Why Aren’t Paychecks Growing? A Burger-Joint Clause Offers a Clue

Wow! That's actually really interesting! but...

It still doesn't provide for the reality that most large chains are fairly efficient, and optimized to begin with, resulting in most tasks being dumbed down to the point that actual last-mile labor activity is mostly unskilled.

Whether or not a worker in a fast food restaurant can foment a bidding war between two locations, operating the same brand, for his or her skills as a human resource, is negated by the fact that there isn't much skill beyond being a warm body. All the hard work of a fast food franchise is performed in the supply chain, by accomplishing delivery of a uniform meal across wide areas of service.

Diners, Chinese take-out and other varieties of greasy spoon don't have this problem, because there isn't anything unique about what the preparers do. The only time you see contention for personnel, is when identity and distinction separates one from another.

Rare situations such as recipe inventions, and new menu items come from innovative chefs who dream up things like the Cronut. Unless something like that is in play, this protection clause is somewhat vestigial. Most franchise agreements render such innovation impossible anyway, since deviating from branded products represents a violation of terms all its own.