We are not talking about biology, not philosophy, but a simple business law.
When milkshake blender salesman Ray Kroc instilled this chicken-and-egg philosophy with restaurant owners countless times in order to sell his blender, no one cared.
What these bosses think is that I usually sell so many milkshakes in a day, and customers can wait for more than ten minutes, why should I spend money on a machine?
It takes less time to make a milkshake, so what's the use of making more milkshakes in a day?
So they ignored Ray Kroc, thinking he was a liar.
But, Ray Kroc doesn't think so.
He believes that improving efficiency, making more milkshakes, and serving a milkshake to customers in less time will actually increase sales.
It is not the number of customers that determines the volume of milkshakes, but the volume and efficiency of milkshakes that determine the number of customers.
So, do you think the chicken came first? Or order first?
Ray Kroc, who has spent most of his life selling all kinds of novel products. Until one day, he received a call from a brother named McDonald's and decided to buy 8 milkshake mixers from him in one go.
The fire of desire in his heart was ignited like this!
This passage comes from the new film "The Great Entrepreneur", which tells the history of the world's catering giant McDonald's fortune and savage expansion.
"The Great Entrepreneur" is directed by John Lee Hancock, whose "Big Dreamer" and "Weakness" are both known for their biographical narrative style.
John Lee Hancock is also the screenwriter of the classic film "Perfect World".
His solid screenwriting skills enable him to choose stories with ease, and can concentrate firepower to enrich the main story and reveal the master control idea. At the same time, in the character setting, there is a clear protagonist-opponent-style conflict collision, which allows the protagonist to constantly cross the chasm of desire in the story and accept the challenge brought by the opponent.
In the film "The Great Entrepreneur", the protagonist is Ray Kroc played by "Birdman" Michael Keaton, and the opponent is the McDonald brothers.
Because the McDonald's dynasty was founded not by the McDonald brothers, but by a Ray who was selling milkshake mixers at the time.
When Ray heard that the restaurant, called McDonald's, was going to order eight machines in one go, he was excited and decided to drive across the state to see what happened.
Once there, Ray couldn't move.
This McDonald's restaurant was different from all the fast food restaurants in the United States at the time.
It requires customers to pick up their meals themselves, rather than spending ten minutes in the car waiting for a delivery person.
It only takes seconds from when a customer places an order to when the food is taken away. Because things are already done, they only sell drinks, hamburgers, French fries, three kinds of food.
Ray saw nothing but heaven, what he called an industrial revolution in the restaurant world, a fast food production line similar to how Ford built the first automotive assembly line production and processing system.
The McDonald brothers happily invited Ray to visit their kitchen.
Ray was amazed by the orderliness of the staff and the cleanliness of the kitchen!
This is the future of dining!
Ray has to invite the McDonald brothers to dinner.
Then, we and Ray went on to be overwhelmed by the brothers' interesting fortunes.
For example, according to the Hollywood model, they promote their new fast food restaurant
. For example, in order to save costs, they directly pulled the original restaurant truck to the new place as a whole!
Moreover, this miraculous production line was actually built by two brothers who spent 6 hours in a tennis court, planning out various places on the ground with chalk, and asked employees to simulate the production process.
In these short ten hours, Lei seemed to have opened his eyes to see a new world. He also smelled money and honor.
He visited the McDonald brothers many times and finally persuaded them to get the exclusive sales rights.
In order to control Ray, the McDonald brothers, have drawn up a lower limit on the contract, that is, any change requires the consent of the two, including the share ratio.
They thought that they could control Lei and at the same time achieve the purpose of making McDonald's famous.
But Ray's ambitions and desires far exceeded their estimates.
The protagonist-opponent's role conflict is officially established, and this wonderful story slowly begins.
John Lee Hancock knew very well that a biographical film had to distill the story and show the most exciting or pivotal events in detail. "The Great Entrepreneur" continues to dig deep into the relationship between Lei and the McDonald brothers to create tension in the story. At the same time, it uses Lei's expansion history as the main line to narrate and build a plot by creating and overcoming difficulties.
Ray's relationship with the McDonald brothers is the biggest conflict hidden in the entire book. This paved the way for finally, Ray finally got the trademark rights of McDonald's.
The skirmishes during the period are Lei's growth story during the expansion history, the display process and motivation of the character arc.
