Skip to content
Advertisement

Black-owned McDonald’s are dwindling

Advertisement
 (287792)

Many Black McDonald’s franchisees say they consider the fast-food giant to be a sort of McFamily. They have “ketchup in their veins,” dreaming of passing locations of the fast-food chain down to the next generation. But over the past decade, Black franchisees have watched the disparities between them and the rest of McDonald’s franchisees grow. Dozens have left the chain as surviving as a franchisee has become increasingly difficult for all but the ultrawealthy, reports Business Insider. Cash flow — or the cash earned minus the money spent by a business — at restaurants owned by Black franchisees is significantly less than the average cash flow of all McDonald’s restaurants, according to franchisees, former corporate employees, and internal documents viewed by Business Insider. This disparity has been getting worse. Back in 2012, the gap between the averages was less than $24,600. In 2017, the cash-flow gap was about $60,600, according to documents from the National Black McDonald’s Owners Association. Two franchisees say the gap has since grown to about $68,000. As the disparity grows, Black franchisees are cutting ties with McDonald’s. At the end of 2008, there were 304 Black McDonald’s franchisees, according to NBMOA documents. By the end of 2017, NBMOA documents showed that number had dropped to 222. Today, two franchisees said, Black franchisees make up fewer than 200 of the roughly 1,700 franchisees at McDonald’s. Interviews were done with four Black franchisees that left McDonald’s in the past three years, as well as one franchisee that is still at the company. These conversations — along with interviews with McDonald’s corporate employees and internal documents from the NBMOA, the National Owners Association, and McDonald’s corporate obtained by Business Insider — describe a system in which Black franchisees are at a systematic disadvantage. Under the leadership of Steve Easterbrook, who became CEO in 2015 and was terminated last month, a Black franchisee’s situation, on average, grew significantly worse compared to the overall franchisee base. “In general the trajectory of the treatment of African American Owners is moving backwards,” NBMOA Larry Tripplett said in a letter to McDonald’s management.

Advertisement

Latest