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For our 4th discussion post, we were instructed to watch the movie The Founder and then write about what makes it an entrepreneurship movie. The Founder is a true story based on a man named Ray Kroc, who turned Mcdonald's into what it is today. Ray wasn’t the one who came up with the idea for Mcdonald's, but he's the one that turned it into a franchise. Ray has spent most of his life being a traveling and door-to-door salesman selling various products. At the beginning of the movie, Ray is selling a milkshake machine that he claims is faster than any other milkshake machine. Ray isn’t having much success selling the mixer, but one day, he gets an order from Mcdonald's in San Bernadino. Mcdonald's ordered around 8 milkshake machines, and Ray was very surprised. Ray decides to drive down to California to check out Mcdonald's, and while he’s there, he falls in love. Ray not only loves the operating system of Mcdonald's, but he also loves the name, the golden arch design, and how welcoming and kind the employees are. Ray thinks Mcdonald's is a perfect business that needs to be in towns all over the country, so he makes a deal with the owners of Mcdonald's, and they decide to Franchise the business.
The original creators of Mcdonald's were two brothers named Dick and Maurice McDonald, and they opened their first store in San Bernadino, California. Dick and Maurice discovered a lot of room for improvement in the fast-food industry, like time management, better service, and cheaper prices. They not only wanted to improve the customer's experience, but they also wanted to save time and money. They found a way to build a kitchen that allowed them to make a Mcdonald's meal in about a minute. Dick and Maurice had a dream of creating a fast-food restaurant that was faster and cheaper than any other restaurant. They successfully made Mcdonald's, but they couldn’t turn it into a franchise, so they gave up and stuck to improving their one restaurant. Ray Kroc is their one ticket to making it in the business world. Dick and Maurice lacked the skills to market and expand their company, but Ray Kroc has them. Ray Kroc is a perfect businessman, very outgoing and charismatic, and a leader.
A good entrepreneur can see an opportunity wherever they are. Ray Kroc found an opportunity in the fast-food industry and grabbed it by the neck. Ray found another opportunity in McDonald's when he was at the bank one day. A man named Harry J Sonneborn approached Ray after he overheard his having money troubles. Harry was an American businessman living in Indiana. Harry gave Ray the idea of buying the land every Mcdonald's stands on and then leasing that land back to the franchise. Ray became the first president and chief executive of Mcdonald's cooperation.
Ray's only focus now in life is to franchise Mcdonald's and make it the most successful fast-food restaurant ever. Franchising refers to the idea of using a marketing concept to expand a business. Ray goes around his community advertising and franchising his business, but he lies about who created it. Ray pretends to be the creator of Mcdonald's, and he is able to get a good amount of investors. Although Ray found many good investors, some weren’t the right fit for Mcdonald's. Some of the investors changed certain things about Mcdonald's, like adding corn and burritos to the menu. Keeping the standard up is one of the most important parts of running a business, and Ray wasn’t doing that. Ray needed to prioritize keeping up standard before he opened any more stores.
A very important characteristic of entrepreneurs is being a leader; Ray was a leader. Ray used his leadership skills to convince Dick and Maurice to the franchise and make tweaks to their business. Dick and Maurice were very strict with how they wanted Mcdonald's to run, but Ray was able to use his power to change their minds. Ray also took leadership in other ways; for example, Ray discovered that Mcdonald's wasn’t making a whole bunch of money and that he needed to do something about it. All of the Mcdonald's have walk-in freezers with hundreds of pounds of ice cream, and it costs a whole bunch to keep it cool. One of Ray's investors introduced him to powered milkshakes and showed him how much money it would save them. Ray decided to take leadership and switch the ice cream for powered milkshakes even though Dick and Maurice said not to. Ray went over Dick and Maurice's heads and delivered powered milkshakes to every McDonald's over the country.
The movie The Founder did a great job of highlighting the different relationships an entrepreneur can have with their society. For example, Ray discovered that his society needed better fast-food service. At this time, fast food was slow, expensive, and messy, and Ray wanted to change that. Ray wanted to franchise Mcdonald's to help benefit his society. Ray’s society also benefited from the job opportunities Mcdonald's gave them. For a business to run, it needs labor, and Ray was increasing the amount of labor needed with every new building he opened. Ray was also able to benefit from this interaction. Ray can make an income by hiring labor for his business. Ray never really had much trouble benefitting from his society because he needed it, not wanted it. They needed faster and cheaper food.
I enjoyed watching The Founder; it was very interesting and eye-opening. I learned more about how franchising works and what businesses will be successful and which ones won’t. I also learned about how important it is to be persistent. To be persistent is to continue to exist or endure over a prolonged period of time. Building a franchise takes a lot of time and dedication; if you aren’t persistent, it will never work out for you. Ray was able to stay persistent no matter what happened, and that is why he is one of the most successful businessmen in the world. Many factors about being an entrepreneur are discussed in the movie.
