McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), The Wendy’s Co (WEN), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI): Will Obamacare Carve Up the Restaurant Industry?

Still, the burden will fall heaviest on the smaller restaurants. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) reported almost $5.5 billion in profits last year, so it can more readily afford to pull its seat up to the table and offer health insurance for its employees. Harder to quantify, however, will be just how many restaurants at around the 50-employee threshold will simply fire a few people to ensure they don’t make the cut-off.

Standing in line at the soup kitchen
According to the National Restaurant Association, the average restaurant makes between just $0.02 and $0.06 in pre-tax profits on each dollar of sales. While that doesn’t even include all the restaurants that never make a profit and go under, it highlights that the added costs of Obamacare will have to come from one of a three sources: lower profits, higher prices, or lower wages. Maybe a combination of all three, because there’s simply little room for restaurants to maneuver.

In the end, the real lasting impact of the Affordable Care Act may not be universal health care coverage, as originally promised, but rather a nation of part-time workers paying more for our meals when we go out to eat. If we can afford to.

The article Will Obamacare Carve Up the Restaurant Industry? originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Rich Duprey.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends McDonald’s and UnitedHealth Group and owns shares of Darden Restaurants, McDonald’s, and Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA).

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