Agree with your assumptions and conclusions. Especially impact of Starbucks on indies. Just adding some color. Insiders regard McDonalds as a real estate compa

Agree with your assumptions and conclusions. Especially impact of Starbucks on indies. Just adding some color. Insiders regard McDonalds as a real estate company, not a burger franchiser. Similarly, back in the day, Starbucks' real estate group was their secret sauce, IMHO. They knew exactly how much revenue a store would generate. So while they likely paid more than that indie owner, they most definitely did not over pay. I assume they've only become more sophisticated since. Source: Worked in Store Planning, wrote some tools to help the architects draft designs based on budgets provided by real estate group.