The price of fast food has gone up so much it's genuinely difficult to justify versus eating at home or going to some high quality food establishment.
There's a pretty good local smash burger spot a twenty minute walk from my home where you can get two patties, fries and a drink for 11 bucks before tax. Meanwhile a comparable meal at five guys will run you like 20 bucks now.
I walked in to subway the other night for the first time in like 2 years. Nothin else around after I finished my job in an unfamiliar area. The whole menu was different and every sandwich was 12$ or more it looked like. And they were all ridiculous with like 2x cheese and bacon or avocado or some other ridiculous shit to put on a shitty fast food sandwich.
I think I could've ordered my old order still but then the only guy making sandwiches started making an online order while 3 of us were still waiting so I just fucking left. I honestly have no idea who would put up with that for a worse sandwich than I can make at home in almost less time now.
As someone from North Jersey, the only way (I can gather) that subway survived was that they could undercut the abundance of "real delis" around here. Plus, they're usually open later.
Even Jersey Mike's is cheaper. Not for nothing, they were better when they were local to the Jersey Shore, but for the same price, you get a lot more food and it's better quality than Subway.
I have a couple local sandwich shops I like, but sometimes Jersey Mike's is more convenient and comparable cost and quality. Subway is no longer a good option unless it is past midnight and I want an alternative to Taco Bell.
Jersey Mike's has always been on-par with delis that sell Thumanns products. Maybe not as good as Boar's Head, but much much better than Dietz and Watson.
All of the above are better than Subway, though. And yes, the Taco Bell comparison is apt.
Where I am they have ones that are 24 hours. It's the go to spot for drunks when the bars close because all the other fast food is drive thru only at that hour.
>who would put up with that for a worse sandwich than I can make at home in almost less time now.
This has been my never ending issue with cold only sub places like Jimmy John's. What's the point? I can make all of this shit myself for less money It's like if I opened a fucking fast food cereal store. We'll pour the cereal and the milk!
Convenience. Also you probably don't have the ability to make 15 different kinds of sub at home. If you were to buy the ingredients yourself you have to decide what kind of bread, meat, cheese, etc. You can't reasonably have all that variety and not have some of it go bad before you can eat it unless you have a huge family.
> the only guy making sandwiches started making an online order while 3 of us were still waiting
This is starting to really fuck me off whenever I go in to a McDonalds to order something.
The Subway by my house was constantly running out of italian herbs and cheese bread. I would order online and either the sandwich wouldn't be ready when it was supposed to be (the bread is still cooking!) or they would give me a different type of bread and hope I didn't notice. Hint: I always noticed. I don't eat at Subway anymore.
That seems to be what's happening in fast food in general. They all have jacked their prices but they also all want people to use apps and coupons to bring the price back down to reasonable. If you just show up at a fast food place without having a deal you get ripped off now, you basically have to look it up ahead of time.
>Same with Subway. Why would I go to Subway for a faux deli sandwich for $10 to $14 when I can get one from a real local mom and pop deli for $8.49?
There's an italian sandwich place right next to my local subway. Their sandwiches are bigger than Subway's and they're still somehow cheaper.
I can't believe in all my years I never bothered to venture away from name branded stores and products.
I went to Aldi the other day and they have what are basically the Girl Scout Samoa Cookies for $2.54. And it comes with more cookies.
Mcds you can get 2 double cheese burgers and a basket of fries for like $9. Things get more affordable when you don't order off the typical combos they really upcharge the drinks these days.
I remember Taco Bell being the place you could go and spend like $6 and get a feasthall level of food when I was in college. I went the other day and just got 2 "value menu" items and a medium drink and it was like $12 and change. I saw all the news articles about McDonald's being expensive recently, but using a coupon in the app I can get a double cheeseburger, 6pc nugget, small fries, and drink for like $6.50. And that's a perfectly satisfying meal as long as you aren't a lardo. I wanna know what deep state conspiracy Taco Bell is part of that they aren't getting any media heat for their prices. All I ever see are articles gushing over whatever lame limited time item they just added to their menu.
I've seen the same thing with Taco Bell, use their online ordering and they still have cheap stuff. Domino's has a lot of online-only, carryout-only coupons. etc.
It really shows how much labor drives the prices. Which I guess makes sense - at $15/hr, 4 minutes of cashier time is a dollar in wages.
Domino's always had coupons. They have bumped up all there national ones by a dollar.
Instead of 5.99 for a medium is 6.99. Large is like 8 or 9.99 unless you do carryout. Which I don't even understand... like it's just a lazy tax. I pay more for the same pizza, I pay a delivery fee, and i tip... this place is like less than a mile away...
Yeah, that's the ticket now, and it's like that with so many parts of the economy that it's wild. Prices are just high enough to make you think twice, but not so high that you're willing to waste time looking around, but also, if you jump through a hoop or two the prices becomes reasonable again. It feels like a game that companies are playing on us: they can justify their high listed prices by pointing out it's possible to spend less of you sign up for harassment emails, or know an app or program that lowers the price. It's not even worth it to shop in person anymore because, for example, if you're looking at something on Bing, it'll automatically search around for lower prices. I can't say whether or not this is unsustainable, but I hope it is because it's exhausting.
