[kwlug-disc] AI and social justice

[Chris Frey]

On Thu, May 28, 2026 at 02:14:12PM -0400, John Sellens wrote:
> I believe that this is the operating margin for the management
> corporation, and not the margin for restaurants.  I think roughly 95% of
> Mcdonald's locations are franchises, so the bulk of the restaurant revenue
> and expenses will not show up in the McDonald's Corporation results.

I wondered about that.  You could very well be right.

Does anyone know how to look at the financials of an average
McDonalds franchise? :-)


John Van Ostrand wrote:
> I worked in the restaurant industry for about 8 years and managed one for
> about 2 years. Economies of scale make it hard to compete. Most smaller
> restaurants run on a 1/3 labour, cost 1/3 food cost and almost 1/3
> overhead+profit. It's a business with slim margins. McDonalds can fine tune
> the entire process and can spend millions in R&D shaving a fraction of a
> percent in costs. The small guy doesn't have any R&D money and barely any ad
> budget and certainly doesn't have teams of experts trying to improve
> efficiency.

Actually, if someone has financial data on any local restaurant,
I'd love to see it, merely for curiosity reasons.

- Chris