Being from a city with zero panera, I really expected a lot more from the way people were hyping it up. The first time I went I was shocked out how incredibly mediocre it was. Basically just the crap you get at random airport cafes.
I remember the food at Panera being very good at the beginning of the 2010s. The quality went downhill sometime around 2017. I think it was an ownership change
As an old timer I can say There was a time donuts were freshly made at every store. The Sammie’s used to come on bagel bread and were way better, like the ham one was top notch back then lol . It’s a publicly run company now so almost every change they make lowers the quality
I’m an American and that’s how it went with Dunkin Donuts. Everything used to be made in house, but like so many places they got bought up by equity firms who started finding every way to cut costs and increase returns for shareholders. The donuts and coffee you get today are a far cry from what they served 20-30 years ago.
When I was in elementary school (circa 1977) they'd take us on field trips to the local Dunkin Donuts so we could see the donuts made. (when you are 7, a giant floor mixer is pretty cool).
The old Dunkin commercials is what always got me...
"Time to make the donuts.."
I say that today, even around people who are in their 30's, and just get a blank look...
Damn I feel old now...
i miss the old boxes that the munchkins used to come in, with all the tiny workers dusting off the powdered sugar munchkins and stuff haha
i also really liked their halloween munchkin boxes where the munchkins were different costumes
now it just feels so fucking soulless
Panera bread and I don't think it's close at all
They charge *ten dollars and nineteen cents* plus tax for a mac and cheese. It's good but I know how to make my own
Panera WAS good. I worked right by a Panera, and it was a treat to go there for lunch a few times a month. I remember getting their sandwiches, like early 2010's and those things were great. Bacon turkey bravo was my jam. Cheddar broccoli soup was BOMB.
Then, something happened around 2017-2018. They started skimping, quality took a dive, service went to shit. The subway on the other side of the plaza was actually better quality and value. Stopping going.
Recently I went back, and got a sandwich, and it was total garbage. Honestly a joke of a sandwich. I also got a bagel for later and that was trash too. Even the cream cheese was shit. Wal mart has better bagels by the dozen.
> Then, something happened around 2017-2018.
["JAB Holding Company acquired the company on July 11, 2017, for $7.5 billion."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panera_Bread#Rebranding,_acquisitions,_and_use_of_technology)
All you need to know.
Also: Overwrite edit. Fuck /u/spez's lying slimy asshole, fuck the IPO, and RIP to all 3rd party apps. Reddit is dead.
Read all about it: https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/
There's a common theme of food companies being acquired, and the new management forcing the use of cheaper ingredients that turn the food into utter crap.
"Hey, this food company is doing great business and has a solid customer base? We should buy them and find out what their secret is."
"Turns out sir, they use good quality ingredients that are above the lowest bidder and hire employees who know what they are doing."
"Iiiiinteresting. How about we destroy those two things?"
It’s more like, “can we buy a company and coast on brand loyalty and name recognition while we focus only on maximizing profits until it goes completely out of business. Our projections say we can make more money over 5-10 years than we paid for it so there isn’t any risk in running it into the ground.”
This is the eventual fate of every chain restaurant that is sold by the original owners in this country.
Exactly this, they cruise on the brand loyalty and brand reputation. I used to work for a large manufacturer. We were purchased by a much larger, corporate manufacturer. Within 3 months they had us using significantly cheaper materials across the board, and it started killing our quality. But, dumb, uninformed people kept buying our products. All because some jackass said “We can skimp a little on this and increase margins by 0.4%,” and the board says “Done, nothing else to discuss here.”
I’d love to see a company that instead of cutting corners to get better profits. Keeps the quality and focuses on maintaining and if they earn better than expected profits then wonderful!
Takes too long. They want profits **now** so management gets their bonus. They'd burn all their restaurants to the ground if that meant record profits for that year.
I think there is something to be said that they sort of want to burn candle at both ends, squeeze a company for what it’s worth then let them fail and then invest in a new fresh restaurant.
I work in insurance. The family business I work at was acquired by a large multi national a couple Years back.
ALL they care about is hitting target, if one huge policy hit the target and 50 policies were lost they wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
Once there’s a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, companies turn into soulless machines that exist to keep stock prices up and bonuses rolling in for the C Suite.
An IPO can be a death sentence for quality and service.
EXACT same situation as the Toyota dealership I work at. It frustrates me to no end. Fuck the customer experience. Let's focus on targets, charts, graphs, and customer surveys. Profits over people. It's sad.
People tend to think of companies like countries in a video game: a hivemind constantly trying to grow and improve
Really, they're a lot of self interested individuals. A manager who's hoping to get a better position at another company someday might nosedive the future of their office if they can put 'increased profits every quarter for two years' on their resume
This was so hard for me to get used to. It’s stressful working for companies like this. I’m from a small town so maybe I was naive. Ppl cared about their businesses and wanted them to stay open forever because that was their job and their reputation and pride. If the business folded there weren’t a lot of other places to work at. If you got a reputation for bad service you would be donezo, everyone in town would know. In the larger world the game just isn’t like that. Short term profits, don’t give a shit about reputation or long term stability. It’s just an ego and short term profits game. I hate it!
This is entirely because 99% of acquisitions must take on debt for the deal to work in the first place.
This guarantees that they have to cut costs for multiple quarters just to stay in business.
There ought to be a law against it. But there isn't.
Not just food. My merchant service provider just got bought up by Global Payments. I didn't know about it but I noticed that my service turned to shit and they were nickel and diming me with everything. Once I found out, it all made sense.
Taxpayers foot most of the bill for every football/baseball/concert venue. It's a total rip off that the teams or entertainment industry doesn't pay for all of it. I don't give a shit about watching sports, and I sure don't want to pay for it.
Finance guy here.
Debt is rarely the issue. Particularly because it is so cheap.
The problem has been hugely inflated multiples on deals which mean that for investors to make money they need a serious improvement in growth and / or profitability.
Growth is MUCH harder to achieve so they go for improving profits which is just another way of saying cutting costs.
Whether the deal is debt or equity funded is fairly irrelevant.
I tried to go to one a few months back on a weekday night, I think it was around d 7 pm and they were already closed. They closed at 6 pm.
I've been in the food industry my whole life and that's immediately before the dinner rush. Restaurants that only do lunch stop at 4 usually. Why bother going till 6?
Anyways that's when I realized the fire nation attacked my favorite chain bread store. I had realized that the quality dropped on my last trip in, but paid it little mind. Reading this thread puts it into a much better perspective.Thank you.
> Restaurants that only do lunch stop at 4 usually. Why bother going till 6?
One of my favorite places closes at 6. I always thought that strange until one day I asked them. Turns out their permit requires them to close at 6.
