I agree. The benefit of this system is primarily that of the corporation. You get a manager, sell them a small percent, which helps cover some (a small amount) of the location's launch costs, gets the manager committed and makes them feel like a real owner, which makes them focus on success much more... with little serious upside. Not to mention, it puts the manager at a financial loss (their initial investment), if they quit within 5 years.

I knew a managing partner of a Carrabba's. He quit something like 2 years later and bought this little burger drive through. It must have been really bad at Carrabba's...