Ed Elson

I think this is about GLP-1.

And that is one in eight, 30 million Americans are on GLP-1s.

The population of Texas is on GLP-1s now.

And you don't go into a Wendy's

and eat a double Whopper or whatever the fuck they serve is, and then leave and think, wow, that was a good idea.

Wow, that made all kinds of sense, supersizing my McDonald's meal at Newark Airport.

By the way, that's an amazing meal, Newark Airport McDonald's, shout out.

It's like supposedly one in three times a pack of cigarettes is sold, the person buying it is swearing to themselves it's gonna be their last pack ever.

You typically don't walk out of fast food thinking, great idea, great idea.

You need cheap calories because it's gotten so expensive.

We subsidize beef, we subsidize water, and people are so time-starved from working so fucking hard that if you're a single mother, I used to eat fast food all the time when I was growing up with my mom, because quite frankly, it was the most affordable means of getting cheap calories.

and it was convenient, it was fast, it was easy.

Unfortunately, it is really bad for you because they're engineered to addict you with salty, sugary, and fatty food that we couldn't find on the Savannah several thousand years ago.

And it's just really bad for you.

And what do you know, GLP-1s come... There's something like 20% of America eats at McDonald's once or twice a day.

And I gotta think GLP-1s are starting to kick in here.

I just don't...

The economics of a franchise model are somewhat at play here, and that is the labor model worked, or the franchise model worked when labor was cheap, interest rates were low, and consumers weren't counting calories.

All of that is broken, but more than anything, people are having an easier time driving by a jack-in-the-box and driving by it.

and just saying, I'm gonna go home and eat kale, or I'm gonna go home and have a bowl of, you know, whatever it is, a bowl of cereal, or I'm just not that hungry.