McDonald's Corporation is not, for the most part, a restaurant operator: it is the owner of a brand and a real estate portfolio, whose revenues come largely from what its franchisees pay it. The annual report itself describes the model as “heavily franchised”.
The structure of franchised restaurant revenues is explicit in the documents filed with the American regulator: it combines fees based on sales, rent, and initial fees. This is the direct legacy of the arrangement devised by Harry Sonneborn in the 1950s.
As the group is listed in New York, this information is public and verifiable: Form 10-K, filed each year, is a regulatory document certified by the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer.