The Founder Film Summary & Review
Recently, I have watched a movie about the creation of a world wide brand, that we all know of: McDonald’s. As an MBA student, I found it highly interesting and wanted to share my thoughts about it.
McDonaldization is a world phenomenon of having same product, quality all over the world. In the 1950's, the economic after war boom in the USA made the Americans enjoy they free time by taking the car and going to the drive-ins, before there was even the concept of international chain restaurants. There were many problems with these type of restaurants: the waiting line was long, there were not enough waitresses so orders were coming in slowly and sometimes even wrongly. The new concept of McDonald’s restaurant was revolutionary in deed: no more waiting in the car, but in line, no more waitresses but self-service, pre-prepared menus so delivery was immediate and right. Every step of the way was detailed and timely measured to make sure everything went smoothly and in the most efficient way possible. The custom made and fully automated kitchen, the trained personal and efficient operational made this system revolutionary. This genius system was made popular internationally by no other than Ray Kroc.
A revolution on its way
The salesman Ray Kroc was not able to get new clients for his Milkshake Multimixers even though he attempted many times. One day, he got a phone call from a particular restaurant in San Bernardino that needed six of his Multimixers. Intrigued, Ray Kroc decides to see for himself who wanted to prepare 40 Milkshakes at a time. The restaurant was run by two brothers: the McDonald brothers. He immediately saw the potential in McDonald’s restaurant. He wanted to market the idea and bring the concept to larger customer sizes. He had a vision that McDonald’s would be part of the American culture, that every American family would go to eat at McDonald’s, that there would be franchises from one coast to the other, all over America. He emphasized how important it was that people identify emotionally to the brand as part of their culture, part of their everyday life, part of their life in general. In the movie, he said that:
every proper American city should have its own Church, its own Court House with the American flag and the Golden Arches of McDonald’s.
This would mean not only a revolution in the restaurant culture, but in the culture of a whole country, and little did he know, of the whole world. It would influence the world globally by spreading fast food culture in the world. He saw the big opportunity where others would not trust him or invest in it because of his previous failures. It shows that no matter how much you get rejected in life, there might always be an opportunity for you out there.
You should never give up.
The right formula
The McDonald brothers had figured out a revolutionary system to serve their clients in an efficient and ultra-speedy manner. Their operations management was thought through until the last detail. The whole kitchen was designed to be efficient, without too much back and forth between the different sections. Every worker knew exactly what to do: from the time of grilling each side of the burger to the exact amount of pickles to put in a burger. They had also revolutionary and technologically advanced machines to help do the job even quicker: the custom made ketchup and mayonnaise dispenser, the packaging of the burger, the milkshake and soda dispensers, for example. Everything was timed and noted down to bring the normal waiting time of 30 minutes down to 30 seconds. They got the right formula that could be repeated, the exact amount of every ingredients predetermined, the people working on a timely manner, in order to keep the McDonald’s quality constant.
In order to build an empire, Kroc came to the realization that it was not only the restaurant business he was in, but the real estate one: he needed to buy the land he was planning to build a franchise on to secure his restaurant. He did not want to be dependent on the investor’s choices, or to have a risk of being kicked out.
Business does not rhyme with sympathy
Another major topic of the film was business ethics. In fact, Ray Kroc took the idea of the McDonald brothers, he amplified the business, and then he did not give them the credit they deserve — they did not get the 1% gross profit income from the company that he promised to them. It made me feel bad for them because they were treated wrongly. I could not agree with the morals of Ray Kroc even though his success is undeniable.
In fact, there is always two sides of the story. On the one hand I think that Ray Kroc was an ambitious, forward-looking, out-of-the-box thinking man. He had the persistence, determination and hard-working side of him that got him so far. Without him, McDonald’s would not have been what it is today. It would perhaps still be the small hamburgers restaurant in San Bernardino. He managed to bring out the revolutionary ideas of the brothers in the world, and create the concept of fast-food catering. For me personally, it is mind boggling to think about a world without fast-food: it is everywhere in different shapes and forms, different cuisines, cultures, countries, it could adapt itself to any scenario. We grew up with these type of restaurant. Even if we don’t like it, because it is unhealthy or not our taste, the impact in our lives and in the world is undeniable. The fact of having the same restaurant, same food, same menu and same quality wherever we go in the world launched a whole new concept of sharing the same things: globalization. The food industry is mostly affected by it, but when we think about it, other industries also jumped of the “fast” wagon train. The snack, coffee and fashion industry, for example. Everything is faster, easily accessible, and for a fraction of the price one would pay normally. When looking in that way, Ray Kroc was the hero of the story and a revolutionary.
On the other hand, the way Ray Kroc marketed the idea of the McDonald brother was harder for me to get round. The McDonald brothers did not have the same vision as Ray Kroc and did not really want to franchise the restaurant, as it was too much work. So when Ray Kroc proposed to market the concept, they gladly accepted and gave all the rights for marketing the brand to him. After, the wild success of the brand, and opening franchise after franchise, Ray Kroc named himself founder of the McDonald’s fast-food restaurant. The McDonald brothers did not receive their indemnities nor did they get what they deserve, they were cheated.
Of course, like I said before, McDonald’s would not exist as we know without Ray Kroc, but the McDonald’s concept would not exist at all in the first place without the genius ideas of the McDonald brothers. Still, it is very hard to dissociate since one couldn’t be without the other. Nonetheless, I am still feeling more sympathy for the brothers because they had the idea of fast-food restaurant in the first place. I felt that they had to get compensation for their ideas, and because they did not, it made me feel bad for them. Some would label Ray Kroc as a thief and greedy man, but the truth is that the brothers agreed to give him the rights to brand McDonald’s, it was their mistake.
Last thoughts
All in all, I understood better the concept of doing business and that in the end, it is just like a game, there will winners and there will be losers. At the end of the day, business is not based on feelings but on strategy, and your partner could become your competitor from one day to another. Either you comply according to the rules, or you are out of the game, no one is going to be there for you to defend your interests.
I think this film is a must watch to understand the story behind McDonald’s and McDonaldization which has affected everyone’s life, and for anyone interested in getting to know better the “behind the scenes” of the business, understanding the logic and sometimes ruthlessness of the business game, to see the potential of ideas and taking the opportunity to fulfill them. You could actually change the world as you know it.
