Order up!
I know what you're thinking.
"What the heck do I need a five spindle for,
when I barely sell enough milkshakes
to justify my single spindle?" Right?
Wrong.
Are you familiar with the notion of the chicken or the egg,
Mr. Griffith? I mention it because,
well, I think it applies here.
Do you not need the multi-mixer because,
well heck, you're not selling enough milkshakes?
Or are you not selling enough milkshakes
because you don't have a multi-mixer?
I firmly believe it's the latter.
You see your customer comes in here and he knows if he orders
a shake from your establishment, he's in for a terrific wait.
He's done it before and he thinks to himself,
"Well by-golly, I'm not going to make that mistake again."
But if you had the Prince Castle five spindle multi-mixer
with patented direct-drive electric motor,
we greatly increase your ability to produce delicious,
frosty milkshakes fast.
Mark my words, dollars to donuts,
you'll be selling more of those sons-a-bitches
than you can shake a stick at.
You increase the supply, and the demand will follow.
Increase supply, demand follows.
Chicken-egg. Do you follow my logic?
I know you do, because you're a bright forward-thinking guy
who knows a good idea when he hears one.
So, whaddaya say?
- Nah, but thanks anyways.
Order's up.
- Miss? How much longer?
- Should be a few more minutes. - You said that 20 minutes ago.
- I'm so sorry, we're really busy today.
See, it only stands to reason here, Bud,
if you increase supply, demand will follow.
Chicken and the egg. Do you follow my logic?
Of course you do, you're a bright forward-thinking guy
who knows a good idea when he hears one.
So?
What do you say?
Here we go.
- What is...? - Enjoy.
- I ordered the barbeque beef!
There's a lot of good leads, real-real strong leads.
Yeah. What?
Nothing. That's wonderful.
- Well, I mean, there's just tremendous interest.
- I'm sure there is.
- You sound like you don't believe me.
- Of course, Ray. Why wouldn't I?
- All right. I've got a lot of paperwork to do here.
So ahh... I'll... I'll call you from the road tomorrow.
- Okay.
- All right. Goodnight.
Persistence.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent won't; nothing is more common
than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius won't;
unrewarded genius is practically a cliché.
Education won't; the world is full of educated fools.
Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.
Show that you don't have to be defeated by anything.
That you can have peace of mind, improved health
and a never ceasing flow of energy.
If you attempt each and every day to achieve these things,
the results will make themselves obvious to you.
While it may sound like a magical notion,
it is in you to create your own future.
The greatest discovery of my generation
is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering their attitudes of mind.
Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson declared,
"A man is what he thinks about all day long."
Prince Castle Sales, how can I help you?
- Hi, June.
- Ray, how's it going down there?
- Good, swell, lot of interest.
- Hold on, let me fetch your messages.
Let's see, Gene Rafferty
from United Aluminum
needs to reschedule Friday.
Ed Nance calling about the refund.
Sloan and Sons, they called again,
we're sixty days past due.
A lady from the March of Dimes, oh...
We got an order, six mixers.
- Six? - Mm-hmm.
Some drive-in out in California.
- Same place, one place. No that's... that's impossible.
- I've got the slip right here.
- No, I'm sure you misunderstood.
You know what? Give me the number.
- You got a pen? - Okay.
All right.
- Hello, McDonald's. - Hello, good afternoon.
May I please speak with the owner.
- Which one? - I'm sorry?
- Dick or Mac?
- Ahh, whichever one's available, I guess.
- Order up! I need six fries!
- Patties up! - This is Dick.
- Hello, Dick, this is Ray Kroc from Prince Castle Sales.
The reason I'm calling is someone placed an order...
- Yes. Yes, that was me.
How soon can you get them out here?
- Well, that's actually why I'm phoning now, Dick.
I think there might have been some kind of miscommunication...
- Freezer! Top shelf! Left side! Sorry.
- No problem.
My secretary's under the impression that you wanted six?
- Yeah, you know, I think that was a mistake.
- Well, that's what I figured. I mean, what kind of drive-in
can make 30 milkshakes at a time.
- Better make it eight. - What's that, Al?
- There's a brand new box...
- Look, now isn't the best time.
- Yeah, I'm sorry. I understand. I'm still a little bit...
- You know where to send them? San Bernardino, California.
- Yeah. - Corner of 14th and E.
- Hold on a minute. To anyone in particular?
- Just the store is fine. McDonald's. Okay. Thanks a lot.
- Yeah.
- Don't worry, it moves fast.
- Really?
Welcome to McDonald's.
May I take your order? - Here you go.
French Fries?
You guys have a great day.
Hi, welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?
- Yeah, give me a hamburger, French fries and a Coca-Cola.
- That'll be.35 cents, please. - All right.
Fifteen cents is your change.
Here you are.
- What's this? - Your food.
- No, no, no. I just ordered.
- And now it's here.
- You sure?
All right.
Where are the umm...
you know, the silverware and plates and everything?
- You just eat it straight out of the wrapper,
then you throw it all out.
- All right.
Really?
Okay.
Where do I eat it?
- In your car.
At the park.
At home. Wherever you'd like.
- Okay. Okay. Okay, thanks.
- May we join you? - Huh? Yeah. Sure.
Thank you. Have a seat.
Just throw it right there and I'll sweep it up.
How is everything?
- This might be the best hamburger
I've ever had in my life. - Well, we aim to please.
Mac McDonald.
- Oh! Well, look at this... Ray Kroc.
- The Multi-Mixer fella. You spoke with my brother, Dick.
- I did yeah, yeah.
- What are you doing way out here?
I'm in Los Angeles, business meetings.
I thought I'm in the neighborhood,
I should just swing by and say hello.
- Well, I'm sure glad you did.
- This whole thing. This is some operation.
- Care for a little tour?
- Of the...? - Yeah.
- Yeah, I would.
- Well, then finish up, I'll come back for you.
- Alrighty. Thanks.
May I take your order?
Two soft drinks and two fries.
Anything else for you, sir?
- Speed, that's the name of the game.
The first stop for every McDonald's hamburger
is the grill. Manned by two cooks
whose sole job is to grill those all-beef beauties to perfection.
Meanwhile, as the patty cooks, our dressers get the buns ready.
Watch out. Burger crossing.
- Burger crossing! - Burger crossing!
- Every McDonald's burger has two pickles.
A pinch of onions and a precise shot of ketchup and mustard.
- Now where'd you get those? - We made them.
- Made them! - Yeah, custom built.
The whole kitchen is. Next is the finishing station
where we put the whole thing together.
And...
Voila, a fresh delicious burger from grill to counter
in 30 seconds.
- How the heck did you come up with this?
- Oh I didn't. We did. Dick McDonald, my brother.
- Hi. I gotta tell you, this is the most...
Well, it's nice to meet you.
- The fries. - What about them?
- They're five percent too crisp.
- No, they're perfect.
- I think we should drop to two minutes, fifty seconds.
- Wasn't that what we were at before?
- 400, not 375. Higher temp, shorter cook.
- I think they're spot on. - Excuse me, may I?
None of my beeswax, but I'm with the big fella here.
I loved them. Golden brown on the outside.
Fluffy white inside.
And they're not too oily, salty, crunchy.
Who are you?
- Oh, this is Ray Kroc. The multi-mixer fella you spoke to.
- When do you figure we can expect them?
- Umm, sent them blue-label air...
- Good-good. - Hey, wait, wait.
Wait.
