The Founder

1. What makes Ray Kroc and the brothers different from each other?
   The differences between Ray Kroc and the brothers are quite stark and rather easy to notice. While the brothers were wholly focused on making an efficient restaurant that focused on quality and customer satisfaction assurance, Ray focused on expanding and creating a  chain that would solidify him as one of the richest businessmen to ever live. Additionally, there was no one to advise the brothers on business decisions; they trusted their guts and put faith in Ray, hoping he’d do right by them.
2. Do you think the McDonald’s brothers did the right thing by selling out to Ray Kroc? Did Ray Kroc give the brothers a good deal?
   It’s easy to see that the McDonald’s brothers got the short end of the stick when it was all said and done, so no, they did not do the right thing by selling out. Ray screwed them over in a way that they could never recover from, and it eventually led to their inevitable bankruptcy. Even when threatened with a lawsuit, Ray put it perfectly; “You run a burger stand in the desert. I’m national. You’re ****ing local.” There was nothing they could do at the end.
3. How did the local store franchisees make money?
   Franchisees made money depending on how their individual McDonald’s locations performed. It was a mixture of operating costs, revenue earned through sales, and the efficiency of the employees who worked there.
4. How did Kroc make money? How was that different than the franchisees, running the local stores?
   Ray, at first, wasn’t making much profit from the McDonald’s name and brand. It wasn’t until he began buying vacant land and leasing it to franchisees that he started making real money. As McDonald’s expanded and more franchisees came to be, Ray’s revenue stream increased dramatically. He was no longer in the business of selling burgers but was instead in the business of real estate. Just think about how much money you’d be raking in, having all those properties being rented out whilst also getting a commission from the franchises.
5. Does this film change your view of McDonald’s?
   I never did have a good opinion of McDonald’s for various other reasons, but this movie really solidified my distaste for them. To think that it was stolen from two brothers who genuinely cared about customer satisfaction and was replaced with the billion-dollar mega-corporation we know today is sad. I only hope that the real McDonald’s family, if there are any remaining members, got some sort of justice and compensation from the company that is STILL profiting off their name.