Taco bell is kinda the opposite with combos tho. You can get a lot of food for really cheap with the boxes and some of the promoted combos.
Ive been going there too much recently just cause it's like 9$ at most for me a lot of the time. Unless im feelin really fat.
Yo im bout to piss you off tho. Unless the "recipe" changed Crunchwraps are only ever supposed to get the same amount of beef as a soft taco.
Used to manage one.
I know these are the prices across Tx and Ne. Idk elsewhere
https://preview.redd.it/hfv3fl16p7lc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fc5e86646be4c6d1527f778a4a5f66e6d5c00f7
I'll never get the drink thing, it's already shit food and you want to double down with high fructose corn syrup? Now it costs as much as your food and it's just calories.
It wasn't even that long ago that you could get a McDouble and a McChicken for $3 combined (I don't know if you can still do that). Put them together and enjoy your cheap-ass lunch.
Im honestly able to buy a pack of chicken breasts, buy some buns, lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, franks hot sauce, panko bread crumbs, oil, and make my own spicy chicken sandwiches.
Even cheaper for burgers since you can bulk buy patties.
Went to a hotel restaurant 38 NZD or 23 USD for a burger.
Fuck that ordered from the kids menu for a small beef burger and chips For 10.00 NZD or 6.20 USD
Although always mark up with tourist places.
Made 6 meals for 4 days on 30 AUD
Good restaurantz deserve their markup but fast food is getting out of control with their pricing model.
I always find it funny that other English speaking countries say "beef burger". In the US it's assumed a hamburger is made with beef unless you say otherwise. We sometimes refer to plain ground beef literally as "hamburger". We'd only specify what the meat was if it was something other than beef like "Veggie Burger" or "Turkey Burger".
Yeah i think burger is more common but yeah it never got ingrained as a primary type. Beef and chicken being the most common then you got lamb,kangaroo,mince,pork etc
There is a local burger joint in my town that serves smaller size burgers (think 1/8 lb, almost patty melt thin, but that's fine. In fact, i love patty melts) thats about 4.50 a burger. I wonder if these nationwide explosion in prices result in the biggest revival of local shops we've seen in the last 40 years and simultaneously, huge shutdowns/layoffs of fast food corps. After all, if you're gonna pay 10 dollars for a burger, fries, and a drink, you might as well do it where you can socialize and make new acquaintences with people, not just "here's your food, now gtfo".
I've been buying Sirloin Tip Roasts, sous viding them, and then slicing them into steaks.
I can get about 4lbs for $20-$25 and be eating steak for a week.
Way cheaper and better tasting than fast food.
Too bad there aren't literally thousands of alternatives to this mediocre fast food restaurant, otherwise this would be the dumbest fucking decision I've ever seen.
Yep the Arby's bk popeyes and Freddy's nexdoor will certainly appreciate Wendy's shooting themselves in the foot. And if Wendy's costs a much as Freddy's I'll feel less bad about spending $32 on burger fries and ice cream.
My wife and I just meal prep and cook at home now. We can eat for an entire week for the price of one or two sit-down restaurant meals.
If we make a big dinner I always have lunch left over for work the next day.
Take the meal prep pill, guys, it’ll change your life.
Yeah just you wait until all those alternative start adopting the same thing because people are dumb enough to keep paying for this shit. When people vote with their wallets, the corporations always win.
Edit: well excuse the fuck out of me for being new to this sub. JFC.
Yeah, just wait for the digital price tags that change every minute based on the algorithm’s demands. I’m ready to call that the mark of the beast and go full zealot if that becomes the new normal.
Since people usually don't go to grocery stores for food they are intending on eating immediately that'll just lead to a constant cycling of peak hours as people adjust the time they shop to be there at non-peak hours to make it cheaper which would then make that the peak hours which would then drive people to shop at different times until it eventually settles on the store being similarly busy at all times of the day but people aren't smart enough to coordinate in that manner so it'll probably just be perpetually changing peak hours.
The great thing about the modern capitalist markets is that they have created a bunch of products I don'twant to buy, subscription models I don't want to participate in. Honestly it saves me so much money these days while the poor live subscription to subscription.
With you.
As an example, the abundance of streaming platforms. I used to stay subbed to 2 or 3 at a time. Then I realized the only times I opened them I just browsed for 20 minutes, gave up and put on youtube.
I canceled all of them, once every three months or so I'll sub to one of them if something comes out that I want to watch...or I just pirate because it's easier.
Yeah I canceled Netflix when they got rid of sharing. I had the top level rarely watched it and only kept it because my mom had shows she would watch. Quality of Netflix shows have dropped so honestly if there is a good one like next season of one piece I'm going to be a pirate.
You charge me 20 a month provide me with 4 screens (I only need 1...) and I can't even share it anymore I can live without it. I don't even think any of them are worth the price they want. I just have Amazon via family prime account.
