The Founder

Questions:
1. What’s Ray’s concept about supply and demand? (Increase supply, demand follows)
2. What are his greatest problems with the drive-in restaurants? (very slow, the
customers have to wait a lot, they get their order wrong, there are teenagers hanging
around)
3. How does he get to San Bernardino, California? (he thinks their order was wrong as
they ordered six milkshake machines)
4. What surprises him when he gets there? (it’s not a drive-in, but a walk-up stand, paper
food wrappings, lots of families with kids, the line moves very fast)
5. What is the brothers’ system called? (The speedee service system)
6. Why did the brothers go to Hollywood? (to work in the film industry)
7. How did they figure out the most efficient layout for the food preparation? (spent over
6 hours on a tennis court drawing where things should be)
8. What is the brothers’ greatest concern about franchising their business? (keeping up
quality standards)
9. How does Ray manage to convince the brothers to let their business franchise? (do it
for America, it can mean as much as the local governments or the churches to
America)
10.
11. What is the first big quarrel between Ray and the brothers? (Ray wants Coca-Cola on
the menu but the brothers don’t want to commercialize their business)
12. How does Ray manage to solve quality standard problems? (find franchisees among
the working class families)
13. Although the business is booming he has to face financial difficulties. Why? (1.4 % of
the profit is not enough, refrigerating costs of storing ice-cream are very high)
14. How are they intending to cut down on costs? (selling milkshake made from powdered
milk)
15. How does he get over his financial problems? (a young man advises him to own the
land where the restaurants are going to be built on)
16. What does the blank check refer to that Ray hands over to Mac in the hospital? (he
wants to buy out the brothers’ share in the company)
17. What consequences did the new contract have in connection with the brothers’
restaurant? (they had to change its name to: The Big M)
18. Why did they never get the 1% profit? (it was carried out on a handshake basis, which
Ray later reneged on)
19. According to Ray, what’s the most important quality to succeed? (persistence)
20. In the last scene we can see him rehearsing his speech in front of a mirror. Why is it
symbolic? (Because he’s lying about the firs McDonald restaurant)
Quotations:

1. Where's the umm... the silverware and plates and everything?

(Ray to the employee when first buying a hamnurger at
MacDonald’s)
2. When is enough going to be enough for you? (Ray’s wife asks him after he returns
home)
3. You're not in the burger business. You're in the real estate
business.
4. You know what - contracts are like hearts, they are made to be
broken. (Ray to the brothers after introducing powdered milk in
the restaurants)

5. I would sooner die, than give her one share of stock in McDonald's. (Ray to his
lawyer)

6. Business is war. It's dog eat dog, rat eat rat. (Ray to the
brothers when they want him out of the business)
7. It was love at first sight. I knew right then and there... I had to
have it. And now I do. (Ray to Dick in the loo when he asks him
why he didn’t just simply steal their idea)