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| “ | You know what - contracts are like hearts, they are made to be broken. | „ |
| ~ Ray Kroc's most famous quote after his refusal to co-operate with the McDonald's brothers as Ray does work on McDonald's via real estate and selling out lands. |
| “ | If the other guy was drowning, I would pour water in his mouth. | „ |
| ~ Kroc's ruthless philosophy |
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc is the titular main protagonist of the 2016 biographical film The Founder. He is a fictionalized version of the real-life Ray Kroc, who went to turn McDonald's into a multi-bounty county around the world after taking it away from their actual owners, Maurice and Richard McDonald.
He was portrayed by Michael Keaton, who also played the title character in Beetlejuice, Carter Hayes in Pacific Heights, Peter McCabe in Desperate Measures, Trip Larsen in King of the Hill, Chick Hicks in Cars, Ken in Toy Story 3, Walter Nelson Sr. in Minions, Raymond Sellars in the 2014 RoboCop remake, the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius and V.A. Vandevere in the live-action Dumbo remake.
Biography[]
Ray Kroc was not particularly successful in 1954 seasons as a representative for milkshake mixers. When a restaurant orders six of his mixers, he initially thinks it's a mistake. When he calls the brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, they even increase the order to eight mixers. In order to get an idea of the apparently very successful restaurant of the McDonald brothers, Ray travels across the USA to San Bernardino.
Ray is fascinated by the restaurant concept at McDonald's: There is a long queue of customers in front of the restaurant, but unlike many other restaurants, customers pick up their food themselves at the ordering counter – there are no waiters. The food is sold in paper bags – there is no crockery or cutlery. On the other hand, the waiting times are much shorter than at other restaurants. Mac McDonald willingly shows Ray his restaurant and explains the concept to him. Ray invites Dick and Mac McDonald to dinner to hear their story.
Over dinner, Dick and Mac share their life stories, how they changed their drive-in restaurant to a self-service restaurant, and how they had to take setbacks in between until their restaurant was finally successful. Ray finally suggests to the McDonald brothers to extend their concept as a franchise to many restaurants. However, the McDonald brothers' previous attempts at franchise restaurants have not been successful.
Ray sees great potential in the restaurant system and the design for the restaurants created by Dick McDonald and is finally able to convince the two to give him franchise rights by contract. In the contract, the McDonald brothers secure extensive say so that they can continue to maintain control over the operation of the restaurants. In order to get the money for the first new opening, Ray mortgages his apartment building, as he has not received any money from banks in any other way. For more restaurants, Ray solicits money from friends. After the first openings, Ray is in danger of losing control of the restaurants, as the menu does not meet the specifications of the McDonald brothers everywhere and the cleanliness of the restaurants is poor. For other restaurants, Ray recruits operating couples who not only provide the money but also organize the daily business in the respective restaurant.
Ray is rarely at home and neglects his wife. At an out-of-town meeting, he meets Joan, the wife of a potential business partner, and flirts with her.
Changes to the restaurant concept that Ray wants to make regularly fail due to the resistance of the McDonald brothers. In the future, Ray would like to make milkshakes from instant powder in order to save cooling costs. The McDonald brothers are against it, but he eventually ignores the brothers. Ray has now opened 13 restaurants and is becoming increasingly successful. Nevertheless, he gets into economic difficulties because he does not own the restaurants or other assets and, according to the contract with the McDonald brothers (who together get 0.5%), he only receives what he considers to be a low share of 1.4% of net profits from the restaurant operators. Financial advisor Harry Sonneborn suggests that Ray buy the land for the restaurants himself and then lease them to the restaurant operators. This should also give Ray more influence on the restaurants. Ray starts a new property management company without involving the McDonald brothers. The McDonald brothers see this as a violation of the contract concluded with Ray.
In private life, Ray tells his wife that he wants a divorce. According to a conversation with his lawyer, she was not allowed to get a share in the company.
