you may call him crazy but you will not meet many men out there that are as tough-willed and persistent as this one this is St Louis Missouri 1954 an ambitious middle-aged businessman Ray Kroc moves from store to store tirelessly trying to sell his steel milkshake mixers but getting turned down each time don't write them off just yet though because this man will just not give up this desperate and struggling Tradesman will rise to become one of the most successful businessmen in the world he will continue to self-motivate himself and drives around the city hoping for
that one special order this decision will eventually pay off in the most unexpected manner after yet another failed attempt to secure a client he places a call over to his office in Chicago Illinois his call is received by an American businesswoman June who is also his secretary she reads out a few of his messages and informs him that he has an order for six of his steel milkshake mixers from a restaurant in San Bernardino the ordered quantity sounds like a great but shocking request excited he places a call over to his potential biters immediately the
order is to his further confusion increased to eight steel milkshake mixers it heightens his curiosity wanting to know who would want to prepare 40 milkshakes at a time Rey eager to find out what is going on instantly pulls out a map Trace is the address of the restaurant and begins a long drive to San Bernardino California he arrives at the location and his eyes are greeted by a shocking sight Rey notices a large crowd queuing in front of a fast food restaurant to get their meals a strange phenomenon in the early 1950s the first of
its kind further driven by Fascination and curiosity he decides to join the queue and have a taste for himself he buys a burger and can't believe that he got it in just 30 seconds Rey is still munching on his hamburger when another middle-aged man approaches him and greets him he looks up at the man and says that this might be the best hamburger he has ever had in his life the middle aged man then proceeds to introduce himself as Mac McDonald's co-owner of the fast food restaurant thanks to Rey's smart and dynamic mind he instantly
sees an opportunity he introduces himself and Mac recognizes him as the milkshake vendor when Mac asks him for his reason for being in California he lies about it and says that he had come down for a meeting Mac then decides to give him an extensive tour of their operations Rey is stunned by the speed and efficiency leading to the preparation of the McDonald's hamburgers he meets Max brother dick and offers to take both of them out to dinner adding that McDonald's was the most remarkable restaurant he had seen in all of his years in the
food service industry and stating that he wanted to hear their story both brothers accept his station at dinner the McDonald Brothers narrate the story about the rise of McDonald's hamburger stand in San Bernardino they reveal some of their business secrets to Rey narrating how they designed the fast service and high quality food pattern that would then become an overnight success Ray sees the great potential that McDonald's possesses and is lost in thoughts all night early the next morning Ray is waiting for the McDonald Brothers to arrive they soon drive in and are shocked to see
Rey waiting for them Ray wants the brothers to franchise the company he reveals that he had come all the way to California specifically for them unlike what he had earlier told Mack however dick tells him that they had already tried to franchise the company and adds that it is difficult to ensure quality standards from afar which forced them to dismiss the thought they had already built five branches in different cities but decided to stop the McDonald's Brothers could not afford to watch their precious Creations become mismanaged Max says that it is better to have one
great restaurant than 50 mediocre ones Rey really wants them to franchise the company but the brothers stand firm in their decision the trio are still caught up in an argument when Rey spots a painting on the wall of a McDonald's restaurant with a unique design the golden arches the brothers claim to have built the Phoenix McDonald's Branch with the design and Ray Kroc decides to go see for himself Rey drives quickly to the Phoenix branch and he is blown away by the golden arches design he doesn't care what it will cost him he just wants
to be a part of McDonald's he returns to his home in Arlington Heights Illinois and though his business might have just taken an interesting turn not much of the same thing can be said about his home he was mostly away for weeks leaving his wife Ethel home alone she is clearly not happy about this and demands more attention by asking Rey when he is going to take a break only for Reyes say probably never causing Ethel to walk away angrily from then on Rey attempts to continue with his milkshake trade but he gets turned down
again he visits the McDonald brothers and tries to convince them again about his vision a belief that the golden arches design could become a symbol of American culture that it could be a place where families could gather to eat fast food all around America dick is still hesitant about the idea but his brother succeeds in convincing him they eventually proceed to sign the paperwork which sees Rey emerge as a franchising agent for McDonald's in the midwest he is however Bound by the contract to maintain the standard and integrity of the restaurant and consult the brothers
for approval before any change is made Ray Kroc has finally got what he wanted but he does not rest on laurels he jumps right to work he begins his journey by visiting several Banks to request funding for this project but as usual he gets turned down out of desperation Rey decides to mortgage his home without telling his wife this risky decision sees him secure the deplane's location for the next McDonald's Branch Rey is a hot-headed man who wants everything moving at a fast pace but the McDonald's Brothers prefer a slow and steady race arguments soon
ensue between Rey and the McDonald's Brothers when Rey attempts to get a sponsorship from Coca-Cola by including their name on the menu while Rey sees it as an opportunity to get free money dick disagrees with the concept saying that he doesn't intend to commercialize McDonald's causing Rey to angrily hang up the phone the de Plaines McDonald's Branch crafted with a golden arches design soon gets rolling and luckily for mac and Dick Rey is also passionate about maintaining the standards of McDonald's his wife Ethel is left at home in isolation Rey attempts to make it up
