[tim333]

>During the 2008 recession, McDonald’s leaned heavily on this facet of their business as they capitalized on an anemic property market – buying up more of the land and buildings where it operates.

I think a lot of why real estate works for them is that the business is not affected by recessions - they may even sell more burgers if people can't afford fancy places. So they can buy real estate cheap when others can't.