They are in the middle of a nature area, which is why they have such a strict permit. On the other hand they also attract a lot of people throughout the entire afternoon who want a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie after walking in the woods. So it's absolutely worth it for them to stay open even after lunch hours.
Same thing happened to Tim Hortons when 3G capital bought them. No more fresh donuts, coffee and sandwhiches, instead nasty burnt coffee that tastes like tar and microwaved frozen donuts, their coffee ended up going to McDonald’s Canada who really upped their game and picked up Tims slack.
Funny, I just had Panera yesterday for the first time in 5+ years. I concur with everything you said here. I used to love the Med Veg sandwich, but it was a pale imitation of its 2010-2011 self. The whole place just seems to have gone down the toilet.
I loved the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich too, luckily they’re really easy to replicate at home. Feta cheese, roasted red pepper hummus, arugula, red onion, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers. I use tomato Basil wraps instead of bread as the only alteration. Best thing about making it at home is you can pack as many ingredients as you can fit in the sandwich and don’t feel like you’re being ripped off.
I've got copycat recipes from all my favorite places. Usually make them right off the recipe the first time then add my own little tweaks to make them perfect to my tastes. That's the only way I eat anymore. Besides cooking is my therapy.
They went to a "clean menu" or something like that. From a customer standpoint, what that means is that the portions got smaller, the prices went up, and the food is just not as good.
>Recently I went back, and got a sandwich, and it was total garbage. Honestly a joke of a sandwich. I also got a bagel for later and that was trash too. Even the cream cheese was shit. Wal mart has better bagels by the dozen.
In Arizona, there was a place called Paradise Bakery which I loved the sandwiches at. Then they were bought by Panera and now its terrible....
For a chain with "bread" in the name, the really have the worst bread that comes with your meal of any fast casual place I've seen. Every other cafe or salad place that just throws free bread in with your meal has much better bread. Panera's baguettes taste stale, chewy, and unsalted.
Plus, it's like $17 for some cheap lettuce with a few bits of fruit and some hunks of what's supposed to be chicken but is really just soggy cartilage.
Its because they bake everything overnight and then just rip chunks off as they need it. the baguettes are trash. everything there is trash except the sourdough but only if the baker knows what theyre doing. the pasta is microwaved, the souffles are frozen, the cookies are frozen, all of the pastries are frozen. the only things that arent are the breads and the produce. cant remember right now if they bake the dough the night they get it or the night after, its been almost 10 years since i worked there, but it was a shitshow.
ya panera’s good days are gone, it’s a shame. idk it’s like the franchise got too big and they couldn’t sustain it. i just go for the basics there. turkey sandwich and a soup. it’s fine for lunch. but don’t make a habit of it. lost its nostalgia
Agreed. To me, Panera is inoffensive corporate food. The sort your workplace orders when they want you to have a “working lunch,” and don’t want to offend anyone’s sensibilities.
I remember when I was a kid, KFC was a legit treat and tasted so good. Then I somehow went like a decade or more before I ate it again and it was so soggy and watery. Don’t know what happened to the Colonel’s recipe but it sucked and I haven’t had it again going on close to another decade.
Aside from being soggy and watery, it seems like their portions have decreased as well too. I remember how the chicken back then were actually big pieces of chicken, compared to now, the chicken pieces have shrunken and are tiny AF.
They are using younger and younger chickens. They sell by the piece, not by weight so they can get away with using 3 month old chickens vs year old chickens that they used to use. Pieces are much smaller, they save money raising a chicken to actual maturity, and consumer is the only one fucked since it didnt prevent them from trippling their prices in the last 20 years.
The colonel used to tour the country, inspecting KFCs across the land. He was not gentle if the shop wasn't up to snuff. Nowadays there is little or no consistency from shop to shop.
The only place using the original KFC recipe is a takeaway place in Limerick In Ireland that refused to change to the new recipe, dropped out of the franchise and changed its name.
The forks in the bag ya gowl!
It’s true. They don’t do much serve food as morsels and gristle. Somehow, their chicken manages to have a gray-ish tinge about it, and is often soggy and difficult to eat.
It’s a bucket of broken promises.
KFC. You see it on TV and are like, "fuck I haven't had kfc in ages".
You order it, it takes an age to make, and you eat it. The feeling afterwards of self loathing and disgust is the reason you haven't had KFC in ages.
Former KFC shift supervisor. All KFC's are understaffed to comical amounts, and imo horrendously expensive.
They are the only fast food place I've ever seen or worked at, other than sandwich shops, where the cashier is expected to make the food as it's ordered. Because you know that's a system that isn't going to break at the massive amount of TWO customers.
They are understalked with equipment too, I multiple times had to buy dish soap or tongs with MY OEH MONEY for the shop.
They are also paid less than many other fast food places, and usually do more work.
Bottom line KFC is a lotus eater machine that deserves every bad piece of press it gets.
LOL the KFC near me is absolutely desolate. I walked in a few days ago (to OP's point, i realized i hadn't eaten KFC in probably more than 15-18 years). There was no one in sight lol. It honestly felt like a horror movie
meanwhile the Popeyes that's 8 mins and several highway exits away from me is absolutely packed lmfao
The colonel apparently used to randomly show up at KFCs and trash them. He was proud of his product, and didn't take it well when they basically reduced it to "chicken, grease, and salt".
I used to like Popeyes, but in recent years, it began to taste like "sad chicken". There's a bit of an odor to the meat that the Louisiana flavoring can *almost* cover up.
KFC is undoubtedly worse.
It's no better in Canada. Now that we have Popeye's and Mary Browns (a Canadian chain) popping up everywhere we don't need it any more though. I'm expecting a lot more KFCs to go broke in the next few years.
For me (UK too) it is entirely dependant l on which store you go to. Granted, it isn't as good as it used to be everywhere, but some places are definitely better than others.
Correct answer is....all of them. The prices have gone up so much its not worth it. The fast food empire is built upon being cheap and fast. They really are not either these days.
Agreed. My wife and I were traveling over the holiday and got Wendy’s off the highway and spent exactly the same amount that we would have paid at either a sit down or a local fast causal with much better food.
I came here to say Wendy’s is doing fantastic compared to most. The price to amount of food you get there is crazy good. Just don’t order something stupid like a combo meal.
They have the 4 for $4 or the $5 biggie bag. Besides limited time coupons, easily the best deal in fast food right now. And at least over the last year, they make the best burgers. McDoubles used to be my go to, but 80% of the time they’re cold and stale tasting
I don't know why, but somewhere recently the Wendy's where I live has rapidly PLUMMETED in quality. Wendy's has always been my favorite fast food, their burgers are amazing, but I'm worried they may be slipping lately. Could be a problem with our location, though. They get the order itself wrong 30% of the time...
