MovieChat Forums > The Founder (2017) Discussion > Ray Kroc is not the founder

Ray Kroc is not the founder


Richard and Maurice Mcdonald are the founders. That's why it's not called Kroc's.

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I believe that is the intended irony of the title. The film supposedly doesn't paint Kroc in the best portrait. I just hope Keaton can get the oscar he lost for Birdman.

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Yeah but McDonalds wouldn't be the giant it is if not for him. Those two brothers weren't going anywhere the way Ray was.

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What does that have to do with being a founder?
Nothing.
He didn't create McDonalds. The brothers did.

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I think the point is the McDonald brothers are the founders of the mom and pop burger joint while Ray Kroc is the founder of McDonald's as we know it, the huge billion dollar conglomerate.

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Kroc was the founder of McDonalds Corporation. Dick and Mac McDonald started a burger stand in California that Kroc brought to the world.

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He's not the founder?? What a kroc! ?

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[deleted]

It was not a single joint. It had already started franchising before he bought it.




Man this party is like an orgy at a campsite......its ***king in tents.

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He didn't buy out the brothers till 1962 - he partnered with the brothers for a little up front, a cut of the revenue and he'd handle all franchsing in 1954.

The Brothers had started franchising a couple years earler but only had 7 franchisers 6 in CA and one in Arizona. In fact the oldest unit PRE DATES the McDonald's corperation, and the only unit to join Krock's orginization. The others changed names and went rouge - and were a thorn in his side for years!

The Brothers however FORGOT to Tell Ray that they sold the Franchise rights to Cook Count, IL to Tasty-Freeze - and that was where he was building his first unit! Cost him $20,000 in 1954 Dollars to get it back. He NEVER forgave the brothers and that is where the problems begain with them.

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Correct. The chronology when Ray Kroc,in 54, started with them, was he got the OK to do the Des Plaines, Ill., one that (to the annoyance of Dick MacDonald over the telephone later) he called McDonalds #1 (since it was his first (franchise) ones) but the brothers were allowed to stay in business so theirs and Kroc's successive stands sort of overlapped. Then in the early sixties, I believe not 1962 but a year earlier, the name change of the San Bernadino and the entire takeovder by Kroc. I didn't know about the Tasty-Freeze thing..it's not even in the movie (since released, 2016)

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They're aiming for a There Will Be Blood and The Social Network kind of thing.

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You honestly think the people who made his don't know that ?

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From the looks of the trailer, he swung in and helped the brothers build it up and got rid of them because of a lousy business deal he thought the brothers pulled over him. Just wondering what that deal was.

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Just wondering what that deal was.


Franchising. He was working very hard investing his own money and he was just only making the McDonalds richer with no effort. He wanted to be on the other side and commited to it.

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SPOILERS ABOUND! Although I suppose you can find it on Wikipedia...


Well... the *original* business deal was his own proposal concerning his cut of the profits on franchises. Ray Kroc was sinking a lot of his own time/share of the money back into the business so he was working like crazy but still not getting ahead. He wanted a bigger piece of the pie and the brothers said "no". He wanted to cut costs and the brothers said "no".

He got some advice to buy the land that the restaurants stood on. This way, he could: 1) have a company independent of the McDonalds brothers and 2) have an immediate revenue stream from leasing out the property.

When he bought them out, he promised them a cut of future profits on a "handshake" deal that he later denied ever happened and never paid them what would have been hundreds of millions of dollars. Although he let the brothers keep their restaurant, he wouldn't let them use the McDonalds name and then he opened a McDonalds across the street to drive them out of business - which worked.

So it went beyond greed to vindiciveness.

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" Although he let the brothers keep their restaurant, he wouldn't let them use the McDonalds name and then he opened a McDonalds across the street to drive them out of business - which worked.

So it went beyond greed to vindiciveness."

And as the movie shows, the NEW name of that true first MCDonalds was "The Big M".

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