Wait a minute. I'm going to take you out to dinner.
- You're really not my type.
You and your brother.
- What for?
- This is the most remarkable restaurant I've seen in all my
years in the food service industry.
And I've seen it all.
I wanna hear your story.
Well, we were young and hungry.
There wasn't a job to be had in all of New Hampshire.
So we decided to pack our bags and head west.
To Hollywood. I wanted to be in the movie business.
And Dick, well, he wanted to be...
- Employed.
- So we landed jobs at Columbia Pictures driving trucks. - Huh.
And after a few years, we had enough saved
to buy our own little piece of showbiz.
A beautiful little movie theater in Glendora.
Which would have been swell. Except for the timing.
It was September of '29.
One minute we're screening the Gold Diggers of Broadway,
and next it's, "Brother can you spare a dime?"
- I couldn't.
- Nobody in town was making any money,
except for one fella, Wylie Reid.
Had a hot dog and root beer stand.
Hey people still gotta eat, right?
So we decide to open up our own little stand,
hot dogs and orange juice, in Arcadia.
And it went okay. I mean we weren't going gang-busters.
There just weren't enough people in Arcadia.
Meanwhile, one town over is San Bernardino
and we want to relocate, but we got no money for a new stand.
And that's when my brother here
comes up with one of his brilliant ideas. Tell him, Dick.
- Well...
- He says, why don't we move the stand we've got.
Put it on a truck. Genius, right.
Only there's one little problem.
On the road between the two towns, there's an overpass.
And the building won't clear.
Now I figure that's it, we're done for.
But then Dick says, "Why don't we saw the building in half?"
- Saw it in half...
- Come on.
- So we've moved the restaurant we're setting up shop.
But now we want to do a few tweaks,
because now it's 1940.
And drive-ins are all the rage.
I mean, they are the hottest thing going,
and I say, "Dick we gotta get in on this."
And Dick says... - "Okay".
And two months later we open for business...
McDonald's Famous Barbecue.
27 item menu.
Uniformed waitresses bring your food right to the car.
And it goes gang-busters. We're going great guns.
But then sales start to level off.
- The drive-in model as we learned,
- has a few built-in problems. - Tell me about it.
For starters, there's the customer issue.
Drive-in's tend to attract, shall we say,
a less than desirable clientele.
- Teenagers. - Hot rodders and hooligans.
Juvenile delinquents in blue jeans.
And then there's the service.
It takes forever and a day for your food to arrive.
- And when it finally does... - It's usually wrong.
- Yeah. The Carhops are too busy dodging gropes to remember
that you wanted strawberry phosphate, not cherry.
- Well, that's if they remember at all.
- And then, there's the expenses.
The huge payroll.
Due to the large staff required.
Dishes constantly getting broken or stolen.
- Tremendous overhead.
- So one day, Dick has a realization.
He sees that the bulk of our sales
are only in three items.
Hamburgers. French fries. Soft drinks.
Eighty-seven percent.
- So we say to ourselves let's focus on what sells.
And that's exactly what we do.
Brisket gone. Tamales gone.
But we don't stop there. We look at everything.
- What else don't we need? - Turns out quite a lot.
- Carhops.
Walk up to a window, get the food yourself.
- Dishes... - All paper packaging.
- Disposable. - Cigarette machines, jukeboxes.
- Drive out the riff-raff.
- Creating a family friendly environment here.
- But that's not enough. - All right.
See, our whole lives we'd piggybacked
off other people's ideas.
We wanted something that wasn't just different.
It had to be better. It needed to be ours.
And that's what brings us to the biggest cut of all.
- Which was?
- The wait. - Orders ready in 30 seconds.
- Not 30 minutes. Mecca.
- We looked at each other one night.
- You thinking what I'm thinking?
- We're going to have to tear down, rebuild.
Reconfigure. Rethink the whole dang thing.
- We're talking about shutting down
a thriving business for months.
- People are going to think we're crazy.
- We were crazy.
- And you are going to love how we did it.
Dick, you gotta tell him.
- The tennis court?
- He brings me out to this tennis court.
And he's drawn this line,
the exact dimensions of our kitchen.
Sink on the right. Extruder on the left.
- Extruder. - Bagging and hood.
- Hood. - Garnish-garnish.
- This is burger finish. - Got it.
- And this is burger slide.
We could just move those.
- Okay. - Multi-mixer, soft drinks.
- We bring out our whole staff and we have them go through
the motions, making pretend burgers and fries.
All right, Steve, anticipate that.
You gotta keep the tray level.
- And Dick is running around with this stick
marking where all the equipment should be.
- Tuck in. Tony are you going to skip the pickles
when we're really doing it?
- They do it over and over, hashing it out.
Choreographing it like some crazy burger ballet.
What's going on over there?
- Yes!
No!
Everybody stop! Stop!
Garnish one. Garnish two.
You've got pickles, you've got onions.
It's a goddamn hamburger.
- Come on, clear off. - Let's clear off.
It's time for the pink chalk.
And then root beer, orange.
See all this open space here now?
We've rearranged the fry situation.
So now it's stage left. The deep fryer stage right.
Begin! That's great.
- Come on, guys. - We're pretty tied up here.
- Watch out, it's the timing of the Lazy-Susan.
Those are finished burgers. You can't...
Hold it.
I-I still think there's a third version.
- What do you want to move? - I want to move everything.
Back to stage left, please.
We got it all drawn.
This is better.
- Is that all right?
I think so.
I guess... I guess... Let's assume our battle stations.
Okay. Okay.
Finally, after about six hours of this,
we get it just right.
It's a symphony of efficiency. Not a wasted motion.
Good form, Jasper.
You feel good about those pickles!
Ketchup!
Use your Lazy-Susan.
Put your back into it, Seth!
And pickles and pickle and mustard!
We take the layout to a builder,
custom build the kitchen to our exact specs.
- Tada! The Speedee System is born.
The world's first-ever system to deliver food fast.
It's totally revolutionary.
- And a complete disaster. - Why?
Opening day, cars pull up onto the lot
and they start honking immediately
because no carhop comes up.
You place your order!
- We try to explain to them the walk-up window.
And they are bewildered. Now they're furious.
What do you mean I gotta get out of my car?
Most of them just cuss us out and drive off.
And the few that stay are mad as heck
because they're eating off paper
and they gotta discard their own trash.
- Why? - You're doing great.
Yeah, we won't be coming out to the car,
but you can come on up.
Welcome to McDonald's!
We may have underestimated the learning curve.
- So by five o'clock Dick is calculating how much it's going
to cost to go back to drive-in.
But I am not ready to throw in the towel.
I go back to our old Hollywood days,
I think to myself, we gotta go big with this.
We gotta put on a show.
So I say, "Dick, I wanna throw a grand re-opening.
A gala premiere that would put Louis B. Mayer to shame."
So we rent a bunch of spotlights.
Same ones we used to haul around in the Columbia days.
We get sparklers, a juggler for the kiddies.
It is an event, people show up in droves.
- And then... - The flies.
They must've been drawn by all the lights.
Millions of them. It was like a scene outta Exodus.
The Pharaoh would've released the Israelites.
Total disaster.
Now it is towel time.
The next day, Dick and I meet up
to discuss going back to the old format.
And as we're talking there's a knock at the service window.
- I tell him we're closed.
- We're closed. - But he looks so cute.
Hang on. Hang on. What would you like, Son?
- Can I buy a bag of burgers from you?
- Three? - Yes, please.
