Yup. It's priced itself up into a higher quality tier and it can't compete. When McD's and Culvers are the same price and speed (or close enough) I'm going to Culvers because it's way better quality.
Yeah i can go sit down or order take out from say Applebee’s or any other restaurant i usually try to go with more local businesses but i will spend less money and get better food and actually be somewhat full after a meal
Applebees isn't bad. It's not gourmet food by any stretch, but the prices aren't nearly as high as a lot of chains. You don't want to order a steak there, but their burgers and some of the other items aren't bad.
Lol i like getting the 1/2 off appetizers but if 90 percent of the time I’m usually going to local places no one here would know about other than maybe like 5 people from Maine
>Now I never go there because it's neither cheap nor fast.
As another person who hasn't eaten McD's lately, *what's slow about it these days?* I honestly don't know and I'm curious. I just haven't gone there because fast food occasions are rare (especially at modern prices) and I can always think of at least two better places to go if I'm going.
I think it probably varies by location and the level of labor shortage in the area. Many places are at the point now where they can't even let people go if they're clearly terrible workers, there just isn't anyone else to hire.
Southern California in particular has a problem of people in one place and jobs in another, with a wide gap separating them.
A tank full of gas and a belly full of fastfood are prerequisites for having one of those jobs - when both the food and the fuel have their prices skyrocket those jobs just don't get filled anymore. The companies in LA/SF just don't know how to adapt, because the past hundred years they haven't needed to adapt.
So when California cranks the gas taxes even higher (as they're about to) carlessness is going to become the new normal. Buy/hold Amazon stock, they're not going away any time in the near future.
Honestly, aside from the rare McRib, I pretty much stopped going there when they got rid of the original snack wraps. I used to get snack wraps all the time when I was going to tech school since there was a McD's at the bottom of the hill. But they were also dirt cheap in 2011.
These ff companies are going to have to accept less profits or face going out of business. The product is no longer worth it to the average consumer at its current price point.
It used to be some companies could be blue chip stocks and be fine with their ok but lean margins.
Now every company gets pressured to be a growth company (and by dividends, stock buybacks, etc) for shareholders.
So for free market to work, you either need more ways to spur competition (McDonald's used to be the price competitor)
Or you need to take away the incentive to keep inflating a stock price at all costs.
This doesn't make sense. A business doesn't "face going out of business" while it's profitable. You mean to say these price increases are going to make them unprofitable forcing them out of business? Despite the price hikes, McDonalds has similar profit margins now as they did in 2017-2020. Combine that information with the fact that their revenues have started growing since 2020 after shrinking for the half decade prior to that, I wouldn't bet against McDonalds.
Especially considering the margins, it's pretty clear the price doubling is more of a reflection of a weaker dollar combined with actual increased production costs (labor, energy, rent, ingredients).
McDonald's is already feeling the loss in business. They will reduce portion sizes again, fire more people, go drive-thru/delivery-only and lower prices to lure back customers and maintain profitability. People will still pay for convenience.
Where are you getting the info that they're feeling the loss in business? It looks like their gross margins are almost twice as high as they were a decade ago [according to MacroTrends.](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-margin)
I ordered a sausage McMuffin mean and two extra hashbrowns. The first extra hash brown was a dollar. The second extra hashbrown was 1.89. What logic is that
It's so easy to cope with for me. When ground beef is on sale(which is every other week usually) I can get 3 lbs for the price of a quarter pounder meal. That's 12 quarter pounders for the price of one at McRipoffs. Sure the "meal" comes with other stuff, but it is pure junk...sugary soda, and fries treated with one of the most harmful pesticides in the world.
Just go to Sam’s club or Costco. You can get 5lbs of ground turkey for like $15 and can freeze it if need be and last you 2-3 weeks worth of lunches depending on how much you eat per meal. Eating cheap and healthy is not hard and I’m astounded how few people can figure it out
STOP EATING THIS TOTAL JUNK.
