Was There A Dark Side to McDonald's Ray Kroc?
I really don’t know. But, there sure is a lot of talk going on as of late about Ray Kroc-and his supposed dark side.
That’s because there’s a movie out about the life of Ray Kroc, the *founder of McDonald’s.
*Kroc wasn’t the founder of McDonald’s. The McDonald brothers were. He purchased the restaurant chain from them.
And, built an empire.
The Movie Trailer
Speaking Of Empires
McDonald’s is an empire that may not be an empire pretty soon, unless the executive team can get their stuff together.
Word on the street is that the movie about Ray Kroc will show a dark side of the man, who was one amazing entrepreneur.
Laura Dern is one of the big stars who will be featured in the movie; she’s playing Kroc’s wife, Ethel Kroc.
Ray
I linked to my “interview” of Ray Kroc at the beginning of this blog post. But, I never actually met him. But I would have liked to.
Do you know anyone who met him or worked with him?
If he did have a “dark side“-whatever that means, he certainly wouldn’t be the only empire-builder who was a little rough around the edges. For example, I remember hearing quite a lot about the guy who dressed in black turtlenecks after he passed away.
Maybe Ray Kroc was a nice guy. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe the movie will portray him correctly. Maybe it won’t.
New Book From Lisa Napoli
Update: A new book came out called Ray & Joan. (It’s about the relationship between Ray and his 2nd wife-and how he built McDonald’s)
I just received my review copy. I’m reading it-and I like it a lot. I’ll post a review soon.
Originally published at www.thefranchiseking.com on June 11, 2015.