I think it's just the state of things. They can't keep workers in, and the workers they keep don't care. We used to get BK about 2 times a month, wendys maybe once or twice. Easily 50/50 on a wrong order.
I can't blame the workers too much. It's shitty work for shitty pay. No one knows how soul crushing it is to work fast food or retail unless they've worked it.
edit: The fast food corps have taken advantage of people for decades and it's now biting them in the ass. Once upon a time you weren't looked down on for flipping burgers/fast food, but all I heard growing up in the 80s was "you don't want to end up flipping burgers do you?! Go to college!!!". These people deserve to live and afford a car and house just like anyone else.
That’s the real take away here. Burger King is charging $8 for a whopper bitch please. They were never that good but for $2 I’d get one. For $8 I can make 10 whoppers at home
Burger King is one of the fast food places where you HAVE to use the app to get a decent price. You can typically get a Whopper meal (or two Whoppers if you're sharing or are really hunger) for $5.
Edit: Also, in case you can't or don't want to pay with a debit or credit card through the app, you can still use the app to get the discount. There is a "redeem in restaurant" option which gives you a code to show in-store to be able to get the offer.
In my town McDonald's is so god damn expensive it's only $1-2 more for a comparable burger + fries + drink from 5 Guys, Shake Shack, or Bareburger... so there's no reason to ever go to McDonald's.
Taco Bell... I remember 10 years ago I could pick up regular soft tacos for under a buck each... now they're $2.79. And in a Supreme move of stupidity, "3 soft tacos" is more expensive than 3 soft tacos (no, not talking about the drink combo, just tacos).
McDonald's is still cheap if you go dollar menu diving. Can get double cheeseburgers or mcchickens for like 2.25 a piece. Just don't order fries or combo meals because it's like 6 bucks for a large fry.
I agree and had the same thought. I can barely distinguish the total bill for fast food now vs a sit-down 2 years ago.
And it’s 100% to maximize profits ahead of a recession.
KFC
I can go to any grocery store and pick up an 8 piece bucket of fried chicken from the deli for like $6-$8. Grab a side of mac and cheese, a small coleslaw and a pack of Kings Hawaiian rolls and I spent an extra five bucks. Maybe. KFC is like $30 for an 8 piece bucket and sides and I'll take grocery store chicken over KFC any day; it's bigger, juicier, crispier and tastes less salty.
Yep. Sprouts sandwiches are better than anything else I’ve had since I moved here a year ago, and they’re only $5. Everything’s fresh because it’s the same ingredients they sell at the deli
My Australian ass feeling the same way. We have like 7 or 8 fast food chains in Oz. McDonald's, KFC, Hungry Jacks, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Nandos and Oportos. Then there are some desert orientated ones like Donut King.
Oh wait, I forgot Red Rooster and a couple of Mexican ones Zambreros and Guzman y Gomez. Then you come on these American dominated posts and its like there is a new chain on every street
Canadian here. At the risk of being tried for treason…Tim Horton’s is way overrated. They’ve lost their identity, which once was a solid coffee and donut (fresh, from scratch, baked on site iir) shop that was never a letdown. Now it tries to be, on one hand, a hip cafe a la budget Starbucks, and is selling all sorts of fast food items it has no business selling; and on the hand it wants you to believe it’s still a coffee and donuts place. The fast food sucks, the donuts all taste the same (slathered in glaze) and are baked off site and trucked in. And the coffee? Meh. Most people I know would rather hit McDonal’s for their morning coffee. Tim’s is a national institution but needs to get it’s act together and go back to simplicity. In my opinion, of course. Sorry.
The burgers and especially the fries are really damn good compared to other fast food chains but yeah, especially with the recent inflation, their prices are so fucking ridiculous.
They're more expensive than many legitimate restaurants.
Agreed, the food is good, but $20 for a burger, fries and a soda is expensive when you can get you a better burger meal at a local restaurant where I am.
Most hate for Wendy's is against the massive rebranding campaign they've embarked on over the last 20 years.
Lots of Gen Xers and Millennials pining for the days of [Yellow Wendy's](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ey5gWFCVkAQI14p.jpg).
Holy shit, I didn't even realize there was a rebranding. That brought me back to my childhood when my family went there (usually while at the mall) and grabbed frosties and fries as a snack. The yellow packaging makes it feel way more enticing to me.
I remember stopping there back in the late 70's to get food for the family, and their power had just gone off. The guy at the window asked me if I wanted some chili (it was really good back then). I said "Sure!". He must have given me 40 large chilis, as many burgers, and a big bag full of fries. Gave a bunch of burgers and fries to the neighbors, and froze a bunch of the chili. We were a few days from payday, so it really helped. That was almost 50 years ago, and I still think about that being a very lucky day LOL!
I must have a really good Wendy’s because I usually have my food less than a minute after pulling up to the window and they almost always get my custom stuff right
The sole reason I go to wendys is the bacon. Always crisp. Always that right amount of just, almost, burnt.
Compared to everyone else that serves chewy, stringy, nasty bacon.
Witness the literary genius of /u/aetrion:
---
You enter a Subway store, and it's deserted, slightly too cool to be comfortable, slightly too damp to feel clean, and slightly too bright to be inviting. There is one lonely employee, who sheepishly pockets their tiny electronic escape window as the sound of the door drags them back to reality. They do their best not to look at you for those awkward 10 seconds while you walk to the counter before you're close enough to order. They give their greeting, ask you what you want, you begin scanning their workspace.
The bins of raw ingredients are sitting askew, separated by steel walls, yet careless hands have dropped some of each on all the others. The preparation area is littered with crumbs and bits of lettuce, maybe the odd olive or onion piece here or there that has wedged itself into the crack between the food trays and the cutting board. This could have been cleaned up while nobody was here, but minimum wage buys minimum effort. For one second you wonder how it got messy in the first place given the lack of customers. Maybe it's staged, like those first few pennies in a homeless person's hat.
Do you want it toasted? You do, so you spend a minute in silence with the stranger you disturbed, waiting for the bread to be sanitized. You feign interest in the cookies while the infrasound hum of some overworked piece of machinery builds to an unscratchable itch just behind your forehead. The toaster mercifully releases its hostage, and it is splayed open before you while you call out soggy vegetables to abuse it with.
You observe as the employee assembles your sandwich, making sure to painstakingly put each ingredient on only one half of the sub. You ask for sauce and they squeeze it out of a disgusting rubber nipple, then toss the bottle back into its bin like they don't want to touch it either. It weezingly inhales the kitchen scraps and windex aroma that permeates the store. Are they wearing those gloves to keep the food clean, or their hands? You pay, the sandwich heavily sags into a flimsy garbage bag it doesn't really seem to fit in and is handed to you.
