Ray Kroc acquired the McDonald brothers’ company in 1961.
Kroc had become the exclusive distributor of the Multimixer milkshake machine and visited the brothers’ San Bernardino restaurant after receiving an unusually large equipment order. He was impressed by their fast, simplified production system and became a franchise agent for the McDonald’s concept in 1954. In 1955, he opened a McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
The 1961 purchase transferred control of the company from Richard and Maurice McDonald to Kroc. The brothers retained ownership of their original San Bernardino restaurant for a period, and that location later operated under a different name after the transaction.
The acquisition is important to branding history because Kroc’s organization expanded McDonald’s nationally and internationally. It also helped standardize restaurant design, menus, signage, and operating practices, allowing the golden arches to become a widely recognized brand rather than a regional restaurant identity.