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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"The Founder A Trumpian biopic of Ray Kroc
Unlike the president, however, Kroc was entirely self-made. At the age of 52 he was criss-crossing the Midwest as salesman of milkshake mixers. With normally mediocre sales, Kroc cannot believe it when an unsolicited order for six milkshake mixers comes in. His curiosity is piqued: he drives all the way from Missouri to San Bernardino, California, to check out the business. The restaurant increases its order when he talks to them on the phone.
What he finds in San Bernardino is a bustling joint where customers happily stand in line for burgers and fries that are miraculously prepared in 30 seconds rather than 30 minutes (this is 1954). Kroc meets Richard and Maurice McDonald, the founders of the business, and invites them to dinner to learn about the Speedee Service System they devised. The brothers tell him how they introduced Taylorism to the burger kitchen, served food in practical paper wraps rather than on fussy plates, and made clients stand in line rather than sit in the car to get their food. Their system became the model for the fast-food industry around the world.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/01/founder
Saw it today.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)About Ray Kroc
Boom, Like That
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)He comes across as brilliant, obsessive, always a dreamer, but not a nice guy. The brothers are brilliant, but have zero vision. He partners with them, they make his life challenging, he steam rolls them.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)I would have let the brothers keep their name on their original restaurant and given them their one percent royalties. But that's why I'm not rich.
It was funny how his country club pals junked up his franchises.
HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)But it does make me think of the unnamed somebody that sold DOS to Bill Gates for 5 figures.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)What is interesting is how far McDonalds has departed from it core mission of just serving burgers, fries, and shakes.
HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)The franchises got desperate. Then corporate got more desperate. The worst thing is all day breakfast. If you watch the movie, you quickly realize how messed up that can be.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)It has a limited menu and it's core mission is to serve good burgers, fries, and shakes at a reasonable price. Like the original McDonalds owners they don't want to franchise either.
In a way that seems unfair because they could create so many jobs and opportunities like McDonalds. However they believe it would dilute their product like the original McDonalds owner.
Docreed2003
(16,861 posts)I made a similar Trump comparison. It was a compelling movie but Kroc is a tough character to watch because he's such a conniving asshole.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)His dark side was revealed when he discovered McDonalds.
Once thing I noticed is Kroc made a lot of the people around him rich. Who has Trump enriched beside himself?
Ligyron
(7,633 posts)HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)Kroc had a proletarian side to him. He was looking for people to help him expand McDonalds. When his country club associates purchased some franchises and ruined them he looked for an alternative. He started going to VFW Halls and looking for ordinary Joes to help run his business. I thought that was laudable. A few of them he found there became rich beyond imagination.
He was ruthless though. I like to believe you can get ahead in anything including business while maintaining one's character.
HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)A random Facebook employee, she smashed the glass ceiling.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)I wonder what happened to the first wife in the movie.
BTW, he also screwed over his second wife.
Ligyron
(7,633 posts)I think it was Kroc's secretary who built a home on Palm Beach that was pretty cool. Seaside,on prime real estate, it consisted of a group of pod-like structures connected by underground tunnels. I was amazed to see anything underground that close to the ocean with its sea level water table.
HoneyBadger
(2,297 posts)McDonalds announcement that it will briefly test a Big Mac ATM in Boston on Jan. 31 is a marketing gimmick, just like putting 10,000 bottles of Special Sauce on sale at selected Golden Arches yesterday.
For a few hours, the machine will spit out a Grand Mac or Mac Jr. for free sort of: You have to plug in your Twitter handle and then a tweet will be generated saying: Check out the new Big Mac, according to The Boston Globe.