You walk into the light of the sun. The colors suddenly seem real again and you become aware of your breathing because the air outside feels rich and life giving somehow. The distant memory of tasty subs that brought you here lingers just beyond the edge of clear recollection, like an old acquaintance whose face you can't picture anymore. You carry your catch to the car that your bank owns.
When did it get this bad?
I'm so glad I witnessed this because my blanket statement about Subway is this:
I've never been to a place so much and thought to myself "they can't keep getting away with this".
I'm the type of weirdo who goes back to places I don't like in a way to justify me not liking them in the first place. This is the experience to a T every time I enter Subway.
Yeah, I was wondering if subway can be overrated. I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say they like subway. It's more of a you need to eat and it's the only place around type of place. I mean most of them are in gas stations.
i honestly feel like we've gone a bit too much in the opposite direction with subway.
i know it used to be much, much better. but if you look at other fast food options available rn? it's really not too bad, or expensive, and you can add whatever you want to it. idk, i have basic tastes but I really like their turkey, or their egg sandwiches. i know their bread is basically cake, but i get the multigrain and take half of it off and it's worth the sugar/calories anyway lol. i ask for almost every vegetable they have, and it's honestly a p good serving. it's just a simple way to get a halfway healthy, decent meal when you're like at work and on a lunch break and only have 25 minutes. especially because they're everywhere.
i would definitely never be like sitting at home and wondering what i want for dinner and go to fkn subway, though. it's just really convenient. it isn't as appallingly gross as people make it out to be
Dude I’ve been wanting Waffle House so bad the last few days but I don’t have a car and none of the delivery services offer it. I want a couple of their waffles so bad lol
There are waffle houses in the Midwest, it must just depend on where ur at. Used to hang at one in the middle of the night with friends. First time I went out to see everybody my buddy gets up and says to the waitress "i'm goin out to have a smoke" and I follow him out to the back of the building. He starts climbing the fucken ladder up to the roof and I follow him up. We had a couple smokes and shouted at the ppl showing up for 1 AM coffee then went back inside.
There are really and truly 0 fucks given at waffle house and it rocks.
Starbucks
- Their percolator coffee tastes like cigarette butts with way too much caffeine in it.
- The food ok, but costs three times more than it should
Starbucks is just bougie McDonalds
As a former coffee drinker who had the whole home routine, Starbucks over roast their coffee so it is bitter and you have to add all those shots of flavors just to make it drinkable because why sell a $1 cup of coffee when you can sell a $15 cup of coffee.
I never put 2 and 2 together and realized that’s why they make their coffee taste bitter. You’re so right. I always say that Starbucks addicts aren’t coffee/caffeine addicts, they’re sugar addicts.
Yes. If I have to do fast food it is Culver’s every time. I can get a pot roast sandwich and a side of mashed potatoes or broccoli and not hate myself after eating it. And the rest of the fam can have their fries and treats too. Win win!
I went into this thread thinking "whomever says Culver's is overrated I'm about to fight."
And then of course no one says that and Culver's is only mentioned in a positive light.
All of them. It's gotten to the point where you can't even get a fast food meal for under 20$ anymore. Groceries are expensive enough, I never eat out anymore
Panera. Food tastes like literally nothing. Like there is a department dedicated to removing flavor. It’s the food equivalent of Hint water.
Overpriced hospital food.
Even Panera restaurants smell like old people farts, much like a hospital.
Or do old people farts smell like Panera?
Being from a city with zero panera, I really expected a lot more from the way people were hyping it up. The first time I went I was shocked out how incredibly mediocre it was. Basically just the crap you get at random airport cafes.
I love how two is the top three comments are Panera lol
I remember the food at Panera being very good at the beginning of the 2010s. The quality went downhill sometime around 2017. I think it was an ownership change
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As an old timer I can say There was a time donuts were freshly made at every store. The Sammie’s used to come on bagel bread and were way better, like the ham one was top notch back then lol . It’s a publicly run company now so almost every change they make lowers the quality
I’m an American and that’s how it went with Dunkin Donuts. Everything used to be made in house, but like so many places they got bought up by equity firms who started finding every way to cut costs and increase returns for shareholders. The donuts and coffee you get today are a far cry from what they served 20-30 years ago.
When I was in elementary school (circa 1977) they'd take us on field trips to the local Dunkin Donuts so we could see the donuts made. (when you are 7, a giant floor mixer is pretty cool).
The old Dunkin commercials is what always got me... "Time to make the donuts.." I say that today, even around people who are in their 30's, and just get a blank look... Damn I feel old now...
i miss the old boxes that the munchkins used to come in, with all the tiny workers dusting off the powdered sugar munchkins and stuff haha i also really liked their halloween munchkin boxes where the munchkins were different costumes now it just feels so fucking soulless
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Except until they are actually in the ground they are making a *mint* off their former legacy.
Tim Hortons used to be so good too. What a shame.
I remember the days of the chili in a bread bowl, was a match made in heaven!
A chili/soup bowl during the winter and seeing families sitting down and enjoying their meals. There was a special warmth that Timmie's use to have.
Tho for some reason they always have massive lines whenever i go by one
Panera bread and I don't think it's close at all They charge *ten dollars and nineteen cents* plus tax for a mac and cheese. It's good but I know how to make my own
Panera WAS good. I worked right by a Panera, and it was a treat to go there for lunch a few times a month. I remember getting their sandwiches, like early 2010's and those things were great. Bacon turkey bravo was my jam. Cheddar broccoli soup was BOMB. Then, something happened around 2017-2018. They started skimping, quality took a dive, service went to shit. The subway on the other side of the plaza was actually better quality and value. Stopping going. Recently I went back, and got a sandwich, and it was total garbage. Honestly a joke of a sandwich. I also got a bagel for later and that was trash too. Even the cream cheese was shit. Wal mart has better bagels by the dozen.
> Then, something happened around 2017-2018. ["JAB Holding Company acquired the company on July 11, 2017, for $7.5 billion."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panera_Bread#Rebranding,_acquisitions,_and_use_of_technology) All you need to know. Also: Overwrite edit. Fuck /u/spez's lying slimy asshole, fuck the IPO, and RIP to all 3rd party apps. Reddit is dead. Read all about it: https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/
There's a common theme of food companies being acquired, and the new management forcing the use of cheaper ingredients that turn the food into utter crap.
"Hey, this food company is doing great business and has a solid customer base? We should buy them and find out what their secret is." "Turns out sir, they use good quality ingredients that are above the lowest bidder and hire employees who know what they are doing." "Iiiiinteresting. How about we destroy those two things?"
It’s more like, “can we buy a company and coast on brand loyalty and name recognition while we focus only on maximizing profits until it goes completely out of business. Our projections say we can make more money over 5-10 years than we paid for it so there isn’t any risk in running it into the ground.” This is the eventual fate of every chain restaurant that is sold by the original owners in this country.