In order to open his first McDonald's, he mortgaged the house without telling his wife.
In order to expand his popularity, he broke into his wife's upper-level entertainment department, although it expanded rapidly. But Ray found that the McDonald's brothers had the right idea at the beginning: rapid expansion, no guarantee of quality control!
Those rich people opened McDonald's restaurants, but they couldn't manage it themselves, and the new assembly line was out of shape.
In this regard, Ray began to personally select restaurant managers, his goal is to have the American dream, ordinary Americans who can bear hardships and stand hard work.
He especially likes to deal with young couples with the American dream who want to change their life circumstances, because they are down-to-earth, helpful, smart and energetic.
McDonald's was an instant hit.
Ray became a celebrity, and everyone scrambled to open a McDonald's.
At this time, a new problem arises. Huge operating costs and free training left Ray with little liquidity, and he couldn't even repay the interest on the mortgaged property.
At this time, God once again sent him a gift. A young man skilled in calculation heard his confusion at the bank, and he offered himself a brand new business idea.
It was a major turning point in the relationship between Ray and the McDonald brothers.
McDonald's does not open restaurants, but real estate! This sentence is not a joke, but a fact.
The young man suggested that Lei should rent a piece of land himself, and then let people who want to open a McDonald's rent the land through him to run the business.
In this way, what Lei earns is no longer just a commission from the sales of food, but a land transfer fee. This income is more stable and can be obtained in advance, without worrying about the loss of income due to the decline in food sales.
With the help of this young man, Lei opened up a real estate company, selected land, and persuaded local institutions or wealth to cooperate and buy land.
Ray's history of expansion thus entered a peak. His capital accumulated rapidly. The balance of victory and defeat was entirely in his favor.
At the end of the story, Lei crushed the McDonald's brothers with capital, and finally drew up a new contract, allowing the McDonald's brothers to surrender the golden sign of McDonald's.
"The Great Entrepreneur" doesn't have to worry about the lack of story materials. The history of McDonald's fortune is a heart-pounding epic. John Lee Hancock just did the job of a chef, cooking a long history, and selected one of them. The most exciting part is to send the audience the essence of the McDonald's story.
One of the most interesting is the change in the relationship between the characters.
Exactly how to define the character of Ray.
He is greedy, but at the same time he is bold and careful, with a natural desire to conquer.
The theme of the film is perseverance. In Lei's chicken soup, he believes that as long as he perseveres and works hard, he can achieve success.
Indeed, it was one of the elements of his success in building McDonald's into a world empire.
But at the end of the film, he is also caught in a contradiction. When he needed to speak for the founding of McDonald's, he found that the budding stage of the empire, from its invention to the establishment of the brand and system, was entirely the work of the McDonald's brothers.
The foundation of this empire belongs to the McDonald brothers. Just like the contract that has always left him with lingering fears.
His legitimacy as the owner of McDonald's has been tainted both legally and morally.
In turn, talk about the McDonald brothers. Their complacent, they care too much about quality control, so they can only have one McDonald's restaurant.
And Ray, the brand developed to the United States.
According to his words, he turned McDonald's into the American dream. When people mention the United States, they think of McDonald's. It is no longer just a restaurant, but has become an important part of American culture and an inspiration for young people. Part of the American Dream values that people strive for.
Ray fulfilled the McDonald brothers' dream, and at the same time stole theirs.
At the end of the film, he writes a blank check and asks the McDonald brothers to fill in the amount themselves.
In the face of Lei, who is not what it used to be, the two brothers made concessions and sold the ownership of the McDonald's brand at the sky-high price at the time.
The world is always progressing, life must be advancing against the current, and the rule of not advancing or retreating has never changed.
Ray went from being a milkshake blender salesman to building the McDonald's empire, living out the dreams of the McDonald's brothers while eroding their control.
The complex heart of the character Lei, and the contest between the characters of the two parties, make this "The Great Entrepreneur" worth watching.
The film also touches on Ray's second marriage and an interesting history of milkshake ingredients.
Watching this film, you don't have to worry about not being able to enter the story, because history speaks for itself. Under the soft light of John Lee Hancock, this way of speaking and the volume control are just right, so that you can sink into McDonald's in the epic of imperial expansion.
Backstage reply, entrepreneur, fat brother sent you McDonald's!
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