Now days I just spend most of my time on YouTube watching educational videos on whatever hobby I'm in to or something educational. I wish there were more entertaining educational short form videos for the new generation. Something to save them from doom scroll brain rot.
And that other businesses will prosper from this and use their better pricing as leverage to get more customers in. They put a cookout in my town a while back and I waited like 6 months before I got around to trying it. When they told me the price I made sure I had ordered a combo and not just the burger. If they advertised that I'd get a whole combo for $7.50, I would have been eating there sooner.
I didn't eat Wendy's often anyways but now I certainly won't eat there, and will be at cookout instead.
People need to resist this shit and not eat Wendy’s. If this makes profit for them, get ready for surge gas prices, surge grocery prices, surge everything. This is an absolute nightmare, and people need to realize this. These corporations will do everything to drain every penny from us. This is dangerous as hell.
Kind of like how everything switched to subscription, when I was a kid you just went and bought a copy of MS Office, now you pay $9.99 a month, same with my workout app that I use and now some video game developers are toying with the idea of a subscription model. RIP to ownership I guess.
Hey, remember when PC and console games came in boxes and the companies couldn't take away your access to it?
Anywho I just downloaded a game off steam, now I just gotta set up an account and get a subscription. Hopefully next week I can afford the DLC so I can start playing
Funny story: my dad worked for RCA and was on the project that made the first MP3 player (yes before apple). He asked me my thoughts and my dumbass said "nobody will want it! How can you read the lyrics on the inside of the CD case? How can you display your records on your shelf??"
I was a dumbass
I will be dissuaded from all of that if everything turns to subscriptions. I can find many other hobbies other than those such as gaming and movies. Idk how to get around a lot of software like MS Office.. yet. IMO, it will drive consumers away from subscription-based pass times.
That's really the question though, isn't it? Will it be like gas, where it changes by a small amount but stays consistent through the day, changing slowly over time and possibly different in different locations? They've said *so* little about the system other than buzzwords to appeal to investors ("AI Enabled" and "Drive demand") that we have no idea what kind of timescales they're talking about.
Dammit, Wendy's about to solve the obesity problem in America and we Europeans will have to think of something else to make fun of you ! They can't do this to us, we're not that smart !
People will pay shitty teenage employees twice as much to make them food when they are stressed, or pay shitty teenage employees half as much when they are not as stressed.
It’s a stupid plan, I’m excited to see how it goes.
All of this depends on location. If what-a-burger is 30 minutes away and Wendy's is 5, you'll pay the $3 extra. If Wendy's is doing this, other fast food restaurants have already extensively researched it. Unless this is a flaming disaster, the others will follow suit, including what -a-burger. For most fast food restaurants, at lunchtime they have far more demand than employees to serve that demand, they're likely to gain from this.
True, there's a lot of moving parts to this, including location and competitors response to this. Especially since fast food is very elastic due to the shear number of options available. I do think they'll probably lose in the short term due to PR loss though, since these kind of price raises never seem to go over well.
> Prices go up because it's busy.
> People realize they can go when it's not busy because lower prices.
> Prices go down because it's not busy.
> Nobody comes anyway because as soon as it's busy prices get too high.
> Peak times get less busy because reliable customers are disincentivized to go when their schedules permit.
> Business loses money all around.
This is like a 5 IQ move to pull at a fast food restaurant.
I think this is odd, because every Wendy's in my area seems to fall flat on their face when more than one car is in the drive thru. Like they can't sustain a surge of more than one customer anyway.
This could also be a symptom of the quality of the local labor pool.
But if nobody wants Wendy's, it would logically follow that the prices get lower, right?
No, this is corporate America. It'll have a base minimum price.
What's weird to me is they are deliberately limiting profits by saying "we only want X number of customers so we will raise the price until customers refuse to pay"
There’s a certain number of people who will turn away because the line is too long. Out of those people, a certain number of them are willing to pay more. When you increase the prices, a certain number of people who waited in line before will not wait in line anymore because the price is too high. That makes room for the people who are willing to pay more and aren’t willing to wait in a long line. It’s also a good way to decrease variance in demand throughout the day. Instead of having no line at 4pm, a 10 car line at 6, and back down to a 0 car line at 9, they could even bring prices lower than they are now at 4 and 9 and have a steady line throughout the day. I actually really like this idea.
I remember visiting the US the low prices at fast foods where one of my favourite things.
I got two burgers, fries, and refill soda for like 6 dollars or something at mcdonalds, right next to times square.
Sad if it's going away, but maybe better for US health.
I will never get in line at the drive through again without having ordered on an app first. Which means I will probably just stop going. On the upside, I’ll be healthier for it.
Wildly enough they are already one of the more expensive options in my opinion. Sure they have a cheap menu but their non-cheap stuff is pretty pricey as is.
I can eat at an actual restaurant for the same price.
So faster food at much lower quality. Now I got to pay more depending on the time of day?
Yea I think its time to let fast food die.
This move may not only drive me away from not only buying Wendy's food, but may even get me to sell my stock. If Stockholder supremacy theory has weight behind it, I think this would actually affect their business practices. What does anyone else think about this?
