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McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

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Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#121

Post by toomanybeersies »

fraserharris wrote: post #112
mbrookes wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other chains (ie: Burger King) have had more significant problems with enforcing franchise standards. Why have Burger King in particular had this problem?

ie -> in example. Burger King is the only example I explicitly recall.

i.e. -> id est. Usually translated to English as "That is". Implying that subject is the definite case.

Stealing from wiktionary: "The three U.S. states on the west coast have mild seasonal variations in temperature (i.e., warm winters and cool summers)."

e.g. -> exempli gratia. Usually translated to English as "For example". Implying that the subject is simply one example of many.

Stealing from wiktionary again: "Continents (e.g., Asia) contain many large bodies of water."

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#122

Post by [deleted] »

fraserharris wrote: post #112
mbrookes wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other chains (ie: Burger King) have had more significant problems with enforcing franchise standards. Why have Burger King in particular had this problem?

ie -> in example. Burger King is the only example I explicitly recall.

[deleted]

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#123

Post by [deleted] »

fraserharris wrote: post #112
mbrookes wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other chains (ie: Burger King) have had more significant problems with enforcing franchise standards. Why have Burger King in particular had this problem?

ie -> in example. Burger King is the only example I explicitly recall.

[deleted]

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#124

Post by mbrookes »

fraserharris wrote: post #112
mbrookes wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other chains (ie: Burger King) have had more significant problems with enforcing franchise standards. Why have Burger King in particular had this problem?

ie -> in example. Burger King is the only example I explicitly recall.

Ah, right, no. "i.e." is an abbreviation for the Latin "id est", meaning "that is".

"For example" would be "e.g.", ("exempli gratia" in Latin.)

"E.g." is illustrative, whereas "i.e." is exhaustive.

I hadn't heard "i.e." expanded to "in example" before - that explains one source of misunderstanding (despite being grammatically incorrect in its own right).

Edit: It seems you've since been unfairly downvoted for explaining what you meant. Please folks, don't do that. I asked the question, and @fraserharris answered honestly.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#125

Post by Mz »

Diamons wrote: post #49
pitt1980 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you might enjoy: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2484147-lessons-... from Ed Weissman (who's #6 in overall karma on HN)

Enjoyed the read overall but one line stuck out: "- I take one bite out of my cold Big Mac and eat one cold fries and throw it all out." You have to be a special kind of asshole to throw away meat and food instead of just saying the food is cold.

The article indicates he tried to suggest to the employee that his fries should not be sitting on a tray getting cold while waiting for a burger and got ignored, nor should a burger be cold if you had to wait for it. I am not even convinced he was being literal. That reads to me as possible hyperbole to emphasize the point that he only goes when it has been so long that he has forgotten how bad it is.

Plus, see other remarks here about how 40% of food goes to waste for various reasons.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#126

Post by rangibaby »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #24
elevensies wrote: post #4

What impresses me most about McDonald's is the highly effective and efficient incentive structure. You have the franchise owner who is very committed financially and can make a high income, plus lots of low cost labor following a very precise process. And they seem to be able to replicate it at almost any scale. What impresses me least about McDonald's is their ruthless child-targeted advertising. EDIT: in sort of a…

What is wrong with advertising to children? They don't have any money, the parents can always say no or the kids can learn quickly how to determine if they should do what ads tell them to do. They will greatly need that skill in modern America. Teach them early haha.

http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/kid-marketing/

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#127

Post by matt4077 »

tunap wrote: post #74
dboreham wrote: post #9

"Retail-as-Real-Estate" plays don't always work. e.g. Sears, KMart.

Losses are useful, too! McD's has been renting a lot in my town(85331) for 5+ years now, and yet to break ground. ~6 months ago the local "fish wrapper" ran a story on this very topic. As an aside, back when oil was >$100/barrel Exxon/Mobile had numerous boarded up properties around Phoenix with For Sale/Lease signs that were neither for sale or lease, as the losses/write downs were valued to dilute the windfall prof…

That makes no sense. Sure, you can make a $1 loss to save 50 cents in taxes. Or 5 cents, in the US. But why would you?

Also, real estate investments don't actually have a direct impact on profits when reporting on accrual basis (as all larger companies are required to). Those costs can only be deducted over time (something like 10 years for buildings).

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#128

Post by linkregister »

betenoire wrote: post #80
linkregister wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might not want to visit a farm, processing plant, warehouse, grocery store, or restaurant. They all throw away enormous amounts of food. Throwing away a Big Mac because it got too cold is a rounding error in perspective. That said, we produce more food than we ever have. Is there a difference to starving people whether a grain of wheat went ungrown or was wasted? What was the author meant to do, walk the hamburge…

My head agrees with you. My mom's voice in my head fills me with guilt.

Mine too. I have the terrible habit of finishing all the food on my plate, even though 1/4 of it will be converted to fat/simple sugars. Our portions are much bigger than those our parents had.

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#129

Post by yodon »

cat199 wrote: post #57
ghaff wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at movie theaters. They make all their money to a first approximation from popcorn and soda. The movie is just the loss leader that gets people in the door. It's also where the now much-mocked "super sizing" comes from. They can up the revenue per meal while upping the cost by almost nothing.

I'd agree if you are talking about the 'movie industry' - While yes, what you describe is true - part of this has to do with the film rights pricing which is mandated by the studios/distributors, so even if a theater wanted to structure things differently, they could not.. Of course many of the major theatre chains are also related to the studios, so it gets a bit hard to see which end is up.. but I digress

> many of the major theater chains are also related to the studios

No, at least not in the US. In one of the key anti-trust decisions, the Supreme Court declared in 1948 that it was prohibited monopolistic behavior for a major studio to own a theater chain.[0]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_P....

Re: McDonald's Real Estate: How They Really Make Their Money (2015)

#130

Post by rexf »

malza wrote: post #82
ghaff wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at movie theaters. They make all their money to a first approximation from popcorn and soda. The movie is just the loss leader that gets people in the door. It's also where the now much-mocked "super sizing" comes from. They can up the revenue per meal while upping the cost by almost nothing.

> Look at movie theaters. I don't think it was like that in the beginning. Running a cinema (movie theater) was a normal business until Hollywood milked it to the extreme. They created their own chains of multiplexes in many countries to push their idea of how the business should work. These days modern cinemas are built like tourist traps with customers having to either walk through/past chain restaurants or having…

> customers having to either walk through/past chain restaurants or having to find some weird side door to enter directly

Having lived in NYC & LA, I've not had to walk through some weird side door to enter movie theaters. Theaters are straightforward: a lobby for tickets, a station where a person checks your ticket, the concession stand (overpriced food & drinks), and the theater doors.

Oftentimes theaters are located in crowded shopping areas with dining options, but you don't get lost since the theater physically takes up so much space and has signage everywhere directing you to the prominent entrance.

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