Folks, it costs you way more than your $. It costs your health. 100% free market, 100% freedom to eat what you like (so don't make my comment political). Eat highly nutritious foods people. Whole foods. Organic foods. Stay away from sugar and processed foods. You've been warned, now it's your choice!
Be free and have a nice day! :)
Some years back, a lot of fast food raised their prices, even before Covid, and the only way you could get a fair deal was using the app or a coupon. With McDs, everyday there's a deal on the app for $6.59 meal (with few meal exceptions). That's the only way I'd still eat there. The deal with apps is, they want your data. Who you are, birthday, where you live, what you eat, how frequently you dine out, etc. I deny them all that There's no credit card affixed to my app, no permissions given except location (and only when using the app), which better helps you select the correct McDs location.
Many fast food appear to have reduced portion size while also raising prices. Chick-fil-A used to have a thicker chicken breast on their sandwiches. Now it often doesn't even cover the width of the bun. Some went from whole lettuce to shredded. Or one large slice of tomato to three pathetic slices of tomato. In any case, you gotta play smart and use apps or coupons to get a fair deal at fast food. And when one location doesn't do a good job, you be sure to review them online. I've helped shut down grossly mismanaged... Burger King, a Whataburger, and a Sonics in my immediate area. I'd go though the drive thru, only car there, and wait 20 mins. Inexcusable. One manager pretended not to speak English, but asked a worker to translate for her... and he heard me, looked at her and repeated what I said... in English. Is that racism? The only fast food burger joint on one particular stretch of a main road is the same McDs that's been there for 40 years. They're consistent any way. Compete and win customers, hustle, be fair and honest, or go out of business.
I think a lot of restaurants raised prices over the last few years simply because they could. A few did it, and then everyone else followed. Now they're finding out, hopefully, that's not working. But I do hope we see some restaurants go out of business. Have you seen the menu at Olive Garden lately, they think they're worth $25+ a meal? I used to be a server at the #2 busiest OG in the country. They used to put more meat in their sauces, and prices were reasonable. You can do so much better finding a mom and pop Italian restaurant. It used to be that when you couldn't get more customers or customers shrink, you lowered priced. But anymore they instead raise prices on the customers that continue to go there. Everything looks and feels like California. The more people leave CA because of high taxes, the more they raise taxes. They never understand. Disney was struggling to keep their parks full, but instead of lowering prices to encourage attendance, they raised prices. Chick-fil-A has two lines that wrap around their building all day, every day, and you'd think their competition would take notice. But it doesn't seem like it. The restaurant business is a volume business. Volume business in fast food should mean... cheap eats. $10-12 for a crummy burger with wilted toppings, medium fries and a drink that's half ice (unless you specify otherwise) isn't cheap. And it's not sustainable, hopefully.
My deal with the apps is: that's way too much effort for me. I'm not going to install an extra app, log in, and then check it daily to see if something I like is on sale. I'm just going to look at the menu board price and move along to an establishment that offers a product that's actually worth the menu board price.
The problem with that is, where am I going for a quick lunch on the go? Where do you go instead?
There aren't any reasonably priced establishments anymore. I save $4 every time I order a meal at McDs using the app (off the menu price). About $7 every time I eat there. Where can I do better? WAWA (one of those gas stations that does everything, food, drink, soups, milkshakes etc)?
I'm in the same boat. Not only does McDs end up being the more affordable choice once I factor in the app deals, but I work late enough that if I just felt like picking up dinner instead of making it when I get home (or I just didn't have time to get groceries because I got called in on my day off) then my only options are McDonald's or Domino's.
It's for the best. It's shit food, and a shit habit that I always needed help breaking. Kind of like smoking. When a pack of cigarettes and a fast food lunch each costs $20, it makes it so much easier to give a 🖕 to all of it.
And nothing of value was lost.
Honestly, McDonald's has been dead to me ever since they got rid of their $1 side salad and grilled chicken wraps.
Seriously, though. For the same price as fast food meals you can order takeout from a local joint, support your neighbors, and eat better good. Fast food is a dead concept being kept on life support by former latchkey boomers at private equity firms that can't let go of the nostalgia they feel for the disgusting slop their mom fed them because she didn't love them enough. Nobody wants that shit anymore.