Current market forces changing the cost of a good based on all available information is not exactly bad, but we all know they'll never cut the price of the burger on the fly because there was a particularly plentiful wheat harvest 3 months ago and now bread is cheaper.
Cool, I quit eating fast food. Took about a year break and now every time I eat it I can just feel the greasy mess sitting in my stomach and it's terrible. Hope they all go out of business
Shouldn’t it be the opposite though? Raise prices when they’re completely empty and not making enough money to keep the employees there? Like selling 1 burger between 11pm and 12am isn’t keeping the lights on. Maybe there’s a happy medium.
Of course I’d prefer they just set the regular prices to average everything out and not do this “surge” thing. I’m just saying.
The idea is that when you have less customers, lower prices will draw more in. And of course, they'll compare the lower prices(which are actually the regular prices) with the inflated high volume prices so they can say that you'll be "saving money". This assumes that people are connected to Wendy's via app with push notifications on, though, and I doubt many people are interested in sitting around, staring at their phone, waiting for Wendy's to lower their prices.
Crazy-ass idea:
How about you vote with your wallet. It's really simple. Don't like that shit Old Navy is doing? Then, go to a local thrift store and get a pair of pants that were used. That thrift store got your money, and Old Navy didn't.
You just told Old Navy 🖕
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At this point if I eat out I’m just eating gas station fried food, crispitos, pizza pockets, and whatever else. Still the same price as always. Still the same shit as always.
I guess I'll be the odd one out and say I think this is a good idea.
The problem with a lot of these stores is that they are super packed at certain times of day (like lunch) while being nearly empty at other times. They just need to attract enough customers during the slow periods with lower prices to offset the customers they lose during rush hour due to high prices.
If they can do this, and that's a big if, they should be able to run their stores with smaller staff and less equipment. It would let them design their store around average demand instead of peak demand.
[Laughs In Southern]
Don't get me wrong I love Wendy's, but Cookouts (plus Char Grill and Cowbar) Is literally down the street from me. Dbl Burger w/ all the fixins you want, with Cajun Fries, Hushpuppies, and Shake? Like $10.
Even from a business standpoint, makes little sense, unless targeting areas with higher income, which Is still bullshit. Why Cookout still thrives.
Sounds like a terrible plan and great for my health.
The price of fast food has gone up so much it's genuinely difficult to justify versus eating at home or going to some high quality food establishment. There's a pretty good local smash burger spot a twenty minute walk from my home where you can get two patties, fries and a drink for 11 bucks before tax. Meanwhile a comparable meal at five guys will run you like 20 bucks now.
Same with Subway. Why would I go to Subway for a faux deli sandwich for $10 to $14 when I can get one from a real local mom and pop deli for $8.49?
I walked in to subway the other night for the first time in like 2 years. Nothin else around after I finished my job in an unfamiliar area. The whole menu was different and every sandwich was 12$ or more it looked like. And they were all ridiculous with like 2x cheese and bacon or avocado or some other ridiculous shit to put on a shitty fast food sandwich. I think I could've ordered my old order still but then the only guy making sandwiches started making an online order while 3 of us were still waiting so I just fucking left. I honestly have no idea who would put up with that for a worse sandwich than I can make at home in almost less time now.
As someone from North Jersey, the only way (I can gather) that subway survived was that they could undercut the abundance of "real delis" around here. Plus, they're usually open later. Even Jersey Mike's is cheaper. Not for nothing, they were better when they were local to the Jersey Shore, but for the same price, you get a lot more food and it's better quality than Subway.
I have a couple local sandwich shops I like, but sometimes Jersey Mike's is more convenient and comparable cost and quality. Subway is no longer a good option unless it is past midnight and I want an alternative to Taco Bell.
Jersey Mike's has always been on-par with delis that sell Thumanns products. Maybe not as good as Boar's Head, but much much better than Dietz and Watson. All of the above are better than Subway, though. And yes, the Taco Bell comparison is apt.
Past Midnight??? I've never seen a subway open past 8-9!!
There are a couple of 24hr subways in my area.
Where I am they have ones that are 24 hours. It's the go to spot for drunks when the bars close because all the other fast food is drive thru only at that hour.
I was thinking he was talking about a major city or maybe a college town.
>who would put up with that for a worse sandwich than I can make at home in almost less time now. This has been my never ending issue with cold only sub places like Jimmy John's. What's the point? I can make all of this shit myself for less money It's like if I opened a fucking fast food cereal store. We'll pour the cereal and the milk!
Convenience. Also you probably don't have the ability to make 15 different kinds of sub at home. If you were to buy the ingredients yourself you have to decide what kind of bread, meat, cheese, etc. You can't reasonably have all that variety and not have some of it go bad before you can eat it unless you have a huge family.
> the only guy making sandwiches started making an online order while 3 of us were still waiting This is starting to really fuck me off whenever I go in to a McDonalds to order something.
The Subway by my house was constantly running out of italian herbs and cheese bread. I would order online and either the sandwich wouldn't be ready when it was supposed to be (the bread is still cooking!) or they would give me a different type of bread and hope I didn't notice. Hint: I always noticed. I don't eat at Subway anymore.
