1.What makes Ray Kroc and the brothers different from each other?

I believe that what makes Ray Kroc different from the brothers is the aversion to take chances on ideas or plans that he sees are worth it and not give up. As mentioned on the movie, persistence is key for success. Ray had that trait deeply engraved in himself, while the brothers did not. Even though the brothers tried and experienced with different approaches to grow the business, when it came to maintaining new locations, they soon gave up on the idea since they thought maintaining the integrity and consistency in all of the locations was impossible.

2.Do you think the McDonald’s brothers did the right thing by selling out to Ray Kroc? Did Ray Kroc have the brothers a good deal?

If we see it from a monetary point of view, the deal was good, but it is also important to consider all the things the brothers went through in the process of the partnership. I do not believe that their major motive was to make a profit that way and when Ray started to franchise McDonald’s the way he wanted to, they felt like their ideas and dream was being drifting away from its original path and intention. In this case I believe it was a good choice to sell out just because it had come to the point where it was affecting their lives on a whole different level and the process of suing would have bring them more problems than peace.

3.How did the local store franchisees make money?

At first I believe some of them tried to implement new and trendy items on the menu that were not approved or did not follow the standards to maintain consistency across all locations. But after that, their focus was set on proving quality and fast food efficiently, meaning getting the orders right.

4.How did Kroc make money? How was that different from the franchisees, running the local stores?

He started to make money when after meeting with Hanne Sonneborn, realized that in order to make money he should start buying land and lease it to McDonald’s, and we know already know that he was the only one with the power to decide to who and where to lease. That way, he made money from both sides of the business by investing in more locations and at the same time, making a profit out of them. Also, this allowed him to control what happened in these locations, changes did not need to be approved by the brothers anymore and he could overview and supervise these location as he pleased.

5.Does this film change your view of McDonald’s?

I would say that it does not changes who I interact with it, I have never been a fan of fast food anyway, so the movie does not make me want to stop consuming from them or consume more. It does in fact bring an insight of how it was founded and the history of Ray Kroc, the founder. I know now that he was not the one that came up with the speedy system for example, nor with the structure for the system. Ray might be an opportunist and showed being ruthless when it came to business but that got him to success and managed to found one of the biggest companies in the world.