The Founder Movie vs True Story of Real Ray Kroc, Dick McDonald (2024)

Starring Michael Keaton, Linda Cardellini, Nick Offerman, Laura Dern | based on Ray Kroc and his takeover of McDonald's, chronicled in his biography 'Grinding It Out'

Up until the time we sold, there was no mention of Kroc being the founder. If we had heard about it, he would be back selling milkshake machines.

-Richard McDonald, The Wall Street Journal, 1991

Yes. Born on October 5, 1902, Ray Kroc (pictured below, left) lied about his age to serve in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver. He started training in 1917 when he was only 15 and was sent to France in 1918. Though not shown in the movie, the real Ray Kroc met fellow Illinois native Walt Disney (pictured right) while training for the Red Cross. Disney had also lied about his age. The two men served in Ambulance Company A together but did not stay in touch much after the war, that is until Kroc contacted Disney more than three decades later, in late 1954, about putting a McDonald's on Disney theme park property (it didn't happen, not until the late 1990s). -McDonalds.com

Though it is not depicted in the movie, Ray Kroc (left) met Walt Disney (right) when they both lied about their age to train for Red Cross ambulance service during WWI. Both men were from Illinois and assigned to Company A, which was sent to France. They didn't stay in touch much after the war.

Yes. In fact-checking The Founder movie, we learned that after serving in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver, Ray Kroc mainly worked in sales, and for 17 of those years, he worked as a paper cup salesman for Lily Tulip Cup Company. (Some of his other jobs to help make ends meet included pianist and DJ on a local Oak Park, Illinois radio station.) He transitioned from a successful career selling paper cups into working as a traveling milkshake machine salesman (Ray Kroc Documentary). The McDonald brothers, who owned a small restaurant chain based out of San Bernardino, California, became clients of Kroc's in 1954 after they had purchased eight Multimixers, which sold at $150 a piece (a hefty price back then). The five-spindled milkshake machine promised to make five shakes at a time. "This little fellow came in with a high voice," recalled Richard McDonald in a 1991 interview. "He says, 'My name is Ray Kroc.' My brother and I were impressed with him. He was a very aggressive guy. That's the type it takes to sell anything." -Sun Journal

The real Ray Kroc (left) demonstrates the Multimixer milkshake machine in 1951. Actor Michael Keaton (right) loads a Multimixer machine into a car trunk in the movie.

Upon his first visit in 1954, Kroc was blown away by the low prices and effectiveness of the restaurant's operation, which had been put in place by its owners, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. In particular, Kroc was amazed by how quickly the restaurant could fulfill a customer's order. This was partially due to the fact that they focused on just a few items (burgers, fries and drinks) and had a chain of employees working together to prepare each order. The restaurant was drawing attention, especially after making the cover of American Restaurant Magazine in 1952. Initially, Kroc envisioned how much money he could make if there were hundreds of McDonald's across the country, each equipped with eight of the milkshake machines (Multimixers) that he sold. -McDonalds.com

"In those days, nobody had eight Multimixers in one business," recalled Kroc. "So, I went out there, and I was amazed. They were serving hamburgers for fifteen cents, french fries for ten cents and milkshakes for twenty cents, and basically that was the menu. And I said, 'That's for me.'" In real life, Kroc didn't make a cross-country drive to California. He flew out to Los Angeles and then drove to see the restaurant the following morning. -BBC McDonald's Documentary

Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first McDonald's restaurant (top) in San Bernardino, California in 1948.

No. The Founder true story reveals that Richard and Mac McDonald had already sold more than 20 franchises and opened eight restaurants themselves by the time they met Ray Kroc. In 1954, Kroc got wind that the brothers were looking for help expanding, so he offered to buy the U.S. franchise rights. -Sun Journal

An ad that appeared in the Des Plaines Journal on April 14, 1955 announces the opening of Ray Kroc's first McDonald's (the ninth overall). The ad promotes the restaurant's streamlined menu, low prices and speedy service.

