"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“You would think the McDonalds owners/franchisees could afford the upgrades out of their own pocket? 100K per store is really not that much.”
There are often advantages to borrowing to make these upgrades, such as deductibility of interest. Yes, I know that deductions are by definiton a subset of actual outlays, but still. Believe me, not every McDonald’s is a “license to print money”. I knew a guy who owned 5 of them, he said only one made enough money to really be worth it. That’s another point; many owners own multiple locations, and the upgrade cost for a slug of 4 or 5 or 8 locations can amount to more cash than the owner is willing to toss out all at once; yet the qty discounts associated with buying that much gear at once can be an economic benefit. Ergo: Big slug of dough req’d; ergo; loan or lease often more desirable than outright cash purchase.
Any small business owner that will succeed long term won't leave $100K sitting on the shelf. They will leverage it out to $1M or more using lines of credit and invest in growing their business.
And that's a very good thing.