And I feel bad, so I fire up the grill
and I make him a batch.
There you are.
As he's walking away from the service window a car pulls up.
And then another.
Dick?
And then another.
- Hello, welcome to McDonald's. - Hello there.
Pretty soon there's a line around the block.
- The word has spread. - And it's off to the races.
And we are an overnight sensation
30 years in the making.
So that's our story.
- Franchise!
- Beg your pardon? - Franchise!
Franchise the damn thing!
It's too damn good for just one location.
There should be McDonald's everywhere.
Coast to coast. Sea to shining sea.
- Mr. Kroc... - Hey, you know I...
I got a confession I want to make to you boys.
I'm not out here in California
for any kind of business meetings.
I came out here for you.
A few days ago, I got into St. Louis, Missouri.
And I was doing some business, and I broke out my map.
And I followed my finger on one single highway west.
Route 66.
- Mr. Kroc... - And something told me.
Something told me to get into my car and drive that highway.
And you know where it led me? Right here.
Right smack dab here.
Right to this unbelievable establishment.
And when I saw these lines and your whole operation,
and tasted your product, I knew what needed to happen.
Franchise. Franchise!
Franchise! Franchise! Franchise!
- We already tried.
Five. Three in Southern California. One in Sacramento.
And one in Phoenix.
And that's all there will ever be.
- Why? - Two-words.
Quality control.
It's almost impossible to enforce standards from afar.
Places were a mess, filthy kitchens,
inconsistent menus.
- Sacramento was selling burritos.
- To watch your precious creation
be mismanaged like that...
Your name... - Put Mac in the hospital.
- Well...
So you put somebody in charge to supervise them.
- We did. - So what happened?
- He obviously didn't do a great job.
- So you hire somebody else, get somebody better.
- Our energies are better spent making this place
the best it can possibly be.
- It's better to have one great restaurant
- than fifty mediocre ones. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I still think if you hire the right guy...
- Ray, we're not interested.
- Look, I think you boys are missing something here that is...
I tell ya, you got something here.
What is that?
- A concept. - Huh.
What are those?
It's a way to make the place stand out
when you're driving by.
- The "Golden Arches", I call them.
- The Golden Arches.
Who thought of that?
- Oh, that's some pure Dick magic right there.
- Did you ever build one like that?
- Just one.
Phoenix.
Ethel!
In here.
- Oh boy, I saw a restaurant,
I've never seen a restaurant like this in my life.
They've got this fully automated system.
It's called the Speedee System. - Mm-hmm.
- Which is a good name for it, 'cause man it is speedy.
I'm telling you it's like something sprung from the mind
of Henry Ford or something.
- It's revolutionary? - It's revolutionary.
Exactly what it is, it's revolutionary.
- And you want to invest in it? - I don't know. I don't know.
I'm not sure yet. But I just know I want to be part of it.
- Boy... - So here we go.
What do you mean by that?
- Wax cups, Fold-a-Nooks, multi-mixers.
A new idea to chase.
- Those things put a roof over our heads.
- At least over mine.
- What do you mean over yours?
Over "our" heads.
- It's a good roof, Ray. It's a good house.
It's a good life, if you weren't too busy to live it.
We could go to the club, more than twice a year.
Christ, just take a walk around the block together.
Isn't it time to enjoy a little and stop chasing your tail?
When's enough going to be enough for you?
- Honestly?
Probably never.
Why should I settle when other men won't?
- I don't know, Ray.
- Maybe if I had a wife with an ounce of vision.
Showed me an ounce of support.
Sorry. Wrong word.
- I've done nothing but support you!
- Look, I'm sorry.
- No. Ups, downs.
Dwindling savings, your schemes. - You're right.
Are you familiar with the concept of the chicken
and the egg, Mr. Johnson?
Because I think that's applicable here.
- Hey, Dick.
- What is it with this guy?
- Do it for your country! - What?
- If you boys don't want to franchise for yourselves,
that's fine. Do it for your country.
Do it for America.
You know I've drove through a lot of towns.
A lot of small towns.
And they all had two things in common.
They had a courthouse and they had a church.
On top of the church you got a cross,
and on top of the courthouse, they'd have a flag.
Flags, crosses.
Crosses, flags.
Driving around, I just cannot stop thinking about this
tremendous restaurant.
Now at the risk of sounding blasphemous,
forgive me, those arches have a lot in common
with those buildings.
A building with a cross on top of it.
What is that? It's a gathering place where decent wholesome
people come together and they share values
protected by that American flag.
It could be said that beautiful building flanked by those arches
signifies more or less the same thing.
It doesn't just say delicious hamburgers inside.
They signify family. It signifies community.
It's a place where American's come together to break bread.
I am telling you,
McDonald's can be the new American church.
Feeding bodies and feeding souls
and it ain't just open on Sundays, boys.
It's open seven-days a week.
Crosses.
Flags.
Arches.
- Give us a minute, Ray.
- Sure.
- I don't know.
- This is your dream, it's bigger than your dream.
Arches. Your arches. Coast to coast.
- I can't put you through that again.
- I know how bad you want this. And you should have it.
- Your diabetes. Last time...
- We'll do things differently. Learn from our mistakes.
- How so?
- Keep a tighter leash on everything. Complete oversight.
Every change goes through us.
- Who says he's going to listen?
- We'll make him listen.
We'll draw up a contact.
Clear as day, black and white.
- Fine.
Fine.
- Let's get to work, boys. - What's the first step?
- Just leave that to me.
We are a dynamic-fast growing company.
And we're poised to make major inroads nationally.
So in addition to giving us a real strong foothold right here
in the Midwest, the Des Plaines location would serve as kind of
a lure for other franchises if you will.
- What are those?
- What are... - Those?
- Let me see. Oh, those. Yeah.
That's just my little way of separating us
from the rest of the pack.
You like 'em?
I call them the Golden Arches.
- You look familiar. Have we met before?
- I don't think so.
I think I would have remembered that.
Peruse the inside here if you don't mind.
- Take a look at the, read that. - Yeah.
- The Fold-a-Nook.
It's like a Murphy Bed, for your kitchen.
Huh?
- Take a look at the blueprints we got.
We had those done locally.
- I never forget a face.
- Unique. Original. Totally innovative.
There's nothing like this.
Nothing in the entire food service sector.
- Nice brochure, professionally done.
Have we met?
The paper cup guy.
- Yeah. That was a long time ago.
That was a long time ago.
What do you think?
- I don't know.
- There's...
Look...
I'm gonna level with ya.
I need this one.
You think, uh...
Is there anything you can do to help me out?
- I'll tell you what, let me refer you
to one of my colleagues.
Somebody who may be better suited to meet your needs.
- Thank you.
- Ray Kroc.
Address...
- 143 Juniper Road,
Arlington Heights, Illinois.
- Home telephone number?
- Ahh, use my office telephone number,
that's the best place to reach me.
- All right.
Of course we'll need an appraisal on your home
before we can issue funds.
- Be right.
Just be right one time.
One time.
June, did you schedule the stakeout with the engineer?
All set.
- What about the fire department?
Did you get the approval for the driveway design?
- Left a message with them yesterday.
- Excavation permits?
- I'm meeting with them today.
- All right.
Hey, what's going on with San Bernardino, by the way?
- I just spoke to Dick, he says they're working on it.
- They're working on it?
- That's what he said.
- Ray Kroc on the line.
- Hiya, Ray. - Boy, you boys are killing me.
What's the hold up?
I break ground in two weeks.
- These things take time.
You're proposing substantial alterations.
- I'm adding a basement and a furnace, that's all.
- We need our architect to thoroughly review it
and make sure everything is safe and up to code.
- Fine. Has he seen it yet, has he taken a look at it?
- I'm not sure to be honest.
- I've got bulldozers rolling up on the 23rd.
- I'm not the one who scheduled that, Ray.
- I need you to take a breath. - Take a breath?
Do you realize what it's going to cost me if I have to push?
- Hopefully, it won't come to that.
- Every restaurant in the Midwest
has a basement and a furnace.
- This is standard stuff. - I understand.
But it's our name on that building.
God forbid the floor caves in and people get hurt or worse
because of some design flaw we missed.
Let's just slow down a minute and make sure it's done right.
- So much for the Speedee System, huh?
- Did he just hang up on you? - Yes.
Unless we got violently disconnected.
- Okay.
It'll be fine.
- Where's the... Where's the front of the apron?
- Show me. - All right.
Just make sure the windows are big enough so the customers
can look into the restaurant. All the way to the kitchen.
Doesn't look right. Let me see this.
- Ray. - What?
- We got a letter from San Bernardino.
- Read it to me.
- Dear Ray. Thank you for your letter sharing your idea
to strike a deal with Coca-Cola to sponsor menu boards
at the new Des Plaines location.
An intriguing notion, indeed.
As you rightly point out, such an arrangement would provide
a steady source of revenue to the store
at no additional labor cost.
- However... - However? However, what?
- However, this is a concept
that goes beyond our core beliefs.
McDonald's was founded with the idea of families
and not strict commerce.
- Sons of bitches, they don't know what the hell...
- And so on and so on...
Here you go, gentlemen. Back to work.
- Let me explain.
It'll be real small, along the bottom. Very discreet.
- We're just not comfortable with the notion
of turning our menu into an advertisement.
- See it's not an ad, it's sponsorship.
- It's distasteful. - It's free money!
- There are plenty of things we could do to make a quick buck,
- that doesn't mean we should. - Loads of restaurants do it!
- Well, we don't. - Why not?
- Cause I have no interest in indulging
in that sort of crass commercialism.
It's not McDonald's.
- I didn't realize I was partnering with a beatnik.
- I'll have you know I'm a card-carrying Republican.
- Yeah, well you coulda fooled me.
- He hung up again.
- He's just... He's just a little excitable, that's all.
- A hot head like that, you don't know what he's capable of.
- It's all bluster, Dick. His bark is worse than his bite.
- That's what Neville Chamberlain said.
- He'll relax.
Give him some time.
- What are you doing? Come on.
There's time to lean, there's time to clean. Let's go.
Put the hat on straight.
400 degrees, right?
That'a boy, way to work.
Nice.
Hey, hey, hey. There's one pickle on there.
Two pickles on all the buns. Two pickles on all of them.
Don't... don't... Look, watch. Flip 'em like that.
You already turned them over and press them one time.
And that one's too pink. All right.
And you...
Get... these...
That's pretty damn good.
- What's your name? - Fred Turner, sir.
- Nice work. Fred Turner.
Fred Turner.
It's such a delicate subject
that I... I just don't know how to say it.
Kind of a... I don't know how to say it.
Now, look, Mary.
You called me, you rushed over to gab.
Now, what is it you want to say?
Well, Jack...
- I'm sorry.
I know I've been neglecting you.
What do you say tomorrow we go to supper at the club?
- Really?
- Really.
Well, look what the cat dragged in.
Hello, everyone.
Hi there. Hi. Hey... How are ya?
- Evening, stranger. - Good to see you.
- Linda Ballen was just there, she adored it.
- This is on the left side of the 14th fairway.
- No, use your three-wood.
- Hmm, three-wood. - Hit it clean.
- I hear Acapulco is divine.
- Where do you like, Ethel?
- Umm, Spain.
- Spain? - Wonderful.
- Wow. How was it?
- Oh no, I mean, I'm thinking about it.
- Oh, you haven't been.
- Well, we're dreaming of a trip, right?
- Great, yeah.
- How's your game, Ray? - Lately?
- Non-existent. - I'm no Ben Hogan myself.
- No kidding?
- Haha, yeah. I did hit a hole-in-one of a sort,
recently though.
I came across an really, really interesting business opportunity.
Really interesting.
You boys are gonna want a piece of this.
- Here we go again. - What is it this time, Ray?
- Restaurant.
- New kind of restaurant. - New how?
Restaurant filled with milkshakes and Fold-a-Nooks?
- Fold-a-Nooks.
- Ha-ha. - I'm just joking with you, Ray.
- Hold on, Jack. You should hear him out.
This one's different.
- Well, do tell us more.
- I will.
This is a thing of beauty.
Fully automated kitchen.
Likes of which I've never seen. It's revolutionary.
It's called the Speedee System.
The thing I like about this, it's franchisable.
The first one is already up and running.
Come on over and take a look.
Might make you boys a few dollars.
You don't have to worry about a thing.
We're in charge of everything after.
And all these franchises look exactly the same.
I would have never thought but younger workers are better.
They're hustling, they're ambitious.
Easy as pie.
You just pay the franchise fee, we take care of everything else.
I'll tell you the whole thing.
Close enough, pick it up, Drew.
All right, let's do this.
Got her?
Okay. You'll be real happy there.
- Congratulations. - All right.
- Three new franchises in the last month.
- Well, that's great.
What?
- I don't know.
- What?
- Don't you think maybe, given our experience,
that this is all happening a little too quickly?
If they all pop up at once,
how is he going to maintain standards?
- Son of a bitch.
- Give it a whack, Jack.
- Hey! Look at this. What is this?
Huh? What is that?
- It appears to be a hamburger.
- Not a McDonald's burger it's not.
Look at all that ketchup.
You've got three pickles on there instead of two.
Look at that. Look at that, lettuce.
Really, Jack? Lettuce?
- Can we talk about this another time?
- Look at the patty itself, that is tragically overcooked.
Tragically!
- I don't know, Ray, it looks good to me.
- What the hell do you know about quality?
I was by your restaurant today too.
- Yeah, what about it? - What about it?
You got corn on the cob, you got fried chicken!
- People love fried chicken. - Do they?
Let them go somewhere where they serve fried chicken.
And your kitchen is filthy!
What the hell is the matter with you guys?
- I don't know about you, Ray, but I'm retired.
- You said this would be a good place for us to park our money.
- No, no. - It's an investment!
- If I wanted a job, I would have applied
for a cook position.
- You couldn't get a job as a cook in one of my restaurants.
- Hey!
- What's his problem?
- He's a pain in the ass is what he is.
Right back at ya, Ray.
- Ethel? - In here.
- Hi.
- Ray, hurry and get changed. Dinner is called for seven.
- Yeah, we're not going to the club tonight.
- You canceled our dinner?
- I canceled our membership.
- What?
- Those Roland Green people, they're not really our kind.
- What are you talking about?
- I've lost interest hobnobbing with the idle rich.
- The idle rich?
- Yeah, you know their golf, their Rob Roys.
They're so complacent and content.
- Ray. Please tell me you're joking.
These are our friends.
- No, I know. I know. You know what?
You and I can make a lot of new friends.
It's all right, we'll make new friends.
Friends that are more suitable, for us.
You know?
Don't you think?
You know what? Give me one second.
The garage is driving me crazy.
