Here's an interesting thought experiment: if we removed the profit motive, would McDonald's exist? Because virtually everyone involved in a McDonald's doesn't particularly like it, in my experience. I've never once (well, past the age of 10 anyway) gone to a McDonald's
excited to be there. We end up there when some combination of:
1) Bad life experiences
2) Other restaurants being busy
3) My wife and I are too mentally wrecked to cook food
Has occurred. It's not a good thing. We're there because it's (relatively) cheap, it probably won't make us sick, and it's reasonably fast.
It's also worth noting that a bunch of the above happens specifically because both ourselves and every other business we engage with, including our employers, is also subject to the profit motive, and that's probably contributing to our being in a McDonald's in the first place. Anyway...
The McDonald's franchisee wants to own a business, for their own economic benefit. Would they have started a McDonald's if not for the profit motive? Or would they have started a different business, one they'd be more proud of or innately interested in?
The McDonald's worker certainly doesn't want to be there. The pop culture version is this is a pimply kid wanting money for high school parties and the like, but they're also increasingly comprised of working low-income adults. They don't wanna be there, they have to be, or their landlord's profit motive will cost them their home. And they're certainly not happy to be doing what they're doing. I've never seen a McDonald's worker in my life who's proud of the product they serve. And they shouldn't be, it's minimum-viable-food.
I say all of this to say: the person who owns the McDonald's isn't happy about it, apart from the money they make from it. If they do. The person making and selling McDonald's food isn't happy. The person buying McDonald's food isn't happy (unless they're a small kid). So like... what is this for? How many of these restaurants operate? A quick google says 41,800. 41,800 restaurants, owned by people who don't necessarily want to own a restaurant, staffed by people who don't want to staff one, selling food people don't like, to people who probably don't want it, apart from it being a good alternative to not eating.
How much human effort goes into the concept of McDonald's on the daily? To do something nobody wants to do? To make and distribute food that nobody seems to actually like?