The demise of Red Lobster is (not at all) surprisingly due to hedge fund shenanigans. Virtually the same playbook - because it's the same people doing it - as Olive Garden. Also explains healthcare cost explosion, and many others. Really easy read ... I mean, depressing as hell, so I guess easy to understand but hard to read.

Or it wouldn't have back in the late 90's / early 00's. My brother-in-law had a regional exec come speak to his finance class. He said you wouldn't be wrong to see McDonald's as a real estate holding company that also sells burgers.

If you wanted a franchise, they didn't ask for your restaurant experience. They'd ask for the location. They'd run the numbers on people living/working within x radius, foot traffic, car traffic, ease of access, other restaurants nearby, etc. You meet the criteria and have the capital, you get the franchise. They'll tell you how to make the burgers.

If someone suggested they sell all their land to goose the quarterly dividend, they'd have laughed you out of the room. In many ways McDs represents everything wrong with society today, except they know how to plan for the long haul.