I know it's not really related but still... this article reminded of the section in the book 'Behind The Golden Arches' that discussed that although many people think that there are too many McDonald's restaurants around, there are still more car dealerships.
And how many times do you buy a car compared to a burger?
So this article claims around 13,000 McDonald's restaurants, and I just found a page that claims 37,500 separate car and truck dealership franchises.
I don't know exactly what it is about those numbers that amaze me but every time I think about it I'm gobsmacked...
That's a good question and I really don't know. To be perfectly honest, though, in my head, at least, any number less than maybe 10 fast food restaurants to each car dealership is low on the fast food restaurant side I reckon... but again, that's just my gut feeling about the ratio.
Except, a single McDonalds can serve ~5 orders a minute. Yet, a car dealership that can sell 2 cars a day is doing Ok. Let's assume 2 cars a day over 5 years = 3,650people before you get repeat customers. (Average salesman sells 7 cars a month * 8 sales guys.)
When you say "separate ... dealership franchises", are you counting each physical location once, or once per brand? Around here, many dealerships carry multiple brands. Also, there tend to be multiple dealerships clustered together (probably due to zoning, and tax incentives that some municipalities offer), so they're not as smoothly distributed as McDonalds. Still, those are amazing numbers!
To be honest I just took the numbers from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_car_dealerships_are_in_Am... which claims to quote the National Automobile Dealers Association. More completely that page says "more than 17,000 new car and truck dealers with approximately 37,500 separate franchises" so even without the 'separate franchises' the number is still higher.
I might buy burgers more often than cars, but my total spend on buying cars is rather higher.
I'm also choosier about cars than burgers. I've never inspected 15 burgers and read their delivery history before buying one. And burgers are rather easier to store in bulk, too.
So, yeah, know what you mean but I'm not surprised cars trump fast food.
And how many times do you buy a car compared to a burger?
So this article claims around 13,000 McDonald's restaurants, and I just found a page that claims 37,500 separate car and truck dealership franchises.
I don't know exactly what it is about those numbers that amaze me but every time I think about it I'm gobsmacked...