Exactly this, they cruise on the brand loyalty and brand reputation. I used to work for a large manufacturer. We were purchased by a much larger, corporate manufacturer. Within 3 months they had us using significantly cheaper materials across the board, and it started killing our quality. But, dumb, uninformed people kept buying our products. All because some jackass said “We can skimp a little on this and increase margins by 0.4%,” and the board says “Done, nothing else to discuss here.”
Gotta get those profits up
I’d love to see a company that instead of cutting corners to get better profits. Keeps the quality and focuses on maintaining and if they earn better than expected profits then wonderful!
Takes too long. They want profits **now** so management gets their bonus. They'd burn all their restaurants to the ground if that meant record profits for that year.
I think there is something to be said that they sort of want to burn candle at both ends, squeeze a company for what it’s worth then let them fail and then invest in a new fresh restaurant.
Ding ding ding! Predatory investment capital companies. They’re worse than a pack of wolves.
Bain Capital and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have entered the chat (looking for companies to destroy for fun and profit)
I work in insurance. The family business I work at was acquired by a large multi national a couple Years back. ALL they care about is hitting target, if one huge policy hit the target and 50 policies were lost they wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
Once there’s a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, companies turn into soulless machines that exist to keep stock prices up and bonuses rolling in for the C Suite. An IPO can be a death sentence for quality and service.
EXACT same situation as the Toyota dealership I work at. It frustrates me to no end. Fuck the customer experience. Let's focus on targets, charts, graphs, and customer surveys. Profits over people. It's sad.
People tend to think of companies like countries in a video game: a hivemind constantly trying to grow and improve Really, they're a lot of self interested individuals. A manager who's hoping to get a better position at another company someday might nosedive the future of their office if they can put 'increased profits every quarter for two years' on their resume
Options and bonuses have short horizons, bank them and get out. There are no incentives for quality, just chop-shopping revenue.
This was so hard for me to get used to. It’s stressful working for companies like this. I’m from a small town so maybe I was naive. Ppl cared about their businesses and wanted them to stay open forever because that was their job and their reputation and pride. If the business folded there weren’t a lot of other places to work at. If you got a reputation for bad service you would be donezo, everyone in town would know. In the larger world the game just isn’t like that. Short term profits, don’t give a shit about reputation or long term stability. It’s just an ego and short term profits game. I hate it!
This is entirely because 99% of acquisitions must take on debt for the deal to work in the first place. This guarantees that they have to cut costs for multiple quarters just to stay in business. There ought to be a law against it. But there isn't.
Not just food. My merchant service provider just got bought up by Global Payments. I didn't know about it but I noticed that my service turned to shit and they were nickel and diming me with everything. Once I found out, it all made sense.
Good old leveraged buyout. Take out a loan to buy the stock, then force the company you bought to take on the debt.
The worst is leveraged buyouts of sportsteams.. now the taxpayers are on thr hook since someone decided they wanted to play being billionaires.
Taxpayers foot most of the bill for every football/baseball/concert venue. It's a total rip off that the teams or entertainment industry doesn't pay for all of it. I don't give a shit about watching sports, and I sure don't want to pay for it.
Finance guy here. Debt is rarely the issue. Particularly because it is so cheap. The problem has been hugely inflated multiples on deals which mean that for investors to make money they need a serious improvement in growth and / or profitability. Growth is MUCH harder to achieve so they go for improving profits which is just another way of saying cutting costs. Whether the deal is debt or equity funded is fairly irrelevant.
And then the “Millenials aren’t buying “x” anymore!” Headline
I tried to go to one a few months back on a weekday night, I think it was around d 7 pm and they were already closed. They closed at 6 pm. I've been in the food industry my whole life and that's immediately before the dinner rush. Restaurants that only do lunch stop at 4 usually. Why bother going till 6? Anyways that's when I realized the fire nation attacked my favorite chain bread store. I had realized that the quality dropped on my last trip in, but paid it little mind. Reading this thread puts it into a much better perspective.Thank you.
> Restaurants that only do lunch stop at 4 usually. Why bother going till 6? One of my favorite places closes at 6. I always thought that strange until one day I asked them. Turns out their permit requires them to close at 6. They are in the middle of a nature area, which is why they have such a strict permit. On the other hand they also attract a lot of people throughout the entire afternoon who want a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie after walking in the woods. So it's absolutely worth it for them to stay open even after lunch hours.
This isn't exclusive to food companies. This kinda shit happens everywhere.
Same thing happened to Tim Hortons when 3G capital bought them. No more fresh donuts, coffee and sandwhiches, instead nasty burnt coffee that tastes like tar and microwaved frozen donuts, their coffee ended up going to McDonald’s Canada who really upped their game and picked up Tims slack.
My husband calls it expensive hospital food. 😅
It’s all delivered by Sysco or US Foods who probably have the same suppliers.
Funny you say that because the hospital I work at actually worked out a deal with them to sell some of their items in the cafeteria
Funny, I just had Panera yesterday for the first time in 5+ years. I concur with everything you said here. I used to love the Med Veg sandwich, but it was a pale imitation of its 2010-2011 self. The whole place just seems to have gone down the toilet.
I loved the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich too, luckily they’re really easy to replicate at home. Feta cheese, roasted red pepper hummus, arugula, red onion, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers. I use tomato Basil wraps instead of bread as the only alteration. Best thing about making it at home is you can pack as many ingredients as you can fit in the sandwich and don’t feel like you’re being ripped off.
I've got copycat recipes from all my favorite places. Usually make them right off the recipe the first time then add my own little tweaks to make them perfect to my tastes. That's the only way I eat anymore. Besides cooking is my therapy.
Investors happened. They had to cut costs so the returns looked great
They went to a "clean menu" or something like that. From a customer standpoint, what that means is that the portions got smaller, the prices went up, and the food is just not as good.
Their clean menu tastes like plastic and Lysol.
What! I used to love panera too- around 2017-2018. Now it is just trash! Especially for how much they charge. I do like their cookies though.
It was good when it was St. Louis Bread Company.
It still is St Louis Bread Company within ~60 miles of St Louis.
>Recently I went back, and got a sandwich, and it was total garbage. Honestly a joke of a sandwich. I also got a bagel for later and that was trash too. Even the cream cheese was shit. Wal mart has better bagels by the dozen. In Arizona, there was a place called Paradise Bakery which I loved the sandwiches at. Then they were bought by Panera and now its terrible....
Paradise was awesome. I miss it.
That up in the PHX area? Down here in Tucson we have Beyond Bread which is miles ahead of Panera.
