McDonalds survived doubling the price of ground beef
But can’t survive a minimum wage increase
Yes, by passing on costs to consumers.
Which if the consumers refuse to pay the higher price, then no.... they can't survive.
Doubling the cost of beef? When did this happen?
2010
Um.... no.
The price of beef, has increased barely $1 per lbs, over a period of decades. It's been slowly going up year over year, since the mid-90s.
It most certainly did not double in one year, from 2009, to 2010.
Ridiculous.
Now you might ask the question how can McDonald's handle the cost of beef going up, but not a minimum wage going up?
The answer is simple.... higher prices.
All costs are passed onto the consumer. All of them. There is no cost, whether it is the cost of payroll, or the cost of beef, that is not passed onto consumers.
Further, the cost of beef, is actually not a major cost to the store. It just isn't. It may seem like it should be, since they are primarily a burger joint, but in reality the full cost of a single big mac, in terms of food costs, is only 80¢. So out of that $4.80 for a big mac, only 80¢ is the food. That means the cost of the beef used, is less than 80¢ because that 80¢ includes the buns, the cheese, the onions, the sauce, and whatever else that is on it.
So what is the other $4? All profit? No, because if it was all profit, McDonald's would be raking in Trillions instead of Billions.
Of course you have store overhead, and you have to pay for the paper supplies, like the wrapper you put the burger in, and the bag, and so on.
But the single biggest expense, is exactly as the person before pointed out.... payroll. If you increase the price of beef, even by 100%.... we're still talking pennies per burger.
But if you increase payroll by 100%, we're talking $600,000.
Additionally, you seem to be equating a slow increase over 20 years, with a minimum wage increase over 2 years. Not at all comparable.