Can I just go sweep it up and clean it up?
And then put a nice dress on,
I'll take you out for something to eat.
Yeah! Yeah! This is ridiculous!
Might as well go, you're not going to get anything!
- Good job, guys! - Good job!
You look real busy!
Fine, yeah dance, that's a good dance there, buddy.
Good job, do anything but make a hamburger.
Cancel! Cancel my order!
- Just take a gander at this handsome gold inlay.
You're telling me such spectacular craftsmanship
isn't worth $8.95?
- But I'm not interested.
- You're not interested in a Bible
sure to be the pride of your family's home library?
As you no doubt know, June, envy is one of the seven deadly sins.
And that is what your friends and neighbors will be guilty of
when they see this leather-bound beauty on your bookshelf.
- Sir, this is a private place of business.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave.
Thank you for your time.
Prince Castle Sales. Oh, hold on.
Ray. It's Mac. Do you want to take this?
Ahh yeah, tell him I'll call him back.
- Hey, hey. Wait a minute.
What's your name?
- Leonard. Leonard Rosenblatt.
- Rosenblatt? Really?
What's a Jew doing selling Catholic Bibles?
- Making a living.
- I believe in you.
- Tuck that pickle in. These are ready to spin. Smooth...
275...
No salt for 30 seconds, okay? Looking good, fellas!
Looking good! Big smiles!
If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean!
- It's normally ten and under,
but for you I'll make an exception.
Haha!
Love it. Nice.
My new franchisees are great.
He's in the back working in the kitchen.
She's out front, handing suckers out to the little kids.
Husband and wife, side by side.
Like a real team.
It is really something to see.
Wonderful, don't you think, Ethel?
- I suppose it is, yeah. - Yeah.
Like teammates.
I made supper plans for us, Friday.
- I'm guessing you didn't rejoin Roland Green?
- Well no... no. Someplace far better.
- B-5!
- So salty.
I love the salt.
- So what do you do, Art?
- Had a little plumbing business going for a while after getting
out of the service.
Now I sell vacuum cleaners and give piano lessons on the side.
- Wow.
Busy guy. Good for you.
Vacuums, plumping, piano lessons.
You're a jack of all trades.
- Yeah, whatever puts food on the table, right?
- You must be so proud?
- How would you like to do more than
"put a little food on the table"?
Bingo!
- She's excited.
- What'd you have in mind?
- Burger up.
- I'm going to give you three words.
I want you to take those three words home with you tonight.
McDonald's is family.
Isn't that great?
You know what I say when I see that?
Family. We're one big family.
Aren't we?
We've got mouths to feed.
That's a family.
I'm looking for a few good men.
And women! Who aren't afraid of hard work.
Aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves.
Cliché, I know, but I'm looking for scrappers, hustlers.
Guys who are willing to roll up their sleeves.
People with drive.
They got a little fire in the belly.
Got a little chutzpah!
I stand right here before you today and I'm going to offer you
something as precious as gold.
You know what that is? Anybody?
Anybody? Opportunity!
It's opportunity! Opportunity.
Opportunity to advance.
To move forward. To move up, to advance.
To succeed.
To win. To step up. The sky's the limit.
To grab the brass ring!
To give yourself a shot at the American dream!
Put your arms around the American dream!
Opportunity... 'Cause I'll tell you something, at McDonald's...
Just like this great nation of ours,
some of that elbow grease...
I guarantee if you've got the guts,
got the gumption, you've got the desire.
I guarantee ya, you can succeed.
There's gold to be had at the end of those Golden Arches.
Golden Arches. Golden Arches.
Now who's with me? Who wants to jump on that ladder to success?
Become part of the McDonald's mishpucha.
Now who's with me?
Come on, let me see some hands!
- I'll join! - Here!
- There you go. Who else?
McDonald's!
Good, Art, good job!
- Thank you, sir.
- The nerve of this guy!
- What?
- Guess what he's calling his Des Plaines store.
- McDonald's Number one.
- Then... What are we, then?
- Could his head get any bigger?
Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin
our initial descent into Minneapolis-St. Paul.
- Mr. Kroc, welcome to Minneapolis,
wonderful to see ya! Gimme an M!
- M!
- Give me a C!
- C!
- Gimme a D!
- D!
O!
N!
McDonald's!
- Ray, how is it?
- You can't even top that in Chicago.
- Well, we don't mess around up here.
- Boy, my compliments to the chef.
That's wonderful.
- I can do you one better.
- How about the owner? - Sure, why the hell not.
- Rollie?
Rollie.
- Jimmy, great to see ya.
- Rollie, how are ya. - Oh, wonderful.
- Rollie Smith, Ray Kroc.
- Hey. - Real pleasure.
- Boy, I tell ya, you got one helluva restaurant here.
- Well, coming from you that's quite a compliment.
- My reputation precedes me.
- I'm a great admirer. - Well umm... sit down.
- I don't want to interrupt. - Have a seat.
- Well, maybe just a minute.
- This is Fred Turner my associate.
- Welcome.
- Steaks cooked, okay? - Excellent. Perfect.
- Our intention is to ahh...
expand pretty far beyond the Midwest.
We're not going to settle here. We're not gonna...
We're going to expand far beyond the Midwest.
- You've clearly got a warm and loving home here in Minneapolis.
- Yeah, so it seems.
- Yeah, this town just can't get enough of McDonald's.
- Here you go, sir.
- Another Canadian Club for my friend.
- Yes, sir. Coming right up.
Thank you.
In fact, I'd say there's sufficient enthusiasm
to support another.
A second location?
- You know, come to think of it,
I know the perfect person to own and operate.
- You don't say?
- Somebody who knows what it takes
to build a great restaurant.
Someone with more than 20 years experience
in the food service industry.
- Who?
- Me. - You!
Oh! That's a shock.
- He's funny.
I've got the know-how, I've got the backers
and I've got the perfect location.
Are you familiar with Hennepin Avenue?
That's one of the busiest commercial arteries
in the whole Twin-Cities.
There's a prime site that's recently become available.
Full acre on the corner of Hennepin and...
- Mr. Kroc? - Yeah?
- Would you like to meet her?
- Yeah. Sure.
- So Ray, how long are you here with us for,
- in the Twin-Cities. - Huh?
- How long are you in town?
- I... Not sure yet.
- If you gentlemen could steal a second,
I would love to personally give you a tour of this site on
Hennepin that Rollie is talking about.
He knows how to pick 'em.
I mean this place has enough room for the restaurant,
the parking, possibly a playground for the little ones.
- Ray Kroc meet Joan Smith.
My wife.
- Pleasure to meet you. - Pleasure to meet you.
- Well, join us. Have a drink with us.
- I'd love that.
- How are you guys? - Good.
This is Fred Turner...
Madison, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Grand Rapids.
Ahh, we've got the three in the Chicago area.
Oh, Jim's here in Minneapolis.
St. Paul.
- Got one in Dayton, Ohio.
- That's right.
- You must be positively dizzy, Mr. Kroc.
- Please, call me Ray.
- Ray...
- That's some growth.
- Yeah. We're doing good, right Fred?
- Yes, sir.
- Yeah, we're doing good.
- When did you start it?
- Hmm? Sorry?
- What year did you start McDonald's?
- Year?
I started it in 1954.
- Remarkable.
- Yeah.
- Well, I should get back. - Back?
- To my piano. - Oh, of course.
- What's your favorite song?
All-time favorite.
