Former McDonald's CEO Ed Rensi wrote in Forbes magazine recently a union-led campaign raise the hourly minimum wage would compel McDonald's to replace human staff with electronic kiosks. He points out that most McDonald's outlets are owned by independent franchise operators, who earn "roughly" 6 cents on the dollar "after paying for food, staff costs, rent and other expenses." One of those expenses is the 12 percent McDonald's charges these operators in royalties, which also puts pressure on them to keep payroll costs down. McDonald's Corp. has earned between 17 cents and 21 cents on the dollar from its operations, including revenue collected from franchise operators.