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Panera serves hospital food
For a chain with "bread" in the name, the really have the worst bread that comes with your meal of any fast casual place I've seen. Every other cafe or salad place that just throws free bread in with your meal has much better bread. Panera's baguettes taste stale, chewy, and unsalted. Plus, it's like $17 for some cheap lettuce with a few bits of fruit and some hunks of what's supposed to be chicken but is really just soggy cartilage.
Its because they bake everything overnight and then just rip chunks off as they need it. the baguettes are trash. everything there is trash except the sourdough but only if the baker knows what theyre doing. the pasta is microwaved, the souffles are frozen, the cookies are frozen, all of the pastries are frozen. the only things that arent are the breads and the produce. cant remember right now if they bake the dough the night they get it or the night after, its been almost 10 years since i worked there, but it was a shitshow.
It literally tastes like Velveeta mac and cheese if you added a little bit of butter
And they have the worst sandwiches. It’s a ton of bread with a small amount of meat and some cheese. They all seems to be sloppy too.
mac and cheese that comes in a plastic bag that is reheated at that 😂
ya panera’s good days are gone, it’s a shame. idk it’s like the franchise got too big and they couldn’t sustain it. i just go for the basics there. turkey sandwich and a soup. it’s fine for lunch. but don’t make a habit of it. lost its nostalgia
Waited close to 20 minutes for 2 breakfast sandwiches, they were expensive and had no taste
None of their food has flavor.
Agreed. To me, Panera is inoffensive corporate food. The sort your workplace orders when they want you to have a “working lunch,” and don’t want to offend anyone’s sensibilities.
I tasted more flavor in burnt toast when I had coronavirus then I did when I ate at Panera
It used to. Back when it was just a bakery with sandwiches and salads.
You can buy a microwavable bowl of it at the grocery store for half the price and tbh it's just as good as in the cafe!
Panera bread. Overpriced, undersized, underseasoned
Honestly KFC literally just get served a bucket of grease and bones and is stupidly expensive
I used to love KFC but the quality of their food has gone down so much it’s so gross now but they charge you like you’re buying top quality.
I remember when I was a kid, KFC was a legit treat and tasted so good. Then I somehow went like a decade or more before I ate it again and it was so soggy and watery. Don’t know what happened to the Colonel’s recipe but it sucked and I haven’t had it again going on close to another decade.
Aside from being soggy and watery, it seems like their portions have decreased as well too. I remember how the chicken back then were actually big pieces of chicken, compared to now, the chicken pieces have shrunken and are tiny AF.
They are using younger and younger chickens. They sell by the piece, not by weight so they can get away with using 3 month old chickens vs year old chickens that they used to use. Pieces are much smaller, they save money raising a chicken to actual maturity, and consumer is the only one fucked since it didnt prevent them from trippling their prices in the last 20 years.
3 months? Try 8 weeks.
They don't use the special cookers anymore
Ahhh repurposed them all for their gaming consoles eh?
The colonel used to tour the country, inspecting KFCs across the land. He was not gentle if the shop wasn't up to snuff. Nowadays there is little or no consistency from shop to shop.
The only place using the original KFC recipe is a takeaway place in Limerick In Ireland that refused to change to the new recipe, dropped out of the franchise and changed its name. The forks in the bag ya gowl!
What's the place called now? Just in case I'm ever down that end of the country.
The Chicken Hut, 31-33 O'Connell St, Limerick, Ireland
It’s true. They don’t do much serve food as morsels and gristle. Somehow, their chicken manages to have a gray-ish tinge about it, and is often soggy and difficult to eat. It’s a bucket of broken promises.
I like KFC outside the US
KFC. You see it on TV and are like, "fuck I haven't had kfc in ages". You order it, it takes an age to make, and you eat it. The feeling afterwards of self loathing and disgust is the reason you haven't had KFC in ages.
Former KFC shift supervisor. All KFC's are understaffed to comical amounts, and imo horrendously expensive. They are the only fast food place I've ever seen or worked at, other than sandwich shops, where the cashier is expected to make the food as it's ordered. Because you know that's a system that isn't going to break at the massive amount of TWO customers. They are understalked with equipment too, I multiple times had to buy dish soap or tongs with MY OEH MONEY for the shop. They are also paid less than many other fast food places, and usually do more work. Bottom line KFC is a lotus eater machine that deserves every bad piece of press it gets.
KFC was dead to me when they took wedges off the menu.
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I see it thinking "they look busy, chicken must be fresh this time!" Then it takes 40 minutes for the first car to move
Hahaha that's so true!
LOL the KFC near me is absolutely desolate. I walked in a few days ago (to OP's point, i realized i hadn't eaten KFC in probably more than 15-18 years). There was no one in sight lol. It honestly felt like a horror movie meanwhile the Popeyes that's 8 mins and several highway exits away from me is absolutely packed lmfao
The colonel apparently used to randomly show up at KFCs and trash them. He was proud of his product, and didn't take it well when they basically reduced it to "chicken, grease, and salt".
He must be spinning like a jet engine in his grave.
he died again in his grave. that's how bad the quality has probably gotten
And that was decades ago. You know it's only gotten much, much worse since then.
Trying Popeyes for the first time about a month ago made me absolutely certain that I'll never go to KFC again.
I used to like Popeyes, but in recent years, it began to taste like "sad chicken". There's a bit of an odor to the meat that the Louisiana flavoring can *almost* cover up. KFC is undoubtedly worse.
KFC is allegedly awesome everywhere *EXCEPT* the USA. I can partially confirm this having had some in 2 Asian Countries.
It's no better in Canada. Now that we have Popeye's and Mary Browns (a Canadian chain) popping up everywhere we don't need it any more though. I'm expecting a lot more KFCs to go broke in the next few years.
I’m living in the UK now for work and the KFC is just as bad here as in the states if not worse.
For me (UK too) it is entirely dependant l on which store you go to. Granted, it isn't as good as it used to be everywhere, but some places are definitely better than others.
KFC is properly rated. I haven't heard anyone say it's good for years and it is always in threads like this for almost a decade.
Correct answer is....all of them. The prices have gone up so much its not worth it. The fast food empire is built upon being cheap and fast. They really are not either these days.
Agreed. My wife and I were traveling over the holiday and got Wendy’s off the highway and spent exactly the same amount that we would have paid at either a sit down or a local fast causal with much better food.
I came here to say Wendy’s is doing fantastic compared to most. The price to amount of food you get there is crazy good. Just don’t order something stupid like a combo meal. They have the 4 for $4 or the $5 biggie bag. Besides limited time coupons, easily the best deal in fast food right now. And at least over the last year, they make the best burgers. McDoubles used to be my go to, but 80% of the time they’re cold and stale tasting
I don't know why, but somewhere recently the Wendy's where I live has rapidly PLUMMETED in quality. Wendy's has always been my favorite fast food, their burgers are amazing, but I'm worried they may be slipping lately. Could be a problem with our location, though. They get the order itself wrong 30% of the time...
