The Founder (2016)

Michael Keaton: Ray Kroc

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Quotes 

• Ray Kroc : Now, I know what you're thinkin'. How the heck does a 52-year-old, over-the-hill milkshake-machine salesman... build a fast-food empire with 16,000 restaurants, in 50 states, in 5 foreign countries... with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood of $700,000,000.00... One word... PERSISTENCE. Nothing in this world can take the place of good old persistence. Talent won't. Nothing's more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won't. Unrecognized genius is practically a cliche. Education won't. Why the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.

• Dick McDonald : I just have to ask you one thing. Something I've never understood.

  Ray Kroc : All right.

  Dick McDonald : That day we met, when we gave you the tour...

  Ray Kroc : Uh-huh. What about it?

  Dick McDonald : We showed you everything. The whole system, all of our secrets. We were an open book. So why didn't you just...

  Ray Kroc : Steal it? Just, grab your ideas and run off, start my own business... using all those ideas of yours. It would have failed.

  Dick McDonald : How do you know?

  Ray Kroc : Am I the only one who got the kitchen tour? You must have invited lots of people back there, huh?

  Dick McDonald : And?

  Ray Kroc : How many of them succeeded?

  Dick McDonald : Lots of people started restaurants.

  Ray Kroc : As big as McDonald's?

  Dick McDonald : Of course not.

  Ray Kroc : No one ever has and no one ever will because they all lacked that one thing... that makes McDonald's special.

  Dick McDonald : Which is?

  Ray Kroc : Even you don't know what it is.

  Dick McDonald : Enlighten me.

  Ray Kroc : It's not just the system, Dick. It's the name. That glorious name, McDonald's. It could be, anything you want it to be... it's limitless, it's wide open... it sounds, uh... it sounds like... it sounds like America. That's compared to Kroc. What a crock. What a load of crock. Would you eat at a place named Kroc's? Kroc's has that blunt, Slavic sound. Kroc's. But McDonald's, oh boy. That's a beauty. A guy named McDonald? He's never gonna get pushed around in life.

  Dick McDonald : That's clearly not the case.

  Ray Kroc : So, you don't have a check for 1.35 million dollars in your pocket? Bye, Dick.

  Dick McDonald : So if you can't beat'em, buy'em.

  Ray Kroc : 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.

  Dick McDonald : You don't have it.

  Ray Kroc : You sure about that?

  Ray Kroc : Bye, Dick.

• Ray Kroc : If I saw a competitor drowning, I'd shove a hose down his throat.

• Ray Kroc : You know what - contracts are like hearts, they are made to be broken.

• Employee (San Bernadino) : Hi, welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?

  Ray Kroc : Yeah, I'll have a hamburger, french fries, and a Coca-Cola.

  Employee (San Bernadino) : That'll be 35 cents, please.

  Ray Kroc : All right.

  [Gives him 50 cents] 

  Employee (San Bernadino) : 15 cents is your change.

  [Gives it to him, then turns around and grabs a bag and a drink with a straw in it, and sets it in front of him] 

  Employee (San Bernadino) : Here you are.

  Ray Kroc : [Points to it]  What's this?

  Employee (San Bernadino) : Your food.

  Ray Kroc : No, no, no, I just ordered.

  Employee (San Bernadino) : And now it's here.

  Ray Kroc : [Seems hesitant]  You sure?

  [the employee nods] 

  Ray Kroc : All right.

  [Goes to grab it, but is still hesitant] 

  Ray Kroc : Where's the umm... the silverware and plates and everything?

  Employee (San Bernadino) : You just eat it straight out of the wrapper, and then you throw it all out.

  Ray Kroc : Really? OK.

  [Grabs the order, turns to go, but turns back again] 

  Ray Kroc : Where do I eat it?

  Employee (San Bernadino) : [Appears uneasy himself answering his questions]  Your car, at the park, at home. Wherever you like.

  Ray Kroc : OK. OK. OK, thank you.

  [Finally leaves the window and sits down to eat] 

• Ray Kroc : Look, if you don't wanna make a profit, that's fine. But don't stop the rest of us.

  Dick McDonald : Us?

  Ray Kroc : Us, as in everyone but you.

  Dick McDonald : Who did you send them to?

  Ray Kroc : Everyone but you.

  Dick McDonald : You have no right. You are to stop this instant, is that clear?

  Ray Kroc : Nah...

  Dick McDonald : What the hell does that mean, nah? You will abide by the terms of your deal.

  Ray Kroc : I am through taking marching orders from you... You and your endless parade of NOs. Constantly cowering in the face of progress.

  Dick McDonald : If phony powdered milkshakes is your idea of progress, you have a profound misunderstand of what McDonald's is about.

  Ray Kroc : I have a far greater understanding of McDonald's than you two yokels.

  Dick McDonald : What? You will do as we say.

  Ray Kroc : Nope.

  Dick McDonald : You have a contract!

  Ray Kroc : You know, contracts are like hearts: they're made to be broken.

• [first lines] 

  Ray Kroc : I know what you're thinkin'... What the heck do I need a 5-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 mentioned... that there'd be costs. Well, I think it applies here. Do you not need the multimixer because, well heck, you're not selling enough milkshakes. Or are you not selling enough milkshakes because you don't have a multimixer? I firmly believe it's the latter. Because your customer comes in here and he knows if he orders a shake from your establishment... that well, he's in for a terrific wait. He's done it before and he thinks to himself, well, by golly, I'm not gonna make that mistake again. But if ya had the Prince Castle, 5-spindle, multimixer... with patented direct-drive electric motor we'd greatly increase your ability to produce... delicious, frosty milkshakes, FAST. Mark my words. Dollars to donuts, you'll be sellin' more of those sons-of-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... What do you say?