Dick and Mac McDonald didn't have any interest in doing it themselves. Ray Kroc suggested that he try to do it for them and they were open to the idea, having just lost their previous franchising agent due to health issues.

The real McDonald brothers, Dick and Maurice (bottom), weren't interested in selling franchises themselves, so they decided to give the job to Ray Kroc. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch (top) portray Dick and Maurice (Mac).

Yes. Ray was so eager to see the restaurant expand, he had made a hasty deal with the brothers. As Ray sold the franchises, the brothers made a lot of money for doing nothing. Like in The Founder movie, Ray met Harry Sonneborn (played by B.J. Novak), a financial expert who showed him another way of making money off the deal that would not involve selling hamburgers (BBC McDonald's Documentary). It involved creating a real estate company that would buy up (or lease) the land on which all McDonald's would be located. Then, franchisees would pay Kroc a monthly rental fee for the land or a percentage of their sales, whichever was greater. Kroc started the Franchise Realty Corporation in order to execute the plan. -Ray Kroc: The Vision that Revolutionized the World

Like B.J. Novak's character does in the movie (right), the real Harry Sonneborn (left) helped Ray Kroc create the Franchise Realty Corporation. Kroc bought the land the McDonald's were built on and the franchisees paid him rent.

Yes. This part of the movie appears to be largely true. Ray Kroc was having dinner at the Criterion restaurant and was speaking to the restaurant's owner, who was interested in becoming a McDonald's franchisee. During the conversation, Ray noticed an attractive woman playing "classy organ music" in the background. The owner took Ray over and introduced him to Joan Smith. Unlike in the movie, the restaurant's owner, Jim Zien, was not Joan's husband. She was married to Rollie Smith, who did eventually become involved with McDonald's, as the manager at Zien's first location. Kroc, an experienced piano player, did perform duets with Joan, but not until later meetings. They only exchanged small talk during their first encounter. Soon, Ray moved out and divorced Ethel. Like in the movie, he gave her $30,000 a year in alimony, the house, the car, and pretty much everything else, except stock in McDonald's.

What the movie doesn't show is that Joan's daughter and mother had helped to convince her not to get a divorce and stay with her husband Rollie, despite having fallen in love with Ray Kroc. It would take another eight years before she would leave Rollie to marry Ray. In the meantime, Ray married Jane Dobbins Green, who was John Wayne's secretary and completely opposite Joan in personality. More of a pushover and less strong-willed than Joan, Ray never found true happiness with her, in part because he had never stopped loving Joan. Ray and Jane divorced in 1968. He married Joan the following year. -Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's

Yes. Kroc wasn't aware that the agreement excluded the original restaurant, but the McDonald brothers insisted it did. He became furious and since he now owned the rights to the McDonald's name, he forced Dick and Mac McDonald to rename the restaurant "The Big M." Kroc then opened a brand new McDonald's a block away, and after six years it put The Big M out of business.

The real Ray Kroc (left) and Michael Keaton in The Founder movie.

Yes. After the McDonald brothers sold the company to Ray Kroc in 1961 for $2.7 million, he began to take credit for its birth. "Suddenly, after we sold, my golly, he elevated himself to the founder," said Richard McDonald in a 1991 interview (Sun Journal). Kroc reinforced his claim of being the founder in his 1977 biography, Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's, in which he largely traces McDonald's origins to his own first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois (it was actually the ninth restaurant overall). However, he does include Dick and Mac and their original restaurant in his book. Kroc didn't open his Des Plaines restaurant until April 15, 1955, roughly seven years after the McDonald brothers opened the original San Bernardino location in 1948 (The New York Times).

Ray Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant (top) opened in 1955 in Illinois. Michael Keaton stands in front of the restaurant as Kroc in the movie (bottom). It was the ninth overall McDonald's restaurant.