McDonalds is a real estate company, not a hamburger company. Corporate often owns the land the restaurant sits on and they charge the franchisee rent. I presume they could raise the rent or kick the franchisee out if they fail to live up to the required standards. I don't know that other franchise operations have the degree of corporate control that McDonalds has.
I hate seeing this repeated because it is plainly untrue despite being technically true.
An attention grabbing headline that feels smart but is really just careful half-truth writing.
McDonald's chargers fees that are a percentage of a stores gross sales and rent that is usually a base fee plus a percentage of sales.
What they are actually doing is folding part of the food sales cut into rent so they can evict you if they don't like you.
So while "McDonald's is actually a real estate company" gets clicks, the truth is they are a hamburger company with a huge cash flow from selling burgers, which they funnel through "Rent" for control. They also do own a ton of commercial real estate, but they aren't cashing out on that.
https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burg...