• Ray Kroc : If you've got time to lean, then you've got time to clean.

• Ray Kroc : McDonald's... is... family. Isn't that great? You know what I see when I see that? Family. We're one big family. Aren't we? We have mouths to feed. That's a family.

• Ray Kroc : What's your name?

  Leonard Rosenblatt : Leonard. Leonard Rosenblatt.

  Ray Kroc : Rosenblatt? What's a Jew doing selling Catholic Bibles?

  Leonard Rosenblatt : Making a living.

• Ray Kroc : While you two boys were content to sit back and become a couple of also-rans... I wanna take the future. I wanna win. And you don't get there by being some "aw shucks" 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 put a hose right in his mouth. Can you say the same?

  Mac McDonald : [pause]  I can't. Nor would I want to.

  Ray Kroc : Hence, your single location.

  Mac McDonald : We want you out of this company, Ray.

  Ray Kroc : Mac, how do you propose we do that?

  Mac McDonald : We will sue you, whatever it takes.

  Ray Kroc : 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 C.E.O. 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.

  [Mac collapses] 

• Divorce Lawyer : 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.

  Ray Kroc : Just give it to her. House, car, insurance.

  Divorce Lawyer : What about the business?

  Ray Kroc : [Ray smiles]  Nope.

  Divorce Lawyer : Ray, you have to understand, she's...

  Ray Kroc : 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.

• Ray Kroc : 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?

  Mac McDonald : What is he saying?

  Dick McDonald : He's buying the land.

  Mac McDonald : Our land?

• Mac McDonald : [Giving Kroc his first tour of McDonald's]  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 it is to cook those all-beef beauties to perfection. Meanwhile, as the patty cooks, our dressers get the buns ready. Watch out. Burger crossing!

  McDonald's Employees : Burger crossing!

  Mac McDonald : Every McDonald's burger has two pickles, a pinch of onions, and a precise shot of ketchup and mustard.

  Ray Kroc : [Points to the ketchup and mustard despensers]  Now, where did you get those?

  Mac McDonald : We made them.

  Ray Kroc : Made them?

  Mac McDonald : Yes, custom-built. The whole kitchen is. Next, this is the finishing station where we put the whole thing together. And...

  [Leads Ray to the end of the line, holding up a wrapped hamburger] 

  Mac McDonald : Voila! A fresh, delicious burger from grill to counter in 30 seconds.

• Ray Kroc : I was by your restaurant today too.

  Jerry Cullen : And, what about it?

  Ray Kroc : What about it? You got corn on the cob, you got fried chicken.

  Jerry Cullen : People love fried chicken.

  Ray Kroc : Do they? Well let them go somewhere where they serve fried chicken and your kitchen is filthy, like what the hell is the matter with you guys?

  Jerry Cullen : Look, Ray, I don't know about you, but I'm retired.

  Jack Horford : You said this would be a good place to park our money. It's an investment.

  Jerry Cullen : If I wanted a job, I would have applied for a cook position.

  Ray Kroc : You couldn't get a job as a cook at one of my restaurants.

  [Ray angrily throws the burger at Jerry and storms off] 

• Ray Kroc : [Ray shoves a burger in Jack's face as he is about to tee off]  What is this?

  Jack Horford : It appears to be a hamburger.

  Ray Kroc : It's not a McDonald's hamburger.

  [Ray lifts off the bun, showing the flaws] 

  Ray Kroc : Too much ketchup. Three pickles, not two. Lettuce. Lettuce, Jack?

  Jack Horford : Do you think we could discuss this later? We're in the middle of...

  Ray Kroc : [interrupts and shows Jack the inside of the hamburger]  And the patty, tragically overcooked.

  Jerry Cullen : I don't know, Ray, looks good to me.

  Ray Kroc : [glaring]  What the heck would you know about quality?

• Ray Kroc : A couple of Illinois boys. Made good. Only in America. Only in America. Only in America!

• Ray Kroc : [to Ethel during dinner]  I want a divorce.

• Ray Kroc : 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. I'm looking for scrappers, hustlers, guys that are willing to roll up their sleeves. They're livin' on drive, they got a little fire in their belly. I stand right here before you today, I'm gonna offer you something as precious as gold. And 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. The sky is the limit. 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 ya somethin'... At McDonald's? It's like this great nation of ours... Some of that elbow grease. I guarantee ya, if you got the guts... the gumption, 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? Be part of the McDonald's "mishpokhe". Now who's with me? Come on, lemme see some hands.

• Harry J. Sonneborn : 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.

  Ray Kroc : Which they never are.

  Harry J. Sonneborn : Am I missing anything?

  Ray Kroc : That about sums it up.

  Harry J. Sonneborn : Tell me about the land.

  Ray Kroc : The... land?

  Harry J. Sonneborn : The land, the buildings, how that whole aspect of it works.

  Ray Kroc : 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.

  Harry J. Sonneborn : So the operator selects the site.

  Ray Kroc : Yeah.

  Harry J. Sonneborn : He picks the property?

  Ray Kroc : Right.

  Harry J. Sonneborn : You provide the training, the system, the operational know-how, and he's responsible for the rest?

  Ray Kroc : Is there a problem?

  Harry J. Sonneborn : 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.