- Pennies from Heaven. - Pennies from Heaven.
- Great gal. - I know.
- I sold pianos for a while.
- Sounds pretty good.
- Sorry.
- Oh yes, yes.
- Will you be expanding beyond this or is this...?
- Oh, no doubt. We'll be everywhere.
- Very exciting.
What is on the menu beyond hamburgers?
- Well, we've got French fries, milkshakes and soft drinks.
- Ray? - Down here!
- I think I've got some people for you.
I met this young couple. Very committed.
They're from Glenview.
High School sweethearts, married for five years and
they're looking for a business they can operate together.
And they seem very excited.
- Yeah, forget that. Everything's changed.
- You want a drink? - No... Changed, how?
Forget the Chicago suburbs. Think bigger.
- Bigger? - I'm not chasing them anymore.
They're chasing me now.
- What is...?
- The trip! The trip I just took.
- The trip. How was it? - Triumphant.
They rolled out the red carpet.
They're kissing this ring.
They're begging for McDonald's.
Here, have a drink.
- That's nice. - Yeah, sure is.
- I'm sure.
Well, then all hail Pope Raymond the First.
- Damn right.
God damn right.
- Ray? - Yeah?
- We have a small problem. - Wait a minute.
How can we be almost out of capital?
Well, your revenue, the monthly cut of the stores.
1.4% of net.
- 1.4? - Yeah.
1.9 minus Dick and Mac's half-percent.
- Mr. McDonald, Ray Kroc's on the line.
Good to see you.
- Hiya, Ray. - I want to renegotiate.
- Renegotiate what?
- My deal. My lousy deal.
1.4 doesn't even cover my monthly nut,
let alone drive expansion.
- Ray, those are the terms.
- It's not good enough. - It's almost triple our cut.
- You should be getting more too then, shouldn't you?
- We are not greedy men.
- Greed has nothing to do with it.
If I had more money to work with,
I could be growing this thing at twice the pace.
- We have no beef with the current rate of expansion.
- I've got nothing, not one location in Pennsylvania.
- Nothing in New York. - All in good time.
- Nothing in Texas. - I have no doubt it will come.
- I'm out here breaking my neck for you guys.
- And you're doing a bang-up job.
- Well, then I should be doing a heck of a lot better
- than just breaking even. - I don't know what to say.
- Say you'll renegotiate. - I can't.
- Can't or won't?
- Upping your cut it would be unfair to the franchisees.
- The franchisees are doing just fine!
I'm the one that's drowning here.
- You freely and willingly agreed
to the terms of your deal, Ray.
Nobody put a gun to your head.
- Four percent? - No.
- Three and a half percent? - Ray...
- What? - No!
- Goddamn it!
- Dick.
Is he a pain in the rear? Yes.
Does he have a few screws loose? You bet.
But that doesn't mean he's going to do us any harm.
- How long are you going to keep this up, Mac?
- Keep up what?
- The whole "everything is fine" act.
There's a wolf in the henhouse.
We let him in!
I never should have listened.
- We have a contract for just this sort of thing, Dick!
- I should have trusted my gut.
- So it's my fault, huh?
Just like the movie theater?
Well, I'm sorry I wanted you to have your dream.
- Ninety-four dollars.
- It's unbelievable what these suckers cost to run.
My Pop used to own an ice cream parlor.
He went belly-up from the refrigeration costs.
- Really?
- A man called today.
Illinois First Federal.
- Did he say what he wanted?
- Why don't you tell me?
- What did he want?
- Ray...
- What?
- Did you mortgage our home?
We could lose everything.
- I specifically said the office is the best place to reach me!
- I tried there, Mr. Kroc. Numerous times.
- You have no right to call me at my home.
It is a blatant invasion of my privacy!
- With all due respect, sir, when you're three months behind
on your payments you don't get to pick and choose
where we contact you.
- Ray?
- Surprise inspection.
- What are you doing here?
- I just came up to see how things are going?
- $12,400.
- That's pretty good haul for month one.
- Could be bigger.
I hate to mix business with pleasure.
- I don't.
- But my expenses.
- What about them?
- Well, they're a bit higher than anticipated.
One thing in particular, that dang walk-in.
That bill is a real whopper.
- I know, it's a problem, all that ice cream.
- I don't want to overstep my bounds here.
But, we may have found a solution.
Or Joan did, actually.
- You don't say?
- What if I told you there was a way all of your owner-operators
can save literally hundreds of dollars a year
in electrical costs?
And reduce the time that it takes to make a milkshake,
by half.
- I'll bite.
- It's a powdered milkshake.
Costs a fraction of ice cream
and there's no refrigeration necessary.
- It contains powdered milk.
Thickening agents and emulsifiers
simulate the texture of ice cream.
Tastes just like the real thing.
- It's easy as pie to make.
You put a packet into a glass of water and stir it.
- I know maybe a tad blasphemous,
what with your dairy background and all.
- Personally, I think it's a marvelous idea.
Chocolate or vanilla?
- Vanilla.
Good things come to those who wait.
What do you think?
- I think I'm drinking a delicious vanilla milkshake.
- May I?
Mmm...
I can't resist.
- So what do you say?
We try it out at our place and then if it goes well...
- You roll it out nationally.
- I could. Yeah. Let me think about it.
- You're the boss.
- McDonald's.
I just found a way to save you, me,
and all the owner-operators literally hundreds of dollars
a year in electrical costs. - And what would that be?
- Two words, powdered milkshake.
I'm telling you I came across
a remarkable product called Inst-A-Mix.
Like I say, it's a powdered milkshake.
It's a fraction of the cost of ice cream
and requires no refrigeration.
- Ray... - I tell ya, I tried it myself,
it tastes just like the real thing.
It's delicious. Comes in chocolate, comes in vanilla.
Me, I'm a vanilla man.
- Ray, we have no interest in a milkshake that contains no milk.
Why don't we add sawdust to the hamburgers while we're at it?
Frozen French fries!
- You don't want to save a bundle?
- Not like that.
- We're talking about the same great taste.
Same great taste while boosting the bottom line.
- It's called a milkshake, Ray!
Real milk, now and forever!
- I understand.
I'm just asking you to extend my line.
- Until you build more equity in your home or pay down the loan,
there's nothing I can do.
- My business is booming.
- Unfortunately, that's immaterial.
- Well, I've got 13 locations in nine states.
- It's a home-equity loan. - Then give me a business loan.
- These thirteen locations, you own them?
- Me personally? - It's your business, correct?
- You own it? - I'm the head of franchising.
I'm the one behind this growth.
Well, that's all well and good, but you need assets.
- Have you been to a McDonald's?
Because we've got three right here in the Chicago land area.
You should come by and take a look.
No, I would love to give you a tour to give you a better sense
- of what I'm talking about. - Thank you.
- Mr. Kroc?
- Can I help you?
- No, but perhaps I can help you.
Harry Sonneborn, nice to meet you.
- No, thanks, we're very happy with our current supplier.
- I'm not here to sell you ice cream.
- What the hell do you want?
- I caught a bit of your conversation back there,
sounds like you're having financial troubles.
- Why don't you mind your own business?
- I'm a great admirer of your establishment.
- Thank you.
- I eat lunch at your Waukegan location at least twice a week.
Always a fantastic crowd.
- Your point being...
- Mr. Kroc, if you're not making money hand over fist,
something is terribly wrong.
- June, grab the ledger, would you?
Come on in the office, Harry.
- So to summarize...
you have a minuscule revenue stream.
