McDonald’s Only Had To Deny The AI
McDonald's denied the AI story because it was the only part of the reporting it could deny. The coverage that made it an AI story let every franchisor walk away from the one that matters.
McDonald’s Optimal Price Is Optimal For McDonald’s
McDonald's pricing engine calculates the optimal price for the party that earns on revenue. McDonald's own documents put every consequence of that price on the franchisee, who earns on margin.
5 Money Leaks I Found Opening A Jar Of Peanut Butter
Every ad in the feed says your restaurant is leaking money. The leak is the most comfortable diagnosis anyone can sell you, because it tells you the pipe is sound. In most restaurants, the pipe is what's broken.
The Quagmire of Franchising
A bog has no author, and that is the only part of the metaphor that does not apply. Seventeen franchisee bankruptcy filings landed in 2026, from 314 restaurants down to one. Every one states a different cause because cost structures...
An Open Letter To Wendy’s Part 2: Dear Meritage
This is one of three letters. Part 1: Dear Ohio argues what a franchisor owes an operator it recruited — https://hacksterism.jeffreysummers.com/an-open-letter-to-wendys-part-1-dear-ohio/. Part 2: Dear Meritage reads out what the franchisee chose and what those choices cost — https://hacksterism.jeffreysummers.com/an-open-letter-to-wendys-part-2-dear-meritage/. Part 3:...
An Open Letter To Wendy’s Part 1: Dear Ohio
This is one of three letters. Part 1: Dear Ohio argues what a franchisor owes an operator it recruited — https://hacksterism.jeffreysummers.com/an-open-letter-to-wendys-part-1-dear-ohio/. Part 2: Dear Meritage reads out what the franchisee chose and what those choices cost — https://hacksterism.jeffreysummers.com/an-open-letter-to-wendys-part-2-dear-meritage/. Part 3:...
The Revolution You Just Read About Ended Two Years Ago
A piece about a restaurant labor model went around this week. Operators shared it, a newsletter summarized it, and it was published on September 5, 2024. Nobody in the chain checked the date, including me.
1,000 Restaurants Bought The Same Operation Last Month
There is a company selling sixty-four restaurant operating procedures for ninety-nine dollars, and every operator who buys it gets the same two hundred sixty-nine pages. The price is not the cost.
The Yes Is The Product
The vendor said yes to your exception because yes is what is for sale. It gets billed once as implementation and again as remediation, and your own books keep the two charges apart.
You Did Not Build A Restaurant, You Rented A Trend
The operator who rides a trend into a market never answers the only question that governs his outcome, because the trend answers it for him. Demand arrives without being produced, so the operation gets built to capture it rather than...