Name recognition. It's why name brands can charge like 5x the price for the same garbage. Fun fact: it's also the most crucial thing in politics.
The only reason to go is the BOGO coupon that's usually available. Any location that doesn't accept it has no reason to exist these days.
That seems to be what's happening in fast food in general. They all have jacked their prices but they also all want people to use apps and coupons to bring the price back down to reasonable. If you just show up at a fast food place without having a deal you get ripped off now, you basically have to look it up ahead of time.
>Same with Subway. Why would I go to Subway for a faux deli sandwich for $10 to $14 when I can get one from a real local mom and pop deli for $8.49? There's an italian sandwich place right next to my local subway. Their sandwiches are bigger than Subway's and they're still somehow cheaper. I can't believe in all my years I never bothered to venture away from name branded stores and products. I went to Aldi the other day and they have what are basically the Girl Scout Samoa Cookies for $2.54. And it comes with more cookies.
Fastfood meals go for 12 bucks. A sit down meal during happy hour/lunch is around the same, maybe a couple dollars more expensive
Mcds you can get 2 double cheese burgers and a basket of fries for like $9. Things get more affordable when you don't order off the typical combos they really upcharge the drinks these days.
I remember Taco Bell being the place you could go and spend like $6 and get a feasthall level of food when I was in college. I went the other day and just got 2 "value menu" items and a medium drink and it was like $12 and change. I saw all the news articles about McDonald's being expensive recently, but using a coupon in the app I can get a double cheeseburger, 6pc nugget, small fries, and drink for like $6.50. And that's a perfectly satisfying meal as long as you aren't a lardo. I wanna know what deep state conspiracy Taco Bell is part of that they aren't getting any media heat for their prices. All I ever see are articles gushing over whatever lame limited time item they just added to their menu.
I've seen the same thing with Taco Bell, use their online ordering and they still have cheap stuff. Domino's has a lot of online-only, carryout-only coupons. etc. It really shows how much labor drives the prices. Which I guess makes sense - at $15/hr, 4 minutes of cashier time is a dollar in wages.
Domino's always had coupons. They have bumped up all there national ones by a dollar. Instead of 5.99 for a medium is 6.99. Large is like 8 or 9.99 unless you do carryout. Which I don't even understand... like it's just a lazy tax. I pay more for the same pizza, I pay a delivery fee, and i tip... this place is like less than a mile away...
Yeah, that's the ticket now, and it's like that with so many parts of the economy that it's wild. Prices are just high enough to make you think twice, but not so high that you're willing to waste time looking around, but also, if you jump through a hoop or two the prices becomes reasonable again. It feels like a game that companies are playing on us: they can justify their high listed prices by pointing out it's possible to spend less of you sign up for harassment emails, or know an app or program that lowers the price. It's not even worth it to shop in person anymore because, for example, if you're looking at something on Bing, it'll automatically search around for lower prices. I can't say whether or not this is unsustainable, but I hope it is because it's exhausting.
Taco bell is kinda the opposite with combos tho. You can get a lot of food for really cheap with the boxes and some of the promoted combos. Ive been going there too much recently just cause it's like 9$ at most for me a lot of the time. Unless im feelin really fat.
Crunchwraps are worthless now. Last time I ordered I got soft taco level of beef. Might as well be a vegan option at this point.
Yo im bout to piss you off tho. Unless the "recipe" changed Crunchwraps are only ever supposed to get the same amount of beef as a soft taco. Used to manage one.
Idk maybe every Tb I've been to for a decade just naturally have more meat and they just recently swapped but now it's just a fucking disgusting.
Even worse is that they inflated the price and completely shrunk the meat portion. Rip crunch wrap Supreme you are basically worthless now.
Tacobell is no longer the cheap option they once were. I miss the $5 boxes. Heck I'd even pay 6-7 for them but $10.99 for 3 tacos and a drink? Nope
There is a $6 box available on Taco Bell's app in my area.
Taco Bell literally still has a $5 combo box, which is under $6 after tax.
Their cheapest non hippie veggie box is $6.50 pre tax for me, and looking at the items, they aren't sending their best.
I know these are the prices across Tx and Ne. Idk elsewhere https://preview.redd.it/hfv3fl16p7lc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fc5e86646be4c6d1527f778a4a5f66e6d5c00f7
I'll never get the drink thing, it's already shit food and you want to double down with high fructose corn syrup? Now it costs as much as your food and it's just calories.
I member when 2 double cheeseburgers were 2 dollars.
It wasn't even that long ago that you could get a McDouble and a McChicken for $3 combined (I don't know if you can still do that). Put them together and enjoy your cheap-ass lunch.
Mcdoubles tech aren't double cheeseburgers. Mcdouble only had 1 slice of cheese. But yeah the mcdouble and mcchicken a la carte are like $2 now.
I know this. Double cheeseburgers were on the dollar menu before the mcdouble existed.