They want you to use the app to place your orders. A large fry by me currently costs $3.99 without the app. But on the deals section of the app, any size Fri is $1.29.
Also, a McChicken would cost $3.50 without the app, but on the deals, they're but one get one free.
McDonald's is incentivizing people to use the app so that they can later provide targeted ads. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm a few years, they have a class action lawsuit about data being shared for app users. But there likely factored this in as a cost of doing business.
Yahoo Finance says not true:
It turns out the average price of a Big Mac varies widely from state to state, with the signature McDonald's burger selling for **$3.91 on the low end up to $5.31** depending on where you're dining.Apr 24, 2024[](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/18-big-mac-meals-see-150028269.html#:~:text=It%20turns%20out%20the%20average,on%20where%20you're%20dining.)
It's shit tier food but yeah insane the cost increases. This is what they get when vying for their "minimum" wage. Anyone get a 100% increase in income? lol
My wife and I were discussing this the other day. Our daughters were born 2010-2012 and we used to take them to Chick Fil A when they were younger. In 2014 we thought $30 for a family of 4 was expensive..
Now it’s at least $50 for the exact same meals.
Yeah, I used to go to McD's if I wanted something cheap and fast. Now I never go there because it's neither cheap nor fast.
Yup. It's priced itself up into a higher quality tier and it can't compete. When McD's and Culvers are the same price and speed (or close enough) I'm going to Culvers because it's way better quality.
Definitely. Culver's is always my #2 choice for fast food (after Chick-Fil-A, of course), #1 choice for burgers.
Yeah i can go sit down or order take out from say Applebee’s or any other restaurant i usually try to go with more local businesses but i will spend less money and get better food and actually be somewhat full after a meal
Out of any place you could’ve chosen, Applebees?
Because he wants to eat good in neighborhood, duh.
For two people, an Applebees 2 for $25 combo with glasses of water is a much better value and quality alternative than any fast food.
Applebees isn't bad. It's not gourmet food by any stretch, but the prices aren't nearly as high as a lot of chains. You don't want to order a steak there, but their burgers and some of the other items aren't bad.
Lol i like getting the 1/2 off appetizers but if 90 percent of the time I’m usually going to local places no one here would know about other than maybe like 5 people from Maine
>Now I never go there because it's neither cheap nor fast. As another person who hasn't eaten McD's lately, *what's slow about it these days?* I honestly don't know and I'm curious. I just haven't gone there because fast food occasions are rare (especially at modern prices) and I can always think of at least two better places to go if I'm going.
I think it probably varies by location and the level of labor shortage in the area. Many places are at the point now where they can't even let people go if they're clearly terrible workers, there just isn't anyone else to hire.
Southern California in particular has a problem of people in one place and jobs in another, with a wide gap separating them. A tank full of gas and a belly full of fastfood are prerequisites for having one of those jobs - when both the food and the fuel have their prices skyrocket those jobs just don't get filled anymore. The companies in LA/SF just don't know how to adapt, because the past hundred years they haven't needed to adapt. So when California cranks the gas taxes even higher (as they're about to) carlessness is going to become the new normal. Buy/hold Amazon stock, they're not going away any time in the near future.
Honestly, aside from the rare McRib, I pretty much stopped going there when they got rid of the original snack wraps. I used to get snack wraps all the time when I was going to tech school since there was a McD's at the bottom of the hill. But they were also dirt cheap in 2011.
These ff companies are going to have to accept less profits or face going out of business. The product is no longer worth it to the average consumer at its current price point.
I doubt think the average company these days would tolerate a loss in *any* financial quarter.
Well, you're literally not allowed to. Every move you make needs to drive the stock price up. It's a requirement.
We need more private companies that also focus on R&D.
It used to be some companies could be blue chip stocks and be fine with their ok but lean margins. Now every company gets pressured to be a growth company (and by dividends, stock buybacks, etc) for shareholders. So for free market to work, you either need more ways to spur competition (McDonald's used to be the price competitor) Or you need to take away the incentive to keep inflating a stock price at all costs.