to her and they end up going to a nearby Country Club the next day and at the club Rey meets up with a few of his wealthy friends and during their conversation he pitches his recent business Discovery to them they mock him at first but after support from his wife they eventually give him a listening ear and Rey invites them to take a look the franchises grow quickly thanks to Rey's rich friends but dick fears that he will be unable to maintain standards the fear proves Justified as Rey soon notices a drop in standard at
one of the newly opened franchises he knows that he will need to do something quickly about it he confronts one of his rich friends who is also in charge of one of the franchises and upon noticing that he cared nothing for the standard of the franchise Rey cancels his membership in the club to the surprise of his wife the next day Rey bumps into a man at his office trying to sell a Bible to his secretary June he notices the man's determination and eventually discovers that the man is a Jew named Leonard rosenblatt and that
he is simply trying to earn living Rey decides to sign a contract with him and hand him a new franchise at Waukegan Illinois soon after a brilliant idea strolls across his thoughts when he notices that Leonard and his wife Myra seem to be doing a great job in abiding by the reasonable standards of McDonald's Rey takes his wife to VFW potluck a local restaurant nearby and engages in a simple conversation with a man in the restaurant he decides to hand him a contract too Rey soon realizes that he could establish more franchises with the dedicated
American working class so he begins to visit various lodges and religious organizations to hire workers this method pays off and more franchises begin to emerge Rey slowly becomes the face of a McDonald's and takes a trip to attend the grand opening of McDonald's in Minnesota to his surprise he receives a rousing welcome and takes a meal at a fancy restaurant later that evening where he meets Raleigh Smith the owner of the restaurant who also ended indicates his interest in becoming a McDonald's franchise owner too as the men speak a woman begins to play piano nearby
and Rey can't seem to get her eyes off her Raleigh introduces her as Joan Smith his wife and although she is married Rey still has an eye out for her he joins her to sing and play the piano and it is obvious that Rey has fallen for her Rey returns from his Minnesota trip with much bigger Ambitions he wants to expand McDonald's borders beyond the Midwest but June alerts him of a small problem he has earlier signed a contract with the McDonald's Brothers for a 1.4 percent profit but that wouldn't be enough to carry out
his expansion plan he calls the brothers and tries to renegotiate his deal but dick refuses calling Rey a wolf later that day Rey arrives home to meet his wife impatiently waiting for him she leaves him speechless when she informs him that the bank had called regarding his unpaid loan letting her know of the the secret mortgage Rey angrily storms into the bank to confront the banker who reminds him that he is three months behind on his payment Rey decides to visit Raleigh and Jones franchise and he narrates his ordeal to the duo along with his
quality problems Joan seems to have a solution she proposes that they use a powdered milkshake that tasted just like the real milkshake in a bid to save cost she offers Rey a sample to taste and Rey is highly impressed and accepts The Proposal however there is one more mountain left to climb his contract demands that he informed the McDonald's Brothers before any changes are made and when Rey does he is refused again Rey is getting frustrated he pays another visit to the bank and requests another loan but is turned down however a young man named
Harry sonnenburn overhears their conversation and he tells Ray that if he is not taking money hand over fist then something is terribly wrong Rey allows Harry to have a look at his business ledger and after a critical look Harry discovers the reason for his financial problems he advises Rey to go into real estate and buy the land where McDonald's franchises are built and Lease the lands to the franchise owners this will guarantee him control over the franchises and also over Mack and Dick Rey takes Harry's advice and gets backing from several investors he changes his
company's name to franchise Realty Corporation dick soon calls but Rey claims that the company is not under McDonald's and is not bound by their previously signed contract Rey also goes ahead to approve the powdered milkshake proposed by Joan Rey seems to be acting on his own will at this point dick calls again after hearing the news angrily reminding Rey that he is bound by a contract but Rey refuses to budge once again and says that contracts are like hearts they are meant to be broken later that evening Rey tells his wife that he won wants
a divorce he offers to let go of all his assets to her except the McDonald's business he then goes on to hire a lawyer to help him renegotiate his contract with the McDonald's Brothers he is becoming increasingly desperate to gain ownership of the company and he ends up sending a letter to the brothers with a letterhead that reads the McDonald Corporation Mack gets upset and confronts Rey over the phone the relationship between Rey and the McDonald Brothers has grown tense Mack is admitted to a hospital and Rey decides to pay him a visit he comes
along with a bunch of flowers and inside the bunch is a blank check stating Rey's intention to buy off the company from them the brothers appear frustrated over Rey's betrayal after Rey leaves Mack tells dick that they are never going to win against Rey so the brothers agree to sell the company for 2.7 million dollars they get to keep the San Bernardino store and one percent of future corporate earnings made by the company Ray agrees to the McDonald's Brothers terms except for the one percent of future corporate earnings which his lawyer says will be given
to them on a handshake basis Mac and Dick are left with little choice but to accept the deal Rey bumps into dick in the restroom after the negotiation and Dick goes on to ask him why he didn't just steal their idea and start up his own restaurant after they revealed their business secrets to him Ray admits that he would have failed if he started his own restaurant based on their ideas he says that it wasn't the system they set in motion that had caught his attention but the unique name McDonald's Rey says that the name
sounded like America in the end the McDonald's brothers are told that they cannot keep their name on their store as stated in the terms of their agreement they take down the name from their stores Rey continues on his journey of success including the establishment of many more franchises getting married to Joan and meeting with the president of the United States of America