When the brothers call McDonald Ray to confront him, he tells them on the head that they would probably win a lawsuit, but that the cost would be too high for them. Ray himself is active nationwide, the McDonald brothers only regionally. As a result, Mac McDonald collapses. At the hospital, Ray Mac brings a bouquet of flowers and a blank check, as he wants to buy McDonald's. Eventually, the McDonald brothers agree to sell the full rights to the restaurant concept and the McDonald's name to Ray for $2.7 million and a 1% share of future revenues. The share of the future income should not be in the contract at the short term at the contract date, but will be sealed with a handshake, as a group of investors would allegedly cancel Ray's financing if it were in the contract.
The McDonald brothers are allowed to keep their restaurant in San Bernardino, but surprisingly they are not allowed to continue using the name "McDonald's". After the takeover, Ray opens his own restaurant directly opposite the McDonald brothers' restaurant, eventually driving their restaurant into bankruptcy. Ray was not only interested in the promising restaurant concept of the McDonald brothers, but also in the use of the name "McDonald's" for his restaurants. This goes back to an objection by Dick McDonald, who immediately before signing the contract confronts Ray as to why he is making this legal effort at all. The brothers would have shown him all the secrets of their concept of their own free will; Ray would have just had to copy it. Ray replies that the name is crucial. "McDonald's" would stand for a much more familiar sound than its own name Kroc, which originates from Slavic origin.
In the end, Ray is seen with Joan, whom he has since married, preparing for a speech to Governor Reagan. The credits show that the McDonald brothers never received their shares from the handshake contract.
Quotes[]
| “ | Harry Sonneborn: Mr. Kroc... Ray Kroc: May I help you? Harry Sonneborn: No, but... perhaps I can help you. Harry Sonneborn, nice to meet you. Ray Kroc: No, thanks. We're very happy with our current supplier. Harry Sonneborn: I'm not here to sell you ice cream. Ray Kroc: What the hell do ya want? Harry Sonneborn: I caught a bit of your conversation back there, sounds like you're having financial troubles. Ray Kroc: Why don't you mind your own business? Harry Sonneborn: I'm a great admirer of your establishment. Ray Kroc: Thank you. Harry Sonneborn: I eat lunch at your Waukegan location at least twice a week. Always a fantastic crowd. Ray Kroc: Your point being... Harry Sonneborn: Mr. Kroc, if you're not making money hand over fist, something's terribly wrong. Ray Kroc: June, grab the ledger would ya? Come on in the office, Harry. Harry Sonneborn: So, to summerize, you have a miniscule revenue stream... no cash reserves... and an albatross of a contract... that requires you to go through a slow approval process to... enact changes, if they're approved at all. Which, they never are. Am I missing anything? Ray Kroc: That about sums it up. Harry Sonneborn: Tell me about the land. Ray Kroc: The... land?. Harry Sonneborn: The land, the buildings, how that whole aspect of it works. Ray Kroc: Oh, pretty simple really... franchisee finds a piece of land he likes... gets a lease, usually 20 years... and takes our construction loan... throws up a building and off he goes. Harry Sonneborn: So the operator selects the site? Ray Kroc: Yeah. Harry Sonneborn: He picks the property. Ray Kroc: Right. Harry Sonneborn: You provide the training, the system, the operational know how... and he is responsible for the rest. Ray Kroc: Is there a problem? Harry Sonneborn: A big one. You don't seem to realize what business you're in. You're not in the burger business, you're in the real estate business. You don't build an empire off a 1.4% cut of a $0.15 hamburger. You build it by owning the land... upon which that burger is cooked. What you ought to be doing... is buying up plots of land... then turning around and leasing said plots to franchisees. Who as a condition of their deal... should be permitted to lease from you, and you alone. This will provide you with two things. 1. A steady up front revenue stream... money flows in before the first stake is in the ground. 2. Greater capital for expansion. Which in turn fuels further land aquisition... which in turn fuels further expansion... and so on, and so on. Land. That's where the money is. And more than that, control. Control over the franchisee. Fail to uphold quality standards, you cancel their lease. Control over Dick and Mac. End result, you'll have the banks and the franchisees in the palm of your hand. Ray Kroc: If I were to do this, Uhh, the brothers, they uh... - effectively would be... Harry Sonneborn: Yes. So... [Ray starts and goes into very confused over the difficult choice] What do you say, Ray? [Ray starts to make a difficult choice from Harry Sonneborn over McDonald's from the McDonald's brothers] |
