paid it. He even opened a McDonald’s right across the street from the brothers’ original San Bernardino location—which they had renamed "The Big M"—and effectively put them out of business.
It was a cold-blooded move.
Kroc eventually started calling himself the founder in his autobiography and corporate literature. He felt that the "system" he built—the real estate empire, the training at Hamburger University, the global supply chain—was the real McDonald’s. To him, the brothers just gave him the name and a kitchen layout.
Why This Debate Still Matters in 2026
Even now, people argue over who gets the credit. If you visit the McDonald’s corporate website today, they give a polite nod to the brothers but center the narrative on Ray Kroc’s vision.
The reality is nuanced:
- The Brothers founded the concept, the name, and the "Speedee" system.
- Ray Kroc founded the corporation, the franchise model, and the global brand.
Without the brothers, Kroc would have been just another salesman. Without Kroc, McDonald’s would probably be a forgotten regional memory, like many other drive-ins from the 1950s.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People often think Ray Kroc "stole" the company. Honestly, it was a legal purchase. The brothers were happy with their $2.7 million at the time. They were older and wanted to retire. Maurice died in 1971, but Richard lived until 1998. In his later years, Richard actually said he didn't regret the sale, though he did hate that Kroc took all the credit.
In 1984, McDonald’s actually recognized Richard by serving him the ceremonial 50 billionth hamburger. It was a small gesture, but it acknowledged that he was the first person to ever flip a burger behind a McDonald’s grill.
Key Takeaways for Business Owners
The story of the McDonald’s founding is a masterclass in two things: innovation and scale.
If you're building a business, remember that the "idea" is only half the battle. The brothers had the best idea in the history of food, but they lacked the "growth mindset" (as much as that phrase is overused) to take it to the world. Kroc had the ambition but needed the proven system to plug his energy into.
Next Steps for You:
- Check your contracts: Handshake deals are essentially worthless in high-stakes business. If it’s not in writing, it’s a ghost.
- Study the "Speedee" system: Look at your own workflow. Can you "draw it on a tennis court" and find the bottlenecks?
- Recognize your partners: If you're the "execution" person, don't erase the "idea" person from history. It builds better long-term brand loyalty when the origin story feels honest.
The original San Bernardino site is now a museum. It's not owned by the McDonald's Corporation; it's run by a different company. It stands as a reminder that before the billions of burgers, there were just two brothers in New Hampshire who moved West to try something new.
And they definitely succeeded.