McDonald’s Movie: Is The Founder A True Story?
The Founder film recently dropped on Netflix and it’s left many people questioning how much of the movie about McDonald’s is accurate. So let’s investigate…
The American biographical drama premiered in 2016 and it centres around businessman Ray Croc (played by Michael Keaton) and his creation of the fast-food chain after forcing out the company’s original founders.
The Founder ended up grossing $24 million worldwide and it received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Keaton’s performance.
While the movie may have gone down well, it’s important to know whether all the information it shares is accurate. Let’s take a look:
What is The Founder about?
The film follows salesman Kroc as he discovers a walk-up restaurant with fast service and high-quality food that is run by Maurice ‘Mac’ and Richard ‘Dick’ McDonald.
Kroc suggests that the brothers franchise the restaurant but they are hesitant as they have tried once but failed.
The salesman ends up convincing the pair to let him lead their franchising efforts on the condition that he agrees to a strict contract – requiring all changes to be subject to their approval.
Although Kroc manages to expand rapidly, he finds that his share of the franchise profits is limited due to his contract but the brothers decline to renegotiate.
The salesman then meets a financial consultant who advises him that the real profit opportunity is actually in providing real estate to the franchisees.
Kroc ends up incorporating a new company, named Franchise Realty Company, and opens new restaurants without the brothers’ approval.
Eventually, the salesman renames the company McDonald’s Corporation and he demands to be released from his contract, wanting to buy the brothers out.
The brothers agree to a $2.7 million lump sum payment, ownership of their original restaurant and a 1% annual royalty. But when it comes to finalising the agreement, Kroc refuses to the royalty in the settlement. Instead, he offers a handshake deal.
In the epilogue, it alleges that the McDonald brothers were never paid their royalties.
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Is The Founder a true story?
While the film is largely based on the true story the filmmakers have seemingly twisted the truth to make Kroc look more like the hero of the story.
One example of this is that The Founder suggests that Kroc was the one who came up with the iconic Golden Arches logo.
But in reality, the McDonald brothers had hired architect Stanley Clark Meston to design it in 1952, according to Business Insider.
The film also indicates that Kroc was the one who came up with the idea of franchising McDonald’s, when in fact the McDonald’s brothers had already begun franchising the restaurant before they met Kroc.
The way he brought the business off the McDonald’s is also different from reality.
In the movie, Kroc visits Mac in the hospital with a blank check to buy them out. But what really happened was that he asked the brothers over the phone to name their price – which they responded a few days later with the sum: $2.7 million.
The Founder follows Kroc’s account of events from his perspective, but even his version of events has been debated and told by different people involved, so there will be some inaccuracies.
What are the other inaccuracies in The Founder?
Firstly, it is implied in the film that the previous franchise agent. Bill Tansey, did a ‘poor job’ which allowed Kroc to sell on the McDonald’s brothers’ behalf.
But in reality, Tansey stepped down because he suffered a heart attack, with Dick McDonald saying in 1992 that if Tansey was still about, Kroc would still be selling milkshakes.
The Founder also claims that Kroc’s third wife Joan was in her early 30s when they first met – yet in real life, she was 28 and he was 55.
Whereas, in the film, it is shown that he asked for a divorce from his previous wife Ethal over dinner.
But what really happened was he had already told her family that he planned on splitting up with her – but waited until Joan’s divorce from her husband was finalised before leaving Ethal for her.
Fred Turner, a long-term executive at McDonald’s, is shown being a hired hand (someone who is hired to do short-term labour work) when Kroc first notices.
In real life, however, Turner wanted to buy a franchise with friends after dropping out of college and serving in the army.
He worked in a restaurant to learn the ropes of the business while they figured out a location which is where Kroc took a liking to him and promoted him to corporate.
Other inaccuracies include the McDonald’s brothers being furious about the milkshake mix rollout (they were already out of the business at this point in real life) and that Kroc was listed as the president of Franchise Realty Corp – the company that Harry Sonneborn masterminded to buy real estate on which McDonald’s franchises were built.
In real life, Harry was the first and only president of the McDonald’s offshoot called Franchise Realty Corp.
So while The Founder does tell a true story, the filmmakers have manipulated the events to present Kroc as the hero of the film, when in reality, there was much more to it.