„ |
| ~ Ray Kroc having a business deal meeting with Harry Sonneborn over how to get McDonald's across the US county and how to make more money over the brothers. |
| “ | Ray Kroc: Hiya Dick. Dick McDonald: I just received a very disconcerting call. Ray Kroc: Oh? Dick McDonald: From Buddy Jepson, our operator in Sacramento. Ray Kroc: I'm very aware of who Buddy Jepson is. Dick McDonald: He told me he received a shipment this morning. Ray Kroc: Oh, it arrived. Dick McDonald: You are way out of line, Ray. Ray Kroc: Hey I didn't expect that to get there until Friday at the earliest. Dick McDonald: Would you mind telling me what you are doing shipping 4 cases of Instamix to one of our operators? Ray Kroc: Look, if you don't wanna make a profit, that's fine. But don't stop the rest of us. Dick McDonald: Us? Ray Kroc: Us, as in everyone but you. Dick McDonald: Who did you send them to? Ray Kroc: Everyone but you. Dick McDonald: You have no right. You are to stop this instant, is that clear? Ray Kroc: Nah... Dick McDonald: What the hell does that mean, nah? You will abide by the terms of your deal. Ray Kroc: I am through taking marching orders from you... You and your endless parade of NOs. Constantly cowering in the face of progress. Dick McDonald: If phony powdered milkshakes is your idea of progress, you have a profound misunderstand of what McDonald's is about. Ray Kroc: I have a far greater understanding of McDonald's than you two yokels. Dick McDonald: What? You will do as we say. Ray Kroc: Nope. Dick McDonald: You have a contract! Ray Kroc: You know what - contracts are like hearts, they are made to be broken. |
„ |
| ~ Ray Kroc's most famous quote after his refusal to co-operate with the McDonald's brothers as Ray does work on McDonald's via real estate and selling out lands. |
| “ | Dick McDonald: I just have to ask you one thing. Something I've never understood. Ray Kroc: All right. Dick McDonald: That day we met, when we gave you the tour... Ray Kroc: Uh-huh. What about it? Dick McDonald: We showed you everything. The whole system, all of our secrets. We were an open book. So why didn't you just... Ray Kroc: Steal it? Just, grab your ideas and run off, start my own business... using all those ideas of yours. It would have failed. Dick McDonald: How do you know? Ray Kroc: Am I the only one who got the kitchen tour? You must have invited lots of people back there, huh? Dick McDonald: And? Ray Kroc: How many of them succeeded? Dick McDonald: Lots of people started restaurants. Ray Kroc: As big as McDonald's? Of course not. No one ever has and no one ever will because they all lacked that one thing... that makes McDonald's special. Dick McDonald: Which is? Ray Kroc: Even you don't know what it is. Dick McDonald: Enlighten me. Ray Kroc: It's not just the system, Dick. It's the name. That glorious name, McDonald's. It could be, anything you want it to be... it's limitless, it's wide open... it sounds, uh... it sounds like... it sounds like America. That's compared to Kroc. What a crock. What a load of crock. Would you eat at a place named Kroc's? Kroc's has that blunt, Slavic sound. Kroc's. But McDonald's, oh boy. That's a beauty. A guy named McDonald? He's never gonna get pushed around in life. Dick McDonald: That's clearly not the case. Ray Kroc: So, you don't have a check for 1.35 million dollars in your pocket? Bye, Dick. Dick McDonald: So if you can't beat'em, buy'em. Ray Kroc: I remember the first time I saw that name stretched across your stand out there. It was love at first sight. I knew right then and there... I had to have it. And now I do. Dick McDonald: You don't have it. Ray Kroc: You sure about that? Bye, Dick. |
„ |
| ~ Ray revealing his true nature and colours to Dick on why bought and took away McDonald's from the McDonald's brothers. |
| “ | I know what you're thinking. How the heck does a 52 years old over the hill milkshake machine salesman build a fast food empire with 16 hundred restaurants and an annual revenue of 7 hundred millions dollars?. One word: Persistence. | „ |
| ~ Ray Kroc's speech how he turn into McDonald a billion dollar restaurant county around the world as he preparing for Governor Ronald Reagan. |