No cash reserves.
And an albatross of a contract that requires you to go through
a slow approval process to enact changes
if they're approved at all.
Which they never are.
- Am I missing anything? - That about sums it up.
- Tell me about the land.
- The... land?
- The land, the buildings, how that whole aspect of it works.
- Oh, pretty simple really.
Franchisee finds a piece of land he likes.
Gets a lease, usually 20 years.
Takes out a construction loan,
throws up a building and off he goes.
- So the operator selects the site.
- Yeah. - He picks the property?
- Right.
- You provide the training, the system,
the operational know-how, and he's responsible for the rest?
- Is there a problem? - A big one.
You don't seem to realize what business you're in.
You're not in the burger business.
You're in the real estate business.
You don't build an empire off a 1.4 percent cut
of a 15-cent hamburger.
You build it by owning the land
upon which that burger is cooked.
What you ought to be doing is buying up plots of land then
turning around and leasing said plots to franchisees
who as a condition of their deal,
should be permitted to lease from you and you alone.
This will provide you with two things.
One, a steady, up-front revenue stream.
Money flows in before the first stake is in the ground.
Two, greater capital for expansion.
Which in turn fuels further land acquisition,
which in turn fuels further expansion and so on and so on.
Land.
That's where the money is. And more than that, control.
Control over the franchisee.
Fail to uphold quality standards,
you cancel their lease.
Control over Dick and Mac.
End result, you'll have the banks and the franchisees
in the palm of your hand.
- If I were to do this, the brothers,
they'd effectively would be...
- Yes.
So, whaddaya say, Ray?
We'll need backing. I've arranged meetings
with investors and financial institutions.
We're in the center of the town
which is the only over-saturated aspect.
We should do well in this area because...
Has anyone here ever eaten at a McDonald's?
Operation growth is going to enable us to expand.
Franchise Realty Corporation how may I...?
They seem exaggerated but they're fully supported
by the numericals.
In fact, we erred on the side of caution.
- He's being conservative. Mine, based on gut,
and my gut tells me those numbers are low.
McDonald's is growing quick as a hiccup.
- I'm Harry Sonneborn this is...
Hurry on over to McDonald's,
now serving family communities from coast to coast.
You're probably only minutes away
from America's favorite restaurant.
McDonald's fast service is the perfect answer for parties.
Birthday lunches!
And family meals anytime.
With no fuss or dishes to do.
It's America's greatest food value.
No wonder you see so many of your neighbors there.
If you want home quality cooking without the home work,
try McDonald's.
Look for the Golden Arches at McDonald's.
The closest thing to home.
- Have you heard of the Franchise Realty Corporation?
- What is it?
- I have no clue, apparently Ray Kroc is President and CEO.
- Hiya, Dick, how ya doing?
- Well, if you really want to know I'm a tad miffed.
- Why? What seems to be the problem?
- Franchise Realty Corporation.
- What about it?
- For starters, would you mind telling me what it is?
- Oh, nothing really.
Just a little something I created to help provide leasing
services, you know, lend support to our new franchisees.
- You know full well you can't do something like that
without first clearing it.
- Now, why would I need to do that?
- Because as your deal plainly states,
any and all changes must be agreed to in writing.
- Except it's not a change.
- Excuse me?
- It's not a change. It's a company.
It's its own separate company.
Which puts it outside your purview.
- Anything relating to McDonald's
is within our purview.
- Let me explain something to you, Dick.
You boys have full say over what goes on inside the restaurants.
But outside? Above? Below?
Your authority stops at the door.
And at the floor.
All right?
- What's he saying?
- He's buying the land...
- Our land?
- ... on the map.
Make sure to get this, you wanna get all pins in.
Make sure you see the pins.
- Oh that's great. Beautiful.
- How about one at the desk?
- Yeah. Do one at the desk.
on your throne.
- Make sure you get that in focus.
- Big smile. Good. Good, good, good.
- Delivery!
- Where do you want these?
- Ray!
- I thought it over.
Approved.
- Really?
- Thank you! - No, thank you.
It's a wiz-bang idea and you're the one who thought of it.
- Well we're deeply honored to serve as your test market.
- The hell with that. I'm going to roll this out nationally.
Hey, have you seen the latest copy of RBM?
Hot off the press.
- Oh, Ray, good for you.
It's about ten miles south of downtown.
They're building a brand-new sports stadium there.
- Yeah, Bloomington, I read about it.
- We're getting a professional baseball and football team.
They'll both be playing there.
- I think I know where you're headed with this.
- A 40,000 seat stadium, just a stone's throw away.
Imagine the foot traffic.
- Hungry families looking for a bite to eat after the game.
- Or before, whenever.
- Exactly.
Yeah.
You think big, don't you Joan?
- Is there any other way to?
- Well, you'd be surprised.
A lot of people are afraid of taking a chance to,
you know, reach for greatness.
- That's so sad.
- Yeah, I agree.
Ambition, that's the stuff of life.
- What is that saying?
Fortune favors the bold.
- Absolutely.
- Just look at you.
- You calling me bold, Joan?
- You don't build a restaurant empire
acting like a timid little mouse.
That's a fast growing area.
And cheaper, you're talking fifteen percent less per acre.
- Yeah, I still think Houston's a better location.
- Ray. - Yeah?
- Dick's on line one. - Now...
- Hiya, Dick.
- I just received a very disconcerting call.
- Oh?
- From Buddy Jepsen. Our operator in Sacramento.
- I'm very aware of who Buddy Jepsen is.
- He told me he received a shipment this morning.
- Oh, it arrived.
- You are way out of line, Ray.
- Gee, I didn't expect that
to get there until Friday at the earliest.
- Do you mind telling me what you're doing
shipping four cases
of Inst-A-Mix to one of our operators?
- Look, if you don't want to make a profit, that's fine.
But don't stop the rest of us.
- Us? - Us.
As in everyone but you.
- Who did you send them to?
- Everyone but you.
- You have no right, you are to stop this instant.
Is that clear?
- Nah.
- What the hell does that mean! Nah!
- You will abide by the terms of your deal!
- I am through taking marching orders from you.
You and your endless parade of nos.
Constantly cowering in the face of progress.
- If phony powdered milkshakes is your idea of progress,
you have a profound misunderstanding of what
McDonald's is about!
- I have a far greater understanding of McDonald's
than you two yokels.
- What? You will do as we say.
- Nope.
- You have a contract!
- You know, contracts are like hearts.
They're made to be broken.
- Could you please pass the salt?
Thank you.
- I want a divorce.
When quietly trying to settle a divorce,
the first thing to ask is, what will she want?
And is her request reasonable and equitable,
in terms of marital property.
There's a house, a car,
savings and checking accounts, insurance.
- Just give it to her. House, car, insurance.
- What about the business?
- Nope.
- Ray, you have to understand, she's...
- Let me explain something to you.
That's never going to happen.
I would sooner die,
than give her one share of stock in McDonald's.
- It's not so simple.
The brothers are your business partners.
You signed this contract.
- Make it go away.
And I don't care what it takes.
- It's going to cost you.
I'm looking at a letterhead
with the name McDonald's on it.
You care to explain?
- It was confusing, people didn't even know
it had anything to do with McDonald's.
- What's confusing is you calling yourself
the McDonald's Corporation.
People will think it's the whole company,
not just the real estate arm
which we strongly suspect is what you hope.
- You put Dick's Arches on your letterhead?
This is not your company, Ray!
