The top manager. The shift managers make about that, but the top managers who mostly do paperwork and are rarely seen on the floor do better.

Does each store have multiple managers like that or is this equivalent to someone who manages a region of stores? I've worked fast-food in the past as a run-of-the-mill front line worker and wasn't aware of such a position (although that doesn't mean it doesn't exist). Particularly for the franchisees who own a single store, I'm not sure that is economically viable.

The franchise that owns a single store that is a bit less than what the owner will make (doing a lot of work in the store). Where the company owns the store that is what the top manager makes (from what I can tell the company makes about the same from a franchise or an owned store). Where the franchise owns multiple stores their income depends mostly on how much of the store work they do - but it isn't really possible to manager more than one so they have managers doing that work for them. Though it is possible they are underpaying the top managers and those top managers don't realize they could go elsewhere for more money (business often ignores fast food experience - which is normally correct but the top managers shouldn't be ignored because their experience is similar to other middle managers - less power point but otherwise similar enough)

>Where the company owns the store that is what the top manager makes

This seems to be the minority of instances, though. For example, I looked up McDonalds numbers in 2021 and only about 5% are company owned, with the rest being franchises. I think the original claim could have been worded a bit more clearly by stating those high salaries are for managers of the small percentage of company-owned stores and not necessarily generalizable to most fast food restaurants.

I don’t like to speculate but I could imagine managers at some franchises receiving a bonus based on profits or sales.