CompanyGraph
McDonald's Corporation
MCD · NYSE Arca · United States
Holds master leases on 43,000+ quick-service restaurant sites across 115+ countries, extracting rent from franchisees who cannot operate the brand without occupying company-controlled property.
The company controls each franchisee's physical site through a master lease, which converts brand compliance and rent payment into a single contractual obligation — defaulting on either triggers termination, binding financial performance to operational standards through one instrument. Because every new site requires individual lease negotiation, local permitting, and market analysis in a 12-to-24-month sequence that cannot be centralized or automated, franchisee capital and consumer demand cannot accelerate the pipeline, making site acquisition the rate-limiter on all expansion. The same fixed lease obligations that generate rent regardless of sales volume become a liability when minimum wage increases or commodity cost shocks compress franchisee operating capacity, because a wave of defaults leaves the company holding vacant properties with irrevocable lease costs that a pure-royalty structure would never carry. Franchisees are insulated from exit by 20-year exclusivity agreements and sunk investment in brand-specific equipment, which stabilizes the existing node network but does not relieve the real-estate sequencing constraint that governs how quickly new nodes can be added.
How does this company make money?
Monthly rent payments flow in from franchisees under the real estate leases the company holds on each location. Royalty payments are collected as a percentage of each franchisee's gross sales, typically in the 4–5% range. Initial fees are charged when new location rights are granted to franchisees. Company-operated stores in select markets generate direct sales alongside the franchised network.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Franchisee territorial exclusivity agreements, typically structured as 20-year terms with renewal options, prevent operators from switching to competing brands within defined geographic areas. Franchisees also carry substantial investment in McDonald's-specific kitchen equipment, point-of-sale systems, and restaurant buildouts, all of which would require complete operational overhaul to replace.
What limits this company?
Prime commercial site acquisition and local municipal permitting extend 12 to 24 months per location, and because each site requires individual lease negotiation and approval, no amount of franchisee capital or consumer demand can accelerate the pipeline. New rent-collection nodes are gated entirely by real-estate and regulatory sequencing that resists centralization or automation.
What does this company depend on?
The network depends on Coca-Cola beverage supply agreements for fountain drinks across all locations, SYSCO and other major food distributors for frozen beef patties and standardized ingredients, Tyson Foods and Keystone Foods for chicken products, Taylor Company soft-serve ice cream machines for dessert operations, and local municipal permits for each individual restaurant site.
Who depends on this company?
40,000+ franchisees rely on the brand recognition and operational systems for customer traffic generation, and a contraction of the restaurant network would significantly reduce volumes for SYSCO and other major food distributors whose throughput is tied to the network's scale. Commercial real estate developers in secondary markets also depend on the company as an anchor tenant for strip mall developments, meaning a reduction in new site openings affects those projects directly.
How does this company scale?
Standardized operational procedures, supply chain purchasing power, and brand marketing replicate cheaply across new locations through franchise systems and training programs. Site selection and real estate acquisition resist scaling because each location requires individual market analysis, lease negotiation, and local permitting processes that cannot be automated or centralized.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Minimum wage legislation in major markets directly affects franchisee operating costs and willingness to expand. Commodity price volatility for beef and wheat moves food costs across the supply chain. Consumer health consciousness trends reduce demand for traditional fast-food offerings.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
The fixed lease obligations that produce rent income persist regardless of individual restaurant sales volume, so a wave of franchisee defaults — triggered by minimum wage increases or commodity cost shocks that compress franchisee operating margins — converts the landlord position from income source to liability, saddling the company with vacant properties carrying irrevocable lease costs that a pure-royalty franchisor would never absorb.
Supply Chain
Seafood Supply Chain
The seafood supply chain is shaped by three root constraints: wild catch uncertainty where ocean fisheries are biological systems whose yields depend on weather, migration patterns, and stock health — none of which are controllable; extreme perishability where seafood degrades faster than almost any other protein and the cold chain must begin on the vessel and cannot be interrupted; and traceability gaps where seafood passes through auctions, processors, and distributors across multiple countries, making origin verification structurally difficult.
Coffee Supply Chain
The coffee supply chain moves beans, roasted coffee, and espresso from tropical farms to global consumers, shaped by three root constraints: coffee trees take years to mature and produce one harvest annually, roasted coffee degrades in weeks while green beans store for months, and production is concentrated in the tropical belt while consumption is concentrated outside it.
Beef Supply Chain
The beef supply chain is shaped by three root constraints: a biological growth cycle that delays production response by 18 to 24 months, a cold chain dependency that requires unbroken refrigeration from slaughter through retail, and processing concentration where four companies handle roughly 85% of US beef — a structure driven by the capital intensity and regulatory burden of large-scale slaughter facilities.