When you think McDonalds, you think of burgers, fries, happy meals or the sundae machine always being broken.
But did you know that they own over $30 billion in real estate?
And yes, that’s Billion!
Arguably the most recognisable fast food chain in the world, 85% of thier stores are owned by franchisees whom pay McDonalds to use their brand name, propriety processes, and trademarked menu items. However, unlike other franchises, McDonalds owns the land the stores are built on.
And between burgers and land, McDonalds makes a lot more money from land. A lot more!
They own thousands of pieces of iconic real estate all around the world, from New York City’s Time Square to Moscow’s Red Square. McDonalds has ventured all around the world buying up top pieces of real estate.
Franchisees pay McDonalds a percentage of their food sales, however a much larger portion of McDonalds revenue comes from the rent that’s paid on it’s real estate because rent in NYC Times Square isn’t cheap, but a Big Mac is, right.
In the 2016 film “The Founder” which shares the history of McDonalds, the turning point for Ray Croc (the “Founder” of what we know as McDonalds today), was when he was told ” you don’t build an empire off a 1.4% cut of a 15cent burger, you build it by owning the land on which the burger is cooked”
It was with this stroke of genius from his soon to be adviser and friend, that Croc started to choose the restaurant locations, buy the land and become the landlord to his franchisees and the rest is history.
It just goes to show the power of property in the past, today and in the future.
Many thought McDonalds was a leader in fast food because of the innovative speedy system (cut down waiting times from 30mins, to 30seconds which was unheard of in the 50s and 60s), and cheap meals, but what actually created their empire was property. Over 33,000 pieces of real estate all over the world, and guess what, they’re buying more and more every day.
It makes you realise that the possibilities with real estate are endless. Whether you want to buy just one property to pay off the home you live in, or if you want to create a multi-billion dollar empire. The key has been and always will be property, the question is, are you going to keep thinking about it, or are you going to do what Ray Croc did and take action today so you can build your ideal future tomorrow?
