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That’s true, but McDonald’s is more of a real estate company than in the restaurant business. It’s been that way since the days of Ray Croc.

I'm familiar with that aspect, and in some ways Stan Kroenke's fortune (billionaire owner of the Rams) was derived from increased real estate values stemming from access to develop land near new Wal-marts.

But however McDonald's makes its money, you cannot pretend it wasn't a trailblazer in the food industry.

McDonald's was already the most successful operation when it added 30% revenue by adding breakfast. The Egg McMuffin IMMEDIATELY spawned imitators from mom and pop places, and from Burger King's own breakfast menu.

McNuggets created a staple with variants on school cafeteria menus, your grocer's freezer, and most kids' menus in fast casual and diner type restaurants.

McDonald's generated an unsurpassed efficiency in its drive-throughs (almost matched by Chick-Fil-A's) which mow generate 60% of store revenues.

If McDonald's didn't innovate, adapt and run things the way they had, the real estate would not have been nearly so valuable. Also, now that the stores are near saturation (at least stateside), it is even more important to maintain the value proposition of McDonald's as a safe bet, especially with the competition from all directions.

All well stated on what you posted. I can’t for the life of me see how their stock has gone up so much in the past 15 years or so.
Their menu is a bit dated, even for today IMHO. They were smart to make breakfast an all day offering. Especially for those of us who like biscuits and mcmuffins at 3pm with fries.

McDonalds Corporate (and Franchise Owners) really need to work on customer service and attitudes for their employees however. It makes me pass them by half the time.