Yes Mc Donald Corp gets its money through rent/franchise fees, they only rent to MC D operators though, who get their income from the sale of food. should the food fail, so will the real estate, as who will pay marked up fees to rent a building that doesn't serve hundreds of people a day.  Their real estate is reliant on the food. With out their food, there is no reason for them to buy/lease land, build a building, and rent it.  If real estte was more important to them, they would of branched out more in that area, instead of using it as means to keep a tight control on their franchises (and thus their food).

I'm not going to argue with you, but suggest you read about Ray Kroc and his vision for the company.  There are one of the largest real estate owners in the world.  At times even challenging the Roman Catholic Church in value holdings. 

Food is and has always been secondary if not lower. 

Here is a place to start:  http://money.howstuffworks.com/mcdonalds2.htm

Kinda like what is Sony's main business?  That's right, insurance.

i know what you mean. I have read a lot about Mc D's. Again I say, they only hold real estate becasue they sell food. Its not a seperate priority from real estate. real estate serves the food side. Yes they make more oney from rent, as do most franchises. But there is no rent if there is no food. Mc D's has revolutioned food in cleaniness, in constistency, and speed. In fact i was just reading that article, how funny. I point you to this page http://money.howstuffworks.com/mcdonalds4.htm and on the procedding page that talks about real estate

"That all changed in 1956 when he hired Sonneborn, who convinced him that the real money was in real estate. Sonneborn's idea was to have the McDonald's company lease a plot of land and the building for each restaurant. The company would then sublease to the franchisee who would run the restaurant. Sonneborn further developed the plan to eventually take out mortgages to own both the building and the land. [source: Love]. Kroc soon established the Franchise Realty Corp. to find willing landowners.

­­At first, McDonald's charged franchisees markups of 20 percent of lease costs, but it eventually increased this to 40 percent. Franchisees were responsible for insurance and taxes, ensuring a steady profit for the company as long as the restaurant stayed in business.

­But that's not all: The rent due to McDonald's could be even more if the restaurant was doing well. The franchisee had to pay either the stipulated lease markup or 5 percent of the sales -- whichever was higher. Kroc and Sonneborn also requested up-front security deposits from the franchisees. Unbeknownst to the franchisee, this capital would fund the opening of more restaurants. Overall, this created a symbiotic relationship between the franchisee and the company -- McDonald's Corp. had a vested interest in the ongoing success of its individual restaurants"

Their real estate was a means to an end to hold more control over franchisees, to make their franchise reastaurants more successfulso they could make more money in rent and fees. It relies on the food(and service) to keep the rent coming. no good food, no more rent. Its a common practice for franchises to operate this way, but they still must have good food, profitable food, to keep franchise owners paying rent/fees

$9 - 10 USD is what you make at any fast food restaurant within one year of work. I don't see why they would demand a higher wage floor if they aren't planning on working there very long.

The real problem I have isn't the minimum wage, but the upcoming healthcare legislation. $7.25 an hour won't exactly buy you a $250,000 4-bedroom home, but what really determines how much money you earn is the hours you work. If you have a roommate or two you can do it, but I'm not gonna lie: you really need to work overtime, have good money skills, or get promoted ASAP.

The problem is the healthcare bill, which says any not-small-business employer has to give healthcare to any employee who works more than 30 hours a week. Predictably enough, fast food joints in particular are no longer hiring for positions with more than 29 hours. In my particular circumstance? this puts me at least about twelve hours a week short of where I need to be--fifteen if I get a second job because I'm no longer pulling overtime--it makes more sense for my employer to hire another hand than to let me do what I'm already trained for.

In so many words, healthcare's unintended consequence is that it RATIONS MINIMUM WAGE LABOR.

So yeah, the wage is not really the problem. The number of hours you're working is the problem.

Work that to the logical point:

Forcing arbitrary minimums cause people to lose hours and wages. This is why I hate minimum wage laws: It tells the business that an employee has to create a certain level of value to be useful. This leads to the company hiring less, and paying less to good workers.

Imagine a scenario where a company has to hire 5 people for a job, so it does so. But all 5 employees are not equally skilled or able at the job, and it is an arguably menial job. In an optimal scenario, the company can pay each employee based on work output. However, if the job's wages are close to minimum wage, this cannot be accomplished, since there is a mandatory floor. The end result is likely to be wage suppression for those with better skills, and potentially less hours overall, because the job cannot utilize the better workers more efficiently, and has to over-pay for the worse workers.