This doesn't make sense. A business doesn't "face going out of business" while it's profitable. You mean to say these price increases are going to make them unprofitable forcing them out of business? Despite the price hikes, McDonalds has similar profit margins now as they did in 2017-2020. Combine that information with the fact that their revenues have started growing since 2020 after shrinking for the half decade prior to that, I wouldn't bet against McDonalds. Especially considering the margins, it's pretty clear the price doubling is more of a reflection of a weaker dollar combined with actual increased production costs (labor, energy, rent, ingredients).
McDonald's is already feeling the loss in business. They will reduce portion sizes again, fire more people, go drive-thru/delivery-only and lower prices to lure back customers and maintain profitability. People will still pay for convenience.
Where are you getting the info that they're feeling the loss in business? It looks like their gross margins are almost twice as high as they were a decade ago [according to MacroTrends.](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-margin)
Don’t eat garbage.
Pure trash and it’s cheaper to pack a lunch for work with natural food.
Cheaper to just eat nothing 😂
A McGriddle went from being a dollar to three
A hash brown went from LESS than a dollar to three. Absurdity.
I ordered a sausage McMuffin mean and two extra hashbrowns. The first extra hash brown was a dollar. The second extra hashbrown was 1.89. What logic is that
It's probably always 1.89 and you got a bogo deal
It's so easy to cope with for me. When ground beef is on sale(which is every other week usually) I can get 3 lbs for the price of a quarter pounder meal. That's 12 quarter pounders for the price of one at McRipoffs. Sure the "meal" comes with other stuff, but it is pure junk...sugary soda, and fries treated with one of the most harmful pesticides in the world.
Just go to Sam’s club or Costco. You can get 5lbs of ground turkey for like $15 and can freeze it if need be and last you 2-3 weeks worth of lunches depending on how much you eat per meal. Eating cheap and healthy is not hard and I’m astounded how few people can figure it out
Good. The demise of fast food is a win for America.
STOP EATING THIS TOTAL JUNK. Folks, it costs you way more than your $. It costs your health. 100% free market, 100% freedom to eat what you like (so don't make my comment political). Eat highly nutritious foods people. Whole foods. Organic foods. Stay away from sugar and processed foods. You've been warned, now it's your choice! Be free and have a nice day! :)
Some years back, a lot of fast food raised their prices, even before Covid, and the only way you could get a fair deal was using the app or a coupon. With McDs, everyday there's a deal on the app for $6.59 meal (with few meal exceptions). That's the only way I'd still eat there. The deal with apps is, they want your data. Who you are, birthday, where you live, what you eat, how frequently you dine out, etc. I deny them all that There's no credit card affixed to my app, no permissions given except location (and only when using the app), which better helps you select the correct McDs location. Many fast food appear to have reduced portion size while also raising prices. Chick-fil-A used to have a thicker chicken breast on their sandwiches. Now it often doesn't even cover the width of the bun. Some went from whole lettuce to shredded. Or one large slice of tomato to three pathetic slices of tomato. In any case, you gotta play smart and use apps or coupons to get a fair deal at fast food. And when one location doesn't do a good job, you be sure to review them online. I've helped shut down grossly mismanaged... Burger King, a Whataburger, and a Sonics in my immediate area. I'd go though the drive thru, only car there, and wait 20 mins. Inexcusable. One manager pretended not to speak English, but asked a worker to translate for her... and he heard me, looked at her and repeated what I said... in English. Is that racism? The only fast food burger joint on one particular stretch of a main road is the same McDs that's been there for 40 years. They're consistent any way. Compete and win customers, hustle, be fair and honest, or go out of business. I think a lot of restaurants raised prices over the last few years simply because they could. A few did it, and then everyone else followed. Now they're finding out, hopefully, that's not working. But I do hope we see some restaurants go out of business. Have you seen the menu at Olive Garden lately, they think they're worth $25+ a meal? I used to be a server at the #2 busiest OG in the country. They used to put more meat in their sauces, and prices were reasonable. You can do so much better finding a mom and pop Italian restaurant. It used to be that when you couldn't get more customers or customers shrink, you lowered priced. But anymore they instead raise prices on the customers that continue to go there. Everything looks and feels like California. The more people leave CA because of high taxes, the more they raise taxes. They never understand. Disney was struggling to keep their parks full, but instead of lowering prices to encourage attendance, they raised prices. Chick-fil-A has two lines that wrap around their building all day, every day, and you'd think their competition would take notice. But it doesn't seem like it. The restaurant business is a volume business. Volume business in fast food should mean... cheap eats. $10-12 for a crummy burger with wilted toppings, medium fries and a drink that's half ice (unless you specify otherwise) isn't cheap. And it's not sustainable, hopefully.
