The company said the explosive growth of delivery demand makes it critical to get restaurant locations even closer to customers for faster delivery times
This is just categorically untrue. People go to McDonalds because they want to, even if they may not want to admit it.
A McDonalds franchise is, by far, one of the most expensive franchises to own and operate. They have strict rules on where you are allowed to open one and startup costs are in the millions, most are owned by investment groups and people who own multiple franchises.
If you have a McDonald’s, you have a market. So you most certainly also have a Subway, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, etc. Some of those franchises literally just plant themselves wherever a McDonalds is placed because it’s cheaper to do that then it is to do the market research yourself.
You are very US centric. In my town there are one McD, one BK and one SubWay waay outside the downtown area. That is for a Norwegian town that has roughly 50k ppl in its "Metropolitan" area. I take the train home and besides some Sushi places (decent) and Kebab joints (awefull) I can choose BK or McD if I just walk in of the street toward the station
Obviously this won’t be 100% in every area in the world, but even in your own example you listed another cheaper franchise right nearby, therefore it is not the only option.
I haven’t been everywhere but I live in Canada and I’ve been to the US, UK and Southeast Asia and in all of those places this is true. There are towns that will literally just have a Subway or similar cheap franchise, but places with a McDonalds will almost always have another option.
Literally is now officially a contranym. And has been for many years. Although, unless you are approaching at least 200 years old, it's been effectively a contranym your whole life. So if we are being pedantic, your quip has long since been outdated.