How McDonald's CONQUERED the world

The golden arches of McDonald's are said to be the most recognisable symbol in the world. Today there are branches of the fast food chain in 119 countries selling 75 burgers every second. Yet it would have been an entirely different story had Ray Kroc not stopped off for a bite to eat at the first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, 60 years ago.

Kroc had sold five of his Multimixer devices to founders Richard and Maurice McDonald but was down on his luck following the launch of a cheaper rival model. So that day he had another motive. Kroc had heard that his milkshake machines ran continuously to cope with demand at the restaurant and was anxious to see what all the fuss was about. Sensing an opportunity he approached the brothers, who had opened for business in 1940 and were doing quite nicely, thank you.

After initially selling a range of barbecued food they'd realised that hamburgers sold best. By 1955 the McDonalds had built up a successful but modest chain of eight restaurants featuring a simple self-service menu which allowed speedy service.

Kroc suggested expanding nationwide using a franchise model but the brothers were dubious. They doubted the popularity of McDonald's could be replicated in colder US states and were reluctant to risk the business they'd toiled so hard to establish.

However Kroc, 53, persisted, securing a deal with a plan that involved him taking responsibility for setting up restaurants throughout most of the country while Maurice and Richard focused on California and Arizona. In return for allowing Kroc on board the pair would receive half a per cent of all gross sales.

Kroc's first branch opened on April 15, 1955, in Des Plaines, Illinois. It was also the date of the foundation of the McDonald's Corporation, beginning the global march of the company.

At first growth was slow and the relationship between Kroc and the brothers was uneasy. By 1958 there were still only 34 McDonald's restaurants but the figure trebled the following year as the dynamic Kroc extended the burger empire.

He was an aggressive businessman with a good grasp of the importance of marketing and advertising. Kroc, who was born to parents of Czech origin, once quipped: "I was an overnight success all right but 30 years is a long, long night."

In 1961, amid ongoing feuding, there was an inevitable parting of the ways. The brothers, still wary of over-expansion, agreed to sell the business to Kroc for $2.7million - a neat $1million each after tax.

It wasn't a happy separation. Kroc got to keep the McDonald's name while the brothers rebranded their original branch in California, calling it the Big M. Kroc responded by opening a restaurant in the same neighbourhood.

The famous golden arches logo was introduced the following year and the explosion of the car industry was a key factor in the success of McDonald's. Another reason was Kroc's attention to detail. He insisted every burger in every restaurant was of the same quality and that packaging was consistent.

He offered refunds to customers who were kept waiting for more than five minutes or whose orders were incorrect. If workers considered taking a break when business slowed, Kroc told them: "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean."

Franchise owners went through a training course at "Hamburger University" in Illinois. They earned certificates in "hamburgerology with a minor in french fries".

Kroc kept the assembly-line operation the brothers had pioneered and McDonald's became the world's most profitable restaurant franchise operation. Kroc earned an estimated personal fortune of more than £300million but gave much of it away.

Much later his company became a symbol of rampant globalisation and got caught up in the obesity debate. The Big Mac index is used to gauge a nation's cost of living, with Norway topping the league. However, the company was also responsible for driving up standards in the fast food industry.

Ray Kroc, who married three times, never retired and took a keen interest in the first branch he opened until his death in 1984.

Unwitting staff would often receive a phone call late at night telling them to make sure to clean up properly.

BURGER OUTLET THAT BECAME A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

• McDONALD'S restaurants serve 70 million customers every day - that's more than the population of the UK.

• It employs more than 1.7 million people at 35,000 branches, second only behind Walmart.

• The £16billion annual revenue of McDonald's makes it the 90th largest economy in the world, outstripping many entire nations.

• It's estimated that one in every eight Americans has worked at McDonald's at some stage in their lives. Actress Sharon Stone and fellow celebrities Jay Leno, Shania Twain, Rachel McAdams and Pink have all been on the payroll.

• The original McDonald's mascot Speedee was a chef with a hamburger for a head. He was replaced by Ronald McDonald in 1967, originally introduced by a franchise holder in Washington DC. Within six years the clown was familiar to 96 per cent of American children, far more than knew the name of the president.

• The first McDonald's restaurant in the UK opened in 1974 in Woolwich, south-east London.

• In 1993 the company celebrated selling 100 billion hamburgers.