4 ms·

> There's an environment ripe for disruption. Hah, good luck with a business in which your plan is to allow people to linger for hours after a $1 purchase. C

by Mikeb85 13y ago

> There's an environment ripe for disruption. Hah, good luck with a business in which your plan is to allow people to linger for hours after a $1 purchase. Cafés tolerate lingering only as long as you regularly purchase a worthwhile amount of their product (ie. buy a $5 coffee every day, maybe a sandwich and pastry, etc...). Furthermore, McDonald's restaurants are franchises, which means each location has a different owner, usually someone who's clawed their way into the middle class and saved up some money to start a business. Not the corporate fat-cats that no doubt come to mind when thinking of McDonald's. It's not like a location with adequate seating and business can make up lost revenues for another location.

learc83 13y ago
>usually someone who's clawed their way into the middle class and saved up some money to start a business I'm not sure about that. From quick research, it looks like they generally require about $750,000 in liquid assets to open a franchise. That's a bit more than clawing your way into the middle class. Also, most of the McDonald's I've been too, (and I pay attention to this) are part of a multi-store franchise.
- Mikeb85 13y ago
  While $750,000 is a lot of money, it's still middle class, and generally (around here anyway) restaurant franchise owners are those who are upwardly mobile, as opposed to educated and already in the upper classes of society. And yes, those who open one franchise successfully are likely to open more. However where I live, about half the McDonald's restaurants I used to visit as a kid are now Chinese and Indian restaurants...
  - learc83 13y ago
    >While $750,000 is a lot of money, it's still middle class Many sociologists consider anyone with a net worth of more than $1,000,000 rich (someone with $750k in cash likely has a net worth north of a million). Granted, that number is somewhat arbitrary and it depends on where you live. Your original description of the average McDonald's owner was of someone who clawed his way into the middle class. Implying that he started out poor and saved up until he could afford to buy a business. This may (or may not) be true of other less expensive franchises, but based on the available evidence, I'd wager that a very small percentage of McDonald's owners fit this description.

by Mikeb85 13y ago

learc83 13y ago

>usually someone who's clawed their way into the middle class and saved up some money to start a business I'm not sure about that. From quick research, it looks like they generally require about $750,000 in liquid assets to open a franchise. That's a bit more than clawing your way into the middle class. Also, most of the McDonald's I've been too, (and I pay attention to this) are part of a multi-store franchise.

Mikeb85 13y ago
While $750,000 is a lot of money, it's still middle class, and generally (around here anyway) restaurant franchise owners are those who are upwardly mobile, as opposed to educated and already in the upper classes of society. And yes, those who open one franchise successfully are likely to open more. However where I live, about half the McDonald's restaurants I used to visit as a kid are now Chinese and Indian restaurants...
- learc83 13y ago
  >While $750,000 is a lot of money, it's still middle class Many sociologists consider anyone with a net worth of more than $1,000,000 rich (someone with $750k in cash likely has a net worth north of a million). Granted, that number is somewhat arbitrary and it depends on where you live. Your original description of the average McDonald's owner was of someone who clawed his way into the middle class. Implying that he started out poor and saved up until he could afford to buy a business. This may (or may not) be true of other less expensive franchises, but based on the available evidence, I'd wager that a very small percentage of McDonald's owners fit this description.