Ray Kroc and the Magic of Franchising

When Ray Kroc was opening his first McDonald’s franchise, the first thing he tested was the fries.

Of all the great things that the McDonald brothers were doing, the fries might have been the best.

So Kroc made sure to get them right.

He copied the entire process: Peeling, leaving just enough skin for flavor, cutting into shoestring strips, washing them till the water turned white with starch, and double frying them.

And when he tasted his fries?

Mush.

Something had gone wrong.

– – –

He double checked with the McDonald brothers and sure enough he was doing everything right.

He even called the folks at the Potato and Onion Association, and they were stumped as well. 

But then one of their associates asked about the McDonald brothers’ process all the way back to when they purchased the potatoes in Idaho.

Kroc went through it step-by-step, and, when he got to the part about where the brothers stored the potatoes, the associate stopped him. 

“That’s it!” he said.

In their San Bernardino store, the McDonald brothers kept their potatoes in open containers with dry air constantly tumbling over them. The desert air would prime the spuds so that they would be ready for the rest of the process.

Kroc realized that his potatoes were stored in a completely different environment. 

So he recreated the drying process with fans and heaters in the basement of his franchise store.

The result?

Crispy, golden McDonald’s fries. He had solved the potato puzzle and would soon open the most successful restaurant chain ever.

– – –

Many will argue that the McDonald brothers did all the work in designing and operating the first restaurant, and that Ray Kroc just took their idea and ran with it.

But that would be to overlook the problem solving required in franchising.

It’s one thing to build an efficient fast food system. It’s another thing entirely to make it work in thousands of different environments.

It is the difference between an equation with all the figures in place and a formula with multiple variables. To get the same results, the formula must be flexible and take into account a myriad of possible inputs.

The McDonald brothers excelled at the first, building the equation with all the figures in place. They needed a Ray Kroc to come in and take care of the second, building the formula to account for the many variables that came with franchising.

Done correctly, a good system can bring substantial success. But a good framework can bring exponential success.