- Mac... - Do you understand that!
- Mac, don't get upset.
- We came up with the Speedee System, not you!
Us! What have you ever come up with!
Can you name one thing? You can't!
And you never have and you never will.
Because you are a leech, Ray. You are a professional leech!
- You know what I came up with, Mac? A concept.
I came up with the concept of winning.
- Let me talk to him.
- While you two boys were content
to sit back and be a couple of also-rans.
I'm going to take the future. I wanna win.
And you don't get there by being some aw-shucks, nice-guy sap.
There's no place in business for people like that.
Business is war.
It's dog eat dog, rat eat rat.
If my competitor were drowning,
I'd walk over and I'd put a hose right in his mouth.
Can you say the same?
- I can't, nor would I want to.
- Hence your single location.
- We want you out of this company, Ray!
- Mac, how do you propose you do that.
- We will sue you, whatever it takes!
- And you'd probably win. But you can't afford to sue me.
I'd bury you in court costs alone.
Mac, I'm the President and CEO
of a major corporation with land holdings in 17 states.
You run a burger stand in the desert.
I'm national.
You're fucking local.
- He's national...
- Mac!
- Are you following your eating plan?
- Yes.
- And you're checking your glucose levels?
Are you taking your medication on a consistent basis?
- Yes.
- Regular walks, 20 minutes a day.
- I'm on my feet all day.
- Any stress?
- Okay.
You need to watch that, it's a big contributing factor.
So as I said, your kidney function
is currently at 50 percent.
18 months ago, it was 65.
Any lower, and you're at serious risk for kidney failure.
Okay, I'm going to check on you later.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
William who rode with Revere?
- How many letters?
- Five. Fourth letter, E.
- Dawes.
Come in.
- How ya feelin'?
That must've been some spill. I felt it through the phone.
Here, I brought ya...
I brought ya some...
I'll set it right here.
Dick. There's a card in there.
Go ahead.
- That's okay. - Here. Just...
I think you'll be happy.
- What's this?
- What's it look like?
- A blank check.
- Then that's ahh...
that's probably what it is.
- What are you buying?
- Okay.
You get better, you'll be up on your feet in no time.
And we'll talk.
All right. Dick.
- We will never beat him.
We will never be rid of him.
- Dick McDonald on the line.
- Hello, Dick.
2. 7 Million.
It's a million for each of us after taxes.
And one percent of the company's profits in perpetuity.
- That's outrageous! That's borderline extortion!
That's a bunch of bullshit! Bullshit!
- I know it seems like a lot now...
- Yeah, that seems like a lot of money anytime.
- And they want one other thing. - What?
- San Bernardino. - Uh-uh. No way.
- To give to their longtime employees as a gift.
- I need the profits from San Bernardino
in order to pay off the purchase loan.
- I've spoken at length about it with their lawyers.
It's unfortunately, non-negotiable.
Our client agrees fully with your conditions of sale,
with one exception.
Your one percent cut of future corporate earnings will have to
be carried out on a handshake basis.
- It's my investor group.
The financing is contingent on leaving that out of the
contract, and unfortunately, this deal just doesn't happen,
it doesn't get financed unless you leave that
out of the contract. Because unfortunately, that's...
that's a deal breaker for them.
Look fellas, you'll get your full royalties. All right?
You've got my word on that. Dick, Mac.
Let's make a deal.
All right.
- All right, gentlemen,
if you would turn to page four of your contract.
That's the first set of signatures to go over.
- I just have to ask you one thing.
Something I've never understood.
- All right.
- That day we met, we gave you the tour.
- Uh-huh. What about it?
- We showed you everything.
The whole system, all our secrets.
We were an open book.
So why didn't you just...
- Steal it?
Just grab your ideas, run off, start my own business
using all those ideas of yours. Would have failed.
- How do you know?
- Am I the only one who got the kitchen tour?
You must've invited lots of people back there.
- And?
- How many of them succeed?
- Lots of people started restaurants.
- As big as McDonald's?
Of course not.
No one ever has and no one ever will.
Because they all lack that one thing
that makes McDonald's special.
- Which is...?
- Even you don't know what it is.
- Enlighten me.
- It's not just the system, Dick.
It's the name.
That glorious name, McDonald's.
It can be anything you want it to be.
It's limitless, it's wide open.
It sounds...
it sounds like...
it sounds like America.
As compared to "Kroc". What a crock. What a load of crock.
Would you eat a place named Kroc's?
Kroc's has that blunt Slavic sound.
Kroc's. But McDonald's, oh boy.
That's a beauty.
Yeah, a guy named McDonald.
He's never going to get pushed around in life.
- That's clearly not the case.
- So, you don't have a check for
$1.35 million dollars in your pocket?
Bye, Dick.
- So if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
- I remember the first time I saw that name
stretched across your stand out there.
It was love at first sight.
I knew right then and there, I had to have it.
- And now I do. - You don't "have" it.
- You sure about that?
Bye, Dick.
As per the terms of your agreement,
while you are entitled to maintain ownership of this
location, you no longer have the right to call it McDonald's,
McDonald or any such variation so as to confuse or infringe
upon the McDonald's trademark which is now the exclusive
intellectual property of Mr. Raymond A. Kroc.
Thank you, gentlemen.
It'll be alright.
- Now, I know what you're thinking.
How the heck does a 52-year-old, over the hill,
milkshake machine salesman, build a fast food empire
with 1600 restaurants, in 50 states, five foreign countries,
with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood
of 700 million dollars?
One word, persistence.
Nothing in this world can take the place
of good ol' persistence.
Talent won't...
Nothing's more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius won't.
Unrecognized genius is practically a cliché.
Education won't...
Why the world is full of educated fools.
Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.
- Mr. Kroc? Will Davis.
- I'd like to do a profile of you pegged to the opening
of your hundredth location.
- Sure. Call my office.
- Sure thing.
All right.
It's these core principles that enabled me to
rise to the top of the heap at a point in life
when most men would be thinking about retirement.
Why, we appear to have that in common, Governor Reagan.
Why, you were what, 55 when you started in politics?
It's why you make me look like a spring chicken.
Laugh, laugh, laugh.
Why look at us, a couple of Illinois boys made good.
Only in America.
Only in America!
Now where wa... now where was I?
Ah, yes. The beginning.
The year was 1954,
the place,
Des Plaines, Illinois.
- Car is out front hon.
- Be right down.
That's where it all started.
Right there on Lee Street.
McDonald's number one.
It was a typical English-American word,
it flowed. McDonald's.
I liked the sound of it.
It sounded wholesome and it sounded genuine.
You know? Ahh, I don't like these umm...
gimmick type names, you know?
Ahh...
burger this and burger that and all that kind of stuff.
McDonald's, it's got a nice sounding name.
Nobody had eight multi-mixers in one business.
So I went out there.
And I was amazed!
They were serving hamburgers for fifteen cents.
French fries for ten cents and milkshakes for twenty cents.
And basically that was the menu, and I said,
that's for me.
Now I have ultimatums, you know.
except that I'd like to be able to say that.
I bought the agreement back from them for two million,
seven hundred thousand dollars.
I got the name, the Golden Arches,
basically it was a matter of me working longer and harder
than anybody else.
I'll take every resource that I have and I'll put it in
and I'll go for broke if I believe in it.
The only thing I could do besides play the piano,
was to talk. What happened to my talk?
It's not dog eat dog out there in that competitive world,
it gets more like rat eat rat.