Kate Wagner was on Trillbillies fairly recently talking about how McDonalds is leading this boring-ass architecture because it increases the resale value of the properties, and because McDonald’s is a real estate company, not a burger company, resale value is a more worthy pursuit for the company overall.
People keep suggesting this theory, but how would it actually increase real estate value? It’s still got an interior layout that you’ll have to completely gut for it to be anything other than a McDonald’s and the exterior is something you’d still be required to change in that case as well since that’s McDonald’s’ legally protected styling. It doesn’t actually help resale value any more than painting your whole house greige because the realtor said it’ll tooooootally get you an extra 30 or maybe 40 grand!
This theory also doesn’t explain how genuinely customer-hostile newer interior layouts are, because no other business could possibly find a use for this shit.
The kiosk? There are lots of kiosk restaurants. And it looks like if they don’t want to be as aggressive about it, they could take down the signs and human-interaction blockers.
It’s built so cheaply that they just have to be replaced in a much shorter amount of time. What they save on building materials and quality, they can eat when it comes profitable to sell.
Kate Wagner was on Trillbillies fairly recently talking about how McDonalds is leading this boring-ass architecture because it increases the resale value of the properties, and because McDonald’s is a real estate company, not a burger company, resale value is a more worthy pursuit for the company overall.
People keep suggesting this theory, but how would it actually increase real estate value? It’s still got an interior layout that you’ll have to completely gut for it to be anything other than a McDonald’s and the exterior is something you’d still be required to change in that case as well since that’s McDonald’s’ legally protected styling. It doesn’t actually help resale value any more than painting your whole house greige because the realtor said it’ll tooooootally get you an extra 30 or maybe 40 grand!
This theory also doesn’t explain how genuinely customer-hostile newer interior layouts are, because no other business could possibly find a use for this shit.
The kiosk? There are lots of kiosk restaurants. And it looks like if they don’t want to be as aggressive about it, they could take down the signs and human-interaction blockers.
It’s built so cheaply that they just have to be replaced in a much shorter amount of time. What they save on building materials and quality, they can eat when it comes profitable to sell.