[0xy]

Would McDonalds Corp rather sell let's say 1,000 ice creams for $1,000 total at a 2% cut ($20) or an ice cream machine repair (maybe $1,000)?

They're fleecing the franchisees via repairs.

[Aloisius]

Why would McDonald's corporate be getting paid for machine repairs?

The repairs are handled by local distributors of Taylor machines. Taylor itself makes money on replacement parts and machines.

There haven't been any allegations of kickbacks to McDonald's corporate, so I don't get it.

[tuukkah]

Thank you for pointing this out! This kind of a simple revenue calculation can be highly insightful.