All Selling Aside With Alex Mandossian

In the late 1930s, Patrick McDonald opened a food stand in Monrovia, California. Originally, the stand sold hot dogs, but—as you might guess from his last name—hamburgers were later added to the menu. A few years later, his sons Maurice and Richard moved the entire operation 40 miles east to San Bernardino. “McDonald’s Bar-B-Que” later shifted its focus from barbecue to a streamlined menu of burgers, drinks, and apple pie. The restaurant McDonald’s was born on December 12, 1948. Within a few years, other companies followed this lead and transformed into fast food establishments. Several of these, including Burger King and White Castle, are still familiar and successful today. Ray Kroc entered the picture in 1954. Ray, a milkshake mixer salesman, learned that the McDonald brothers were using eight of his machines in their restaurant, instead of just one like most other restaurants. Intrigued by the success that led to needing so many milkshake mixers, Ray offered to work as a franchising agent for the McDonald