The nostalgia factor is definitely real

It’s not just nostalgia. Parents will take kids to McDonald’s as a reward and then they get a toy and it’s very quickly ingrained in them that “McDonald’s = fun”. Where I grew up we didn’t have it so for me it was always just another place with bad food but I remember once overhearing some kids on a bus talking excitedly about going McDonald’s and what they are going to order there. It was like a special occasion for them.