I think the whole thing is looking at the problem wrong.

It shouldn't be "Is what fast food workers are paid a living wage"

so much as "Why are people who are working fast food jobs, doing so to make a living wage.".


Minimum wage jobs shouldn't be primary sources of income. That so many people are working there as their primary source of income is the problem in the first place.  Ideally jobs like this should be for teenagers and secondary jobs for a stay at home parent.  That and maybe a few looking to transition into management on a "Management Track" Job.


I feel like in focusing on making sure shit jobs pay just enough to get buy, we let middleclass jobs slip away from the country.


I think that's why countries like Denmark and Germany find a way to keep their good jobs.

It's a good thing, these fast food companies make huge profits, it's time for it to reach the workers. What do shareholders and bosses do exactly to deserve what they get?

it wouldn't matter if all the good manufacturing and service jobs had stayed in the country. 

Own and run a company where a product is in high demand and labor is in low demand.

Low skill wages are paid low for a reason, lets take a simplistic abstract example.

Say you've got two companies of 3 workers each.

They each send out mass emails via button press.

One is the owner, who has put up the money for the company,  One is the manager and a third is a guy who presses a button.

One company is far more successful then the other because the owner put up more money, and the Manager got better deals per click.

The guys pressing the buttons are doing the exact same thing, just as well as each other.

Why would the guy who pushes buttons for the richer company be paid significantly more.  Espeically when there are 8 guys out there willing to push buttons for the same price?

Say the successful company gets bigger, they add a second button pusher.  The manager gets a big raise (rightfully) for expanding buisness so much.  That makes sense right?   

The problem with low skill jobs is just that.  They're low skill, so those workers don't really contribute as much to the companies profits as they make even now.

All a raise in wages might change is an increase in automation.  Since a lot of the fast food industry coould be a lot more automized, it just doesn't make sense at the moment wage wise.   I mean heck, your from Europe, you should know more then anybody.

In europe they have Automats and a LOT more "Self order" screens where you place your own order by computer.   

As a employee at a fast food restaurant for over a year now, and a manager. I can firmly say that alot of you clearly are out of touch with the current economic situation.

Among the crew-members I manage about half of them graduated from college, are students, and or minors. The problem isn't that they should get low pay because they aren't skilled enough to earn more, it's that since minors get paid less than adults period, $7.40 just isn't acceptable wages for the line of work my employees are in.  i'm not sure if this goes for every fast food restaurant but the one I manage is downright hell. You get burned alot, it's A TON of hard physical labor under HARSH conditions, you don't get free meals, crew member get 25 hours a week, and to top it off, right now with the economy nobody in my area is really hiring.

I'm tired of seeing the whole, 'Work harder for a better paying job, get a degree" etc, speaking as if people with degrees aren't struggling at the moment as well. So per say you're underemployed, got a degree, went to a nice school and everything society requested of you...and you're stuck with 0 job opportunities. What do you tell those people? While I do agree the $15 a hour thing is humorous and overblown, I firmly believe that if a company doesn't want to cover the employees insurance, FINE, however if they're gonna give them short hours a  modest $1 - $2 in pay would definitely help, and make workers more enthusiastic, trust me, I'm a fucking manager and I only get paid $1 over minimuim wage. Job is stressful as shit and physically demanding and I hate it...but no other options at the moment as I'm still in school.

As a manager I also am responsible for putting up stock trucks...and let's just say our weekly stock comes up to 2k - 2.5k and our weekly payroll is 2.5k - 3k. Total revenue for one week averages out to $31,200. After paying other fees and utilities the restauraunt brings in 20K in profits, EASILY. And the people who literally RUN the business day in and day out get paid $8.50. 

I don't know if any of you guys were managers before but it definitely does require skill, patience, and dedication. You're on call 24/7 you're in charge of handling labor, any food gets stolen you pay for it, customer complaints, health inspections, assessments, meetings, shortages, bosses...it's all pretty hectic and to put bluntly. I've worked better jobs, for MORE money, for LESS work.

The fast food industry is making a killing on underemployed people and minorities. If other entry level jobs can pay $8+++ then why the hell can't a fast food joint can't? To put simply it's greed, they don't care about the employees nor the economy, only the profits in the franchise owner's hands....I can't wait to quit this filthy industry to be honest.