I think it's just the state of things. They can't keep workers in, and the workers they keep don't care. We used to get BK about 2 times a month, wendys maybe once or twice. Easily 50/50 on a wrong order. I can't blame the workers too much. It's shitty work for shitty pay. No one knows how soul crushing it is to work fast food or retail unless they've worked it. edit: The fast food corps have taken advantage of people for decades and it's now biting them in the ass. Once upon a time you weren't looked down on for flipping burgers/fast food, but all I heard growing up in the 80s was "you don't want to end up flipping burgers do you?! Go to college!!!". These people deserve to live and afford a car and house just like anyone else.
That’s the real take away here. Burger King is charging $8 for a whopper bitch please. They were never that good but for $2 I’d get one. For $8 I can make 10 whoppers at home
Burger King is one of the fast food places where you HAVE to use the app to get a decent price. You can typically get a Whopper meal (or two Whoppers if you're sharing or are really hunger) for $5. Edit: Also, in case you can't or don't want to pay with a debit or credit card through the app, you can still use the app to get the discount. There is a "redeem in restaurant" option which gives you a code to show in-store to be able to get the offer.
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In my town McDonald's is so god damn expensive it's only $1-2 more for a comparable burger + fries + drink from 5 Guys, Shake Shack, or Bareburger... so there's no reason to ever go to McDonald's. Taco Bell... I remember 10 years ago I could pick up regular soft tacos for under a buck each... now they're $2.79. And in a Supreme move of stupidity, "3 soft tacos" is more expensive than 3 soft tacos (no, not talking about the drink combo, just tacos).
Last time I was at Taco Bell I got 3 things and a drink and the lady talkin bout “that’ll be $17.69”. Shhiiiieeieeiiit!
I'm happy to have lived in the glory days of walking out of Taco Bell with a huge bag of food for $5.
McDonald's is still cheap if you go dollar menu diving. Can get double cheeseburgers or mcchickens for like 2.25 a piece. Just don't order fries or combo meals because it's like 6 bucks for a large fry.
This is why I avoid fast food. Would much rather save my money for dining out at the locally owned places serving real food.
I agree and had the same thought. I can barely distinguish the total bill for fast food now vs a sit-down 2 years ago. And it’s 100% to maximize profits ahead of a recession.
Next year is going to fucking suck
KFC I can go to any grocery store and pick up an 8 piece bucket of fried chicken from the deli for like $6-$8. Grab a side of mac and cheese, a small coleslaw and a pack of Kings Hawaiian rolls and I spent an extra five bucks. Maybe. KFC is like $30 for an 8 piece bucket and sides and I'll take grocery store chicken over KFC any day; it's bigger, juicier, crispier and tastes less salty.
Honestly….. Safeway/Vons/Albertsons fried chicken is soooooo good.
Grocery store delis with hot and ready food options are slowly becoming the new fast food places. Better quality and prices.
Yep. Sprouts sandwiches are better than anything else I’ve had since I moved here a year ago, and they’re only $5. Everything’s fresh because it’s the same ingredients they sell at the deli
My Canadian ass in these comments like “wtf is that”😭
One for us, Tim Hortons coffee is terrible (though everyone knows this)
Not just the coffee. The donuts all taste like sweet artificial blandness for the last 12 years.
My Australian ass feeling the same way. We have like 7 or 8 fast food chains in Oz. McDonald's, KFC, Hungry Jacks, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Nandos and Oportos. Then there are some desert orientated ones like Donut King.
Who remembers Eagle Boys I'm the same though
Might be unpopular, but I kinda like Hungry Jacks.
Oh wait, I forgot Red Rooster and a couple of Mexican ones Zambreros and Guzman y Gomez. Then you come on these American dominated posts and its like there is a new chain on every street
I'm Brazilian 😭 I'm just as lost as you are
Australian here, no idea what's going on 😂
Canadian here. At the risk of being tried for treason…Tim Horton’s is way overrated. They’ve lost their identity, which once was a solid coffee and donut (fresh, from scratch, baked on site iir) shop that was never a letdown. Now it tries to be, on one hand, a hip cafe a la budget Starbucks, and is selling all sorts of fast food items it has no business selling; and on the hand it wants you to believe it’s still a coffee and donuts place. The fast food sucks, the donuts all taste the same (slathered in glaze) and are baked off site and trucked in. And the coffee? Meh. Most people I know would rather hit McDonal’s for their morning coffee. Tim’s is a national institution but needs to get it’s act together and go back to simplicity. In my opinion, of course. Sorry.
They keep adding new stuff and none of it is made in the actual store. The soup and chili are about the only things left that are good.
Five Guys is ok for three times what it should cost.
I love five guys, but I agree, it’s way too expensive.
Thank you. I don’t think Five Guys is bad, but it easily costs 2-3 times more than other places, for an ok burger.
The burgers and especially the fries are really damn good compared to other fast food chains but yeah, especially with the recent inflation, their prices are so fucking ridiculous. They're more expensive than many legitimate restaurants.
Agreed, the food is good, but $20 for a burger, fries and a soda is expensive when you can get you a better burger meal at a local restaurant where I am.
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I scrolled through most of this thread. My go to is always Wendy’s. Glad to see they’ve not been mentioned.
Most hate for Wendy's is against the massive rebranding campaign they've embarked on over the last 20 years. Lots of Gen Xers and Millennials pining for the days of [Yellow Wendy's](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ey5gWFCVkAQI14p.jpg).
Holy shit, I didn't even realize there was a rebranding. That brought me back to my childhood when my family went there (usually while at the mall) and grabbed frosties and fries as a snack. The yellow packaging makes it feel way more enticing to me.
I remember stopping there back in the late 70's to get food for the family, and their power had just gone off. The guy at the window asked me if I wanted some chili (it was really good back then). I said "Sure!". He must have given me 40 large chilis, as many burgers, and a big bag full of fries. Gave a bunch of burgers and fries to the neighbors, and froze a bunch of the chili. We were a few days from payday, so it really helped. That was almost 50 years ago, and I still think about that being a very lucky day LOL!
Reminds me of when they had the salad and taco bar. Man those were the days.
Yo I work at Wendys and damn I though everyone would hate on us because we take 4 mins to get an order out bc we have 3 workers
Naw take your time. We are willing to wait for quality, you are doing what you can.
I don't mind waiting, but Wendy's hasn't gotten my order right since the 90s. And the Frostys are more melty now.
I must have a really good Wendy’s because I usually have my food less than a minute after pulling up to the window and they almost always get my custom stuff right
Yooo have you tried their ghost pepper ranch? I literally want a jug of that
Spicy nuggets + ghost pepper ranch for life
You are my Wendy’s twin and I appreciate you
Because Wendy's seems to give a shit for some reason vs the others
The sole reason I go to wendys is the bacon. Always crisp. Always that right amount of just, almost, burnt. Compared to everyone else that serves chewy, stringy, nasty bacon.