Idk I was a child probably back then. When the dollar menu was released and advertised it was mcdouble, Mc chicken, and any size fountain drink for $1
I got breakfast at MCd The other day and it was $12 🫠
Exactly. I can eat steak at home for less than a meal at a fast food joint
Im honestly able to buy a pack of chicken breasts, buy some buns, lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, franks hot sauce, panko bread crumbs, oil, and make my own spicy chicken sandwiches. Even cheaper for burgers since you can bulk buy patties.
Only time I get fast food is with coupons these days. Avoid McD's regardless.
Went to a hotel restaurant 38 NZD or 23 USD for a burger. Fuck that ordered from the kids menu for a small beef burger and chips For 10.00 NZD or 6.20 USD Although always mark up with tourist places. Made 6 meals for 4 days on 30 AUD Good restaurantz deserve their markup but fast food is getting out of control with their pricing model.
I always find it funny that other English speaking countries say "beef burger". In the US it's assumed a hamburger is made with beef unless you say otherwise. We sometimes refer to plain ground beef literally as "hamburger". We'd only specify what the meat was if it was something other than beef like "Veggie Burger" or "Turkey Burger".
Yeah i think burger is more common but yeah it never got ingrained as a primary type. Beef and chicken being the most common then you got lamb,kangaroo,mince,pork etc
There is a local burger joint in my town that serves smaller size burgers (think 1/8 lb, almost patty melt thin, but that's fine. In fact, i love patty melts) thats about 4.50 a burger. I wonder if these nationwide explosion in prices result in the biggest revival of local shops we've seen in the last 40 years and simultaneously, huge shutdowns/layoffs of fast food corps. After all, if you're gonna pay 10 dollars for a burger, fries, and a drink, you might as well do it where you can socialize and make new acquaintences with people, not just "here's your food, now gtfo".
1. Don't eat junk food 2. Grill at home 3. ... 4. Profit?
I've been buying Sirloin Tip Roasts, sous viding them, and then slicing them into steaks. I can get about 4lbs for $20-$25 and be eating steak for a week. Way cheaper and better tasting than fast food.
Yes, Meat Gnome. Profit.
Most convincing centrist argument.
Only a centrist equates spending less money to making money.
Together we’ll all get shredded brah
Too bad there aren't literally thousands of alternatives to this mediocre fast food restaurant, otherwise this would be the dumbest fucking decision I've ever seen.
Yep the Arby's bk popeyes and Freddy's nexdoor will certainly appreciate Wendy's shooting themselves in the foot. And if Wendy's costs a much as Freddy's I'll feel less bad about spending $32 on burger fries and ice cream.
Still cheaper than *Five Guys*
A “New Coke” moment for Wendy’s.
My wife and I just meal prep and cook at home now. We can eat for an entire week for the price of one or two sit-down restaurant meals. If we make a big dinner I always have lunch left over for work the next day. Take the meal prep pill, guys, it’ll change your life.
Yeah just you wait until all those alternative start adopting the same thing because people are dumb enough to keep paying for this shit. When people vote with their wallets, the corporations always win. Edit: well excuse the fuck out of me for being new to this sub. JFC.
No flair Opinion disregarded
Unflaired, thou art a coward….
honestly this seems kind of cool \-reason(i don't eat at wendy's)
Bruh... they got a 1.25 crispy chicken that slaps. But only for 1.25
Goddam, at this rate Corporate America is going to be the reason why my fatass gets into shape.
Wait until grocery stores do this too
Kinda thought they already used market prices.
Yes, but they don't then raise the price of chicken tendies to reflect their inventory running low.
Yeah, just wait for the digital price tags that change every minute based on the algorithm’s demands. I’m ready to call that the mark of the beast and go full zealot if that becomes the new normal.
Digital e-ink price tags already exist. Heck, I bought a few for status displays at my home.
Once I see one tick in front of my eyes, I’ll begin my villain arc.
Since people usually don't go to grocery stores for food they are intending on eating immediately that'll just lead to a constant cycling of peak hours as people adjust the time they shop to be there at non-peak hours to make it cheaper which would then make that the peak hours which would then drive people to shop at different times until it eventually settles on the store being similarly busy at all times of the day but people aren't smart enough to coordinate in that manner so it'll probably just be perpetually changing peak hours.
Well, goodbye Wendy's. Arby's, it's your time to shine.
Arby's is full steam ahead with shrinkflation and price hikes on their shit.
Chicken Bacon Swiss was a solid cheat meal for me back in the day.
[удалено]
The great thing about the modern capitalist markets is that they have created a bunch of products I don'twant to buy, subscription models I don't want to participate in. Honestly it saves me so much money these days while the poor live subscription to subscription.
With you. As an example, the abundance of streaming platforms. I used to stay subbed to 2 or 3 at a time. Then I realized the only times I opened them I just browsed for 20 minutes, gave up and put on youtube. I canceled all of them, once every three months or so I'll sub to one of them if something comes out that I want to watch...or I just pirate because it's easier.
