How McDonald's Priced Out the People Who Made It Famous

In 1948, a McDonald's hamburger cost fifteen cents. Today the company says its menu prices are up around 40% in five years, its poorest customers are disappearing, and the people who own the restaurants say they're squeezed too. At the top, McDonald's keeps about 46 cents of every dollar as operating profit, and it wants more. How did the restaurant that promised everyone could afford it end up pricing out the people who made it famous? This is the story of a burger company that became a landlord. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:55 The 15-Cent Promise 3:11 The Landlord 4:33 The Price Creep 6:14 The Customers Who Left 7:21 The Squeeze in the Middle 9:02 The $5 Band-Aid 10:13 The Plan to Earn Even More 11:50 Who Is McDonald's For Now? 13:11 Three Lessons From the Fall SOURCES & PHOTO CREDITS: see the pinned comment. Stock footage: Pexels and Pixabay. Some b-roll shots are AI-generated illustrations (no real people or events depicted). Narration is AI-generated. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (Interloper, Crypto, Darkest Child, Dark Fog) This video is commentary and analysis for educational purposes. Downfall Desk is not affiliated with McDonald's Corporation. #McDonalds #Business #FastFoodIn 1948, a McDonald's hamburger cost fifteen cents. Today the company says its menu prices are up around 40% in five years, its poorest customers are disappearing, and the people who own the restaurants say they're squeezed too. At the top, McDonald's keeps about 46 cents of every dollar as operating profit, and it wants more. How did the restaurant that promised everyone could afford it end up pricing out the people who made it famous? This is the story of a burger company that became a landlord. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:55 The 15-Cent Promise 3:11 The Landlord 4:33 The Price Creep 6:14 The Customers Who Left 7:21 The Squeeze in the Middle 9:02 The $5 Band-Aid 10:13 The Plan to Earn Even More 11:50 Who Is McDonald's For Now? 13:11 Three Lessons From the Fall SOURCES & PHOTO CREDITS: see the pinned comment. Stock footage: Pexels and Pixabay. Some b-roll shots are AI-generated illustrations (no real people or events depicted). Narration is AI-generated. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (Interloper, Crypto, Darkest Child, Dark Fog) This video is commentary and analysis for educational purposes. Downfall Desk is not affiliated with McDonald's Corporation. #McDonalds #Business #FastFood