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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Easy To Digest., 10 Aug 2003
By A Customer
Anybody with ideological objections to the McDonald's Corporation will hate "Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's" by Ray Kroc and his ghost writer, Robert Anderson. This is a shameless story of capitalist success. Kroc sums up his philosophy by saying that "Achievement must be made against the possibility of failure, against the risk of defeat. It is no achievement to walk a tightrope laid flat on the floor." Kroc's description of his first visit to the McDonald brother's restaurant in San Bernardino is almost like a religious experience. Indeed, later on in the book he says that when he's at work then McDonald's comes before God.Kroc saw the potential of somebody else's business idea, the McDonald bother's formula of providing cheap but high quality food prepared in a clean environment, and used all his energy and capital to exploit it. This simplicity is unsurprising coming from the man who claims to have come up with the KISS acronym: Keep It Simple Stupid. The success, however, was not without problems. In the early days even though the restaurants were in profit and the franchises apparently booming, the McDonald's corporation had a very serious cash flow problem. They couldn't pay the wages. But they acted fast and brought in an accountant who turned things around. A key feature of the McDonald's franchise's success is not easy to grasp. It's the formula whereby McDonald's acquired and leased the land on which the restaurants are built. It is this field which produced what is arguably Kroc's most expensive mistake and also highlighted a contradiction in his character. Because Kroc and his right hand man, Harry Sonneborn, failed to monitor a property developer who was supposed to be locating sites and building stores they had to borrow $400,000 in order to bail themselves out. This devil-may-care attitude sits uncomfortably with the Ray Kroc who fired an employee for having dirty shoes and earmarked a manager for dismissal because he didn't have "potential."
It is sometimes said that the devil is in the detail and Kroc provides a lot about French fries and hamburger buns. He claims that a key element of his early store's success was serving up great French fries. Kroc also points out that "It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun." It is worth mentioning that Kroc's response to a rivals attempt at industrial espionage was not to hire a high powered detective agency but to sift through the rival's garbage cans to glean information about what lines were selling poorly and therefore getting thrown away. Ray Kroc is certainly an original.
There are two criticisms of this book. Firstly, McDonald's international expansion is not well covered. Secondly, and perhaps frivolously, the creation and use of Ronald McDonald isn't given enough space. This topic could have given interesting insights into corporate marketing. Kroc does mention that "...a great deal of study had gone into creating the appearance and personality of Ronald McDonald, right down to the colour and texture of his wig." Ray Kroc also describes some of his non-business exploits such as his purchase of a baseball team and his quest for love and his new wife. But this is primarily a business book which will be useful to Business Studies students looking for insights into the creation and running of what is probably the most successful franchise operation in the world. But a general reader will enjoy Kroc's bright and breezy entrepreneurial style. "Grinding It Out" is not a grind to read.
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by John F. Love
by Forbes Magazine Staff
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