Quotes

Dialogue

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 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- 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 jus

Dialogue

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. Employee (San Bernadino): 15 cents is your change. 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? Ray Kroc: All right. 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. Ray Kroc: Where do I eat it? Employee (San Bernadino): [Appears uneasy himself answering his questions] In your car, at the park, at home. Wherever you like. Ray Kroc: OK. OK. OK, thank you.

Dialogue

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.

Dialogue

Ya know what, I 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, got a cross... and on top of the courthouse they 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, 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 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 Americans come together to break bread. I am telling you... McDonald's can be... the new American church. Feeding bodies and feeding souls and

Dialogue

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.

Dialogue

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.

Dialogue

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: [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.

Dialogue

Dick McDonald: A hothead like that, you don't know what he's capable of. Mac McDonald: It's all bluster, Dick. His bark is worse than his bite. Dick McDonald: That's what Neville Chamberlain said.

Dialogue

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.

Dialogue

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

Dialogue

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

Dialogue

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?

Dialogue

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 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?

Dialogue

Mac McDonald: [telling Kroc the story behind starting McDonald's] 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... Dick McDonald: Employed. Mac McDonald: So, we landed jobs at Columbia Pictures, driving trucks. Ray Kroc: Huh. Mac McDonald: And after a few years, we've had enough saved to buy our own little piece of show business-a beautiful little movie theatre in Glendora, which would've been swell-except for the timing: it was September of '29. Ray Kroc: [cringes] Oooh. Mac McDonald: One minute, we're screening The Gold Diggers of Broadway, and the next it's "Brother, can you spare a dime?" Dick McDonald: I couldn't.

Dialogue

Mac McDonald: So, we moved the restaurant, we're setting up shop, but now we wanna do a few tweaks, because now it's 1940 and drive-ins are all the rage. I mean, they're the hottest thing going, and I say, "Dick, we gotta get in on this," and Dick says... Dick McDonald: Okay. Mac McDonald: And two months later, we opened for business: McDonald's Famous BBQ. 27-item menu, uniformed waitresses, bring your food right to the car, and it goes gangbusters. We're going "great guns!" But then, sales started to level off. Dick McDonald: The drive-in model, as we've learned, has a few built-in problems. Ray Kroc: Tell me about it. Dick McDonald: I mean, for starters, there's the customer issue. Drive-ins tend to attract, shall we say, a less-than-desirable clientele. Mac McDonald: Teenagers. Dick McDonald: 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... Ray Kroc: It's usu