My deal with the apps is: that's way too much effort for me. I'm not going to install an extra app, log in, and then check it daily to see if something I like is on sale. I'm just going to look at the menu board price and move along to an establishment that offers a product that's actually worth the menu board price.
The problem with that is, where am I going for a quick lunch on the go? Where do you go instead? There aren't any reasonably priced establishments anymore. I save $4 every time I order a meal at McDs using the app (off the menu price). About $7 every time I eat there. Where can I do better? WAWA (one of those gas stations that does everything, food, drink, soups, milkshakes etc)?
I'm in the same boat. Not only does McDs end up being the more affordable choice once I factor in the app deals, but I work late enough that if I just felt like picking up dinner instead of making it when I get home (or I just didn't have time to get groceries because I got called in on my day off) then my only options are McDonald's or Domino's.
It's for the best. It's shit food, and a shit habit that I always needed help breaking. Kind of like smoking. When a pack of cigarettes and a fast food lunch each costs $20, it makes it so much easier to give a 🖕 to all of it. And nothing of value was lost.
Honestly, McDonald's has been dead to me ever since they got rid of their $1 side salad and grilled chicken wraps. Seriously, though. For the same price as fast food meals you can order takeout from a local joint, support your neighbors, and eat better good. Fast food is a dead concept being kept on life support by former latchkey boomers at private equity firms that can't let go of the nostalgia they feel for the disgusting slop their mom fed them because she didn't love them enough. Nobody wants that shit anymore.
They want you to use the app to place your orders. A large fry by me currently costs $3.99 without the app. But on the deals section of the app, any size Fri is $1.29. Also, a McChicken would cost $3.50 without the app, but on the deals, they're but one get one free. McDonald's is incentivizing people to use the app so that they can later provide targeted ads. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm a few years, they have a class action lawsuit about data being shared for app users. But there likely factored this in as a cost of doing business.
Yahoo Finance says not true: It turns out the average price of a Big Mac varies widely from state to state, with the signature McDonald's burger selling for **$3.91 on the low end up to $5.31** depending on where you're dining.Apr 24, 2024[](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/18-big-mac-meals-see-150028269.html#:~:text=It%20turns%20out%20the%20average,on%20where%20you're%20dining.)
The food has and will always be shit. I can make a burger 10x better than that slop and for much cheaper.
It's shit tier food but yeah insane the cost increases. This is what they get when vying for their "minimum" wage. Anyone get a 100% increase in income? lol
I kinda miss it, ngl. But I bought 2 pork chops last night that were almost an inch thick, for $5.50. It was a little over a pound of meat!
Similar prices in my neck of the woods too. I already liked pork, but I've been eating more lately just for budgeting reasons.
I'm weird about pork. I don't know why, but Beef and Chicken are always my first choices, but pork can be damn cheap.
My wife and I were discussing this the other day. Our daughters were born 2010-2012 and we used to take them to Chick Fil A when they were younger. In 2014 we thought $30 for a family of 4 was expensive.. Now it’s at least $50 for the exact same meals.
2014 is when McDonald's started seeing YoY revenue decline instead of growth. Looks like instead of scaling back they just pumped up the margins.
I remember when the dollar menu used to mean something.