In a key scene from The Founder, a new drama about the making of McDonald’s, 52-year-old salesman Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) tries to persuade the McDonald brothers, Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch), to let him franchise their revolutionary fast-food business across the nation. The brothers are small-time operators, content with their thriving restaurant in San Bernardino, California, but Kroc, an Arlington Heights entrepreneur who’s been chasing business opportunities all his life, has a special feeling about McDonald’s. For years he’s been crisscrossing the country as exclusive sales agent for a newfangled multiple-milkshake mixer, and in every small town he sees a courthouse topped with a flag and a church topped with a steeple. To these he wants to add the brothers’ golden arches. “McDonald’s can be the new American church,” he tells Dick and Mac. “And it ain’t just open on Sunday, boys. It’s open seven days a week.” Continue reading >>