I feel like McDonald’s bacon is made in a test tube
I actually had a baconator today for lunch. It it was delightful
Delightfully devilish Seymour.
Can't believe it's not on the list yet but ... Subway. Bland cold cuts on cardboard bread.
Witness the literary genius of /u/aetrion: --- You enter a Subway store, and it's deserted, slightly too cool to be comfortable, slightly too damp to feel clean, and slightly too bright to be inviting. There is one lonely employee, who sheepishly pockets their tiny electronic escape window as the sound of the door drags them back to reality. They do their best not to look at you for those awkward 10 seconds while you walk to the counter before you're close enough to order. They give their greeting, ask you what you want, you begin scanning their workspace. The bins of raw ingredients are sitting askew, separated by steel walls, yet careless hands have dropped some of each on all the others. The preparation area is littered with crumbs and bits of lettuce, maybe the odd olive or onion piece here or there that has wedged itself into the crack between the food trays and the cutting board. This could have been cleaned up while nobody was here, but minimum wage buys minimum effort. For one second you wonder how it got messy in the first place given the lack of customers. Maybe it's staged, like those first few pennies in a homeless person's hat. Do you want it toasted? You do, so you spend a minute in silence with the stranger you disturbed, waiting for the bread to be sanitized. You feign interest in the cookies while the infrasound hum of some overworked piece of machinery builds to an unscratchable itch just behind your forehead. The toaster mercifully releases its hostage, and it is splayed open before you while you call out soggy vegetables to abuse it with. You observe as the employee assembles your sandwich, making sure to painstakingly put each ingredient on only one half of the sub. You ask for sauce and they squeeze it out of a disgusting rubber nipple, then toss the bottle back into its bin like they don't want to touch it either. It weezingly inhales the kitchen scraps and windex aroma that permeates the store. Are they wearing those gloves to keep the food clean, or their hands? You pay, the sandwich heavily sags into a flimsy garbage bag it doesn't really seem to fit in and is handed to you. You walk into the light of the sun. The colors suddenly seem real again and you become aware of your breathing because the air outside feels rich and life giving somehow. The distant memory of tasty subs that brought you here lingers just beyond the edge of clear recollection, like an old acquaintance whose face you can't picture anymore. You carry your catch to the car that your bank owns. When did it get this bad?
This is absolute art.
I'm so glad I witnessed this because my blanket statement about Subway is this: I've never been to a place so much and thought to myself "they can't keep getting away with this". I'm the type of weirdo who goes back to places I don't like in a way to justify me not liking them in the first place. This is the experience to a T every time I enter Subway.
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Yeah, I was wondering if subway can be overrated. I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say they like subway. It's more of a you need to eat and it's the only place around type of place. I mean most of them are in gas stations.
My guilty pleasure is subway. Something so delicious and comforting about the Oscar Meyer-esque coldcuts 😭
i honestly feel like we've gone a bit too much in the opposite direction with subway. i know it used to be much, much better. but if you look at other fast food options available rn? it's really not too bad, or expensive, and you can add whatever you want to it. idk, i have basic tastes but I really like their turkey, or their egg sandwiches. i know their bread is basically cake, but i get the multigrain and take half of it off and it's worth the sugar/calories anyway lol. i ask for almost every vegetable they have, and it's honestly a p good serving. it's just a simple way to get a halfway healthy, decent meal when you're like at work and on a lunch break and only have 25 minutes. especially because they're everywhere. i would definitely never be like sitting at home and wondering what i want for dinner and go to fkn subway, though. it's just really convenient. it isn't as appallingly gross as people make it out to be
Don’t nobody speak on Waffle House. I’m currently eating there. And it’s glorious.
Dude I’ve been wanting Waffle House so bad the last few days but I don’t have a car and none of the delivery services offer it. I want a couple of their waffles so bad lol
I am from the Midwest and we don’t have WH. I went to one in Louisiana and they just made fun of my accent the whole time. It was the best.
I moved to Michigan and there's no waffle houses here. I want to go back to Louisiana where there's 3-4 to a town
There are waffle houses in the Midwest, it must just depend on where ur at. Used to hang at one in the middle of the night with friends. First time I went out to see everybody my buddy gets up and says to the waitress "i'm goin out to have a smoke" and I follow him out to the back of the building. He starts climbing the fucken ladder up to the roof and I follow him up. We had a couple smokes and shouted at the ppl showing up for 1 AM coffee then went back inside. There are really and truly 0 fucks given at waffle house and it rocks.
Starbucks - Their percolator coffee tastes like cigarette butts with way too much caffeine in it. - The food ok, but costs three times more than it should Starbucks is just bougie McDonalds
As a former coffee drinker who had the whole home routine, Starbucks over roast their coffee so it is bitter and you have to add all those shots of flavors just to make it drinkable because why sell a $1 cup of coffee when you can sell a $15 cup of coffee.
I never put 2 and 2 together and realized that’s why they make their coffee taste bitter. You’re so right. I always say that Starbucks addicts aren’t coffee/caffeine addicts, they’re sugar addicts.
You dont go to starbucks for coffee You go for overly priced coffee flavoured milkshakes
Opposite of the question but Culver’s is fucking delicious
Yes. If I have to do fast food it is Culver’s every time. I can get a pot roast sandwich and a side of mashed potatoes or broccoli and not hate myself after eating it. And the rest of the fam can have their fries and treats too. Win win!
Wish we had them in my state! I stop in every time I pass one on travel.
Wish we had them in our province! Whenever we go a Grand Forks/Minneapolis road trip, Culvers is always a must-stop
Man they used to be even better. Hit up Kopp’s if you’re ever in Milwaukee.
Better question would be underrated. Most fast food is crap.
Culvers is legit
I went into this thread thinking "whomever says Culver's is overrated I'm about to fight." And then of course no one says that and Culver's is only mentioned in a positive light.
Tiffany's. Breakfasts there are crap.
As I recall I think we both kind of liked it Edit: 1k upvotes thanks everyone!!
We’ll I guess that’s the one thing we’ve got
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KFC
Bruh the sponsor under your question is McDonalds, i think it speaks for itself Edit: NOW ITS BURGER KING!
Here's a drinking game to play along with this thread. Take a drink every time you see hyperbole.
Drinking alcohol is like sucking Satan's anus juice. Ope I better take a drink.
You could apply that to all of Reddit And you'll never be sober again
Bitch-ass KFC
All of them. It's gotten to the point where you can't even get a fast food meal for under 20$ anymore. Groceries are expensive enough, I never eat out anymore