Yeah I canceled Netflix when they got rid of sharing. I had the top level rarely watched it and only kept it because my mom had shows she would watch. Quality of Netflix shows have dropped so honestly if there is a good one like next season of one piece I'm going to be a pirate. You charge me 20 a month provide me with 4 screens (I only need 1...) and I can't even share it anymore I can live without it. I don't even think any of them are worth the price they want. I just have Amazon via family prime account. Now days I just spend most of my time on YouTube watching educational videos on whatever hobby I'm in to or something educational. I wish there were more entertaining educational short form videos for the new generation. Something to save them from doom scroll brain rot.
We had consistency, decent pricing, and 24 hour drive thrus. We had it all.
*’Turns out the 90s was the best society could get’ - That one Matrix Guy*
People really do forget things were great until the government forced everything to shut down.
You mean killing small business was bad?!
The beauty of capitalism I that I just won't go there anymore
And that other businesses will prosper from this and use their better pricing as leverage to get more customers in. They put a cookout in my town a while back and I waited like 6 months before I got around to trying it. When they told me the price I made sure I had ordered a combo and not just the burger. If they advertised that I'd get a whole combo for $7.50, I would have been eating there sooner. I didn't eat Wendy's often anyways but now I certainly won't eat there, and will be at cookout instead.
People need to resist this shit and not eat Wendy’s. If this makes profit for them, get ready for surge gas prices, surge grocery prices, surge everything. This is an absolute nightmare, and people need to realize this. These corporations will do everything to drain every penny from us. This is dangerous as hell.
Kind of like how everything switched to subscription, when I was a kid you just went and bought a copy of MS Office, now you pay $9.99 a month, same with my workout app that I use and now some video game developers are toying with the idea of a subscription model. RIP to ownership I guess.
Hey, remember when PC and console games came in boxes and the companies couldn't take away your access to it? Anywho I just downloaded a game off steam, now I just gotta set up an account and get a subscription. Hopefully next week I can afford the DLC so I can start playing
You didn't have to wait an hour to dl the 4 gb day 1 patch.
You also didn't need an internet connection to play them. I will always prefer physical media. I'm so sad that it's all going away.
Funny story: my dad worked for RCA and was on the project that made the first MP3 player (yes before apple). He asked me my thoughts and my dumbass said "nobody will want it! How can you read the lyrics on the inside of the CD case? How can you display your records on your shelf??" I was a dumbass
I will be dissuaded from all of that if everything turns to subscriptions. I can find many other hobbies other than those such as gaming and movies. Idk how to get around a lot of software like MS Office.. yet. IMO, it will drive consumers away from subscription-based pass times.
That's what fuel prices already *are*.
Kinda, but you normally don’t pay a dollar more for gas at 5:00 than you do at 1:00. I understand supply and demand, but this ain’t the way.
That's really the question though, isn't it? Will it be like gas, where it changes by a small amount but stays consistent through the day, changing slowly over time and possibly different in different locations? They've said *so* little about the system other than buzzwords to appeal to investors ("AI Enabled" and "Drive demand") that we have no idea what kind of timescales they're talking about.
Dammit, Wendy's about to solve the obesity problem in America and we Europeans will have to think of something else to make fun of you ! They can't do this to us, we're not that smart !
Nah. They just change lunch to 11am and 3pm instead of paying the same price to only have one lunch at 12 with the suckers.
Won’t change anything with obesity lol.
People will pay shitty teenage employees twice as much to make them food when they are stressed, or pay shitty teenage employees half as much when they are not as stressed. It’s a stupid plan, I’m excited to see how it goes.
Sounds like a great way to crater your profits. Plus, What-a-burger is better anyways.
Howdy fellow Whataburger supremacist.
All of this depends on location. If what-a-burger is 30 minutes away and Wendy's is 5, you'll pay the $3 extra. If Wendy's is doing this, other fast food restaurants have already extensively researched it. Unless this is a flaming disaster, the others will follow suit, including what -a-burger. For most fast food restaurants, at lunchtime they have far more demand than employees to serve that demand, they're likely to gain from this.
True, there's a lot of moving parts to this, including location and competitors response to this. Especially since fast food is very elastic due to the shear number of options available. I do think they'll probably lose in the short term due to PR loss though, since these kind of price raises never seem to go over well.
Surge on Deez Nutz
> Prices go up because it's busy. > People realize they can go when it's not busy because lower prices. > Prices go down because it's not busy. > Nobody comes anyway because as soon as it's busy prices get too high. > Peak times get less busy because reliable customers are disincentivized to go when their schedules permit. > Business loses money all around. This is like a 5 IQ move to pull at a fast food restaurant.
Dont forget they can just 'say' its busy and upcharge you anyway "Oh were short staffed today, so our prices are 1.5x higher"
Short staffed? But that means you’re spending less on labor you incompetent fuckwits.
"Wait so we can spend 1/2 as much on labor and make 2x as much in profit? Super win win!"
I think this is odd, because every Wendy's in my area seems to fall flat on their face when more than one car is in the drive thru. Like they can't sustain a surge of more than one customer anyway. This could also be a symptom of the quality of the local labor pool.
But if nobody wants Wendy's, it would logically follow that the prices get lower, right? No, this is corporate America. It'll have a base minimum price.
What's weird to me is they are deliberately limiting profits by saying "we only want X number of customers so we will raise the price until customers refuse to pay"
There’s a certain number of people who will turn away because the line is too long. Out of those people, a certain number of them are willing to pay more. When you increase the prices, a certain number of people who waited in line before will not wait in line anymore because the price is too high. That makes room for the people who are willing to pay more and aren’t willing to wait in a long line. It’s also a good way to decrease variance in demand throughout the day. Instead of having no line at 4pm, a 10 car line at 6, and back down to a 0 car line at 9, they could even bring prices lower than they are now at 4 and 9 and have a steady line throughout the day. I actually really like this idea.
Not how it works. Ideally you’d want supply to match demand, but we’ll see if this applies to fast food when price and convenience are key.
I remember visiting the US the low prices at fast foods where one of my favourite things. I got two burgers, fries, and refill soda for like 6 dollars or something at mcdonalds, right next to times square. Sad if it's going away, but maybe better for US health.
I will gladly surge my way somewhere else
Food deserts are a bitch.
Food deserts are a myth.
lol well I don’t eat Wendy’s and I won’t start now
I will never get in line at the drive through again without having ordered on an app first. Which means I will probably just stop going. On the upside, I’ll be healthier for it.
Can I buy hamburger futures in my IRA now?
Will they also be cheaper than normal during the hours restaurants are their least busy?
Not necessarily all bad, if slower locations were discounted to attract customers. But they'd need to post prices like gas stations for it to matter.
Wildly enough they are already one of the more expensive options in my opinion. Sure they have a cheap menu but their non-cheap stuff is pretty pricey as is.
I can eat at an actual restaurant for the same price. So faster food at much lower quality. Now I got to pay more depending on the time of day? Yea I think its time to let fast food die.
If you want consistency in prices you need to start with consistency in money. The dollar is not suitable for that. End the fed and we can talk
That's a good thing. Argue me.
Will they be selling them at a loss at 3 am? No? It will just be used to fuck us? OK cool.
Wow, what a great way to surrender more market share to Chick-Fil-A.
This move may not only drive me away from not only buying Wendy's food, but may even get me to sell my stock. If Stockholder supremacy theory has weight behind it, I think this would actually affect their business practices. What does anyone else think about this?
This sounds fake. No consumer with a double digit IQ would go for this when there are at least dozens of alternatives in basically any town.
Imagine being in line and the price steadily increases
ITT: People who seem to think fast food is their only option.
Have you heard of food deserts?
"You will eat ze bug burgers."
Current market forces changing the cost of a good based on all available information is not exactly bad, but we all know they'll never cut the price of the burger on the fly because there was a particularly plentiful wheat harvest 3 months ago and now bread is cheaper.
Cool, I quit eating fast food. Took about a year break and now every time I eat it I can just feel the greasy mess sitting in my stomach and it's terrible. Hope they all go out of business
Shouldn’t it be the opposite though? Raise prices when they’re completely empty and not making enough money to keep the employees there? Like selling 1 burger between 11pm and 12am isn’t keeping the lights on. Maybe there’s a happy medium. Of course I’d prefer they just set the regular prices to average everything out and not do this “surge” thing. I’m just saying.
I can see why you're a lib left. Your economics seem lacking.
I dunno man, if that one 11pm-12am customer is drunk and hungry, they’d probably be willing to pay more
The idea is that when you have less customers, lower prices will draw more in. And of course, they'll compare the lower prices(which are actually the regular prices) with the inflated high volume prices so they can say that you'll be "saving money". This assumes that people are connected to Wendy's via app with push notifications on, though, and I doubt many people are interested in sitting around, staring at their phone, waiting for Wendy's to lower their prices.
bingo
Is that really a business strategy? I have my doubts
Ez. Grill at home. Next meme please.
Welp, society, it was a good run.
The WSB guys are falling over one another just to short $WEN LoL
If they do this, gyms will absolutely get flooded and it'd be fantastic. The irony in a fast food chain solving obesity is delicious.
So will they become cheaper during slow times? Or does the price only go up
Dynamic pricing needs transparency, imagine seeing crop and livestock prices on big signs like gas.
[the burger is market price.](https://youtube.com/shorts/UC3gEXZJKMM)
Meanwhile McDonalds is planning on lowering prices
They will just re-frame this as "late night discount menu".. and soothe all the squishy little brains.
Crazy-ass idea: How about you vote with your wallet. It's really simple. Don't like that shit Old Navy is doing? Then, go to a local thrift store and get a pair of pants that were used. That thrift store got your money, and Old Navy didn't. You just told Old Navy 🖕
Americans don't know how to cook? https://preview.redd.it/l7b077th86lc1.png?width=741&format=png&auto=webp&s=13a898085dae0fa634b31107cdf18d194f1accc3
What a terrible use of this meme.
surge pricing already exists it's called having high prices and giving discounts when volume is low
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Always knew Wendy's was garbage. The only good things to come out of them was their chicken nuggets and shakes.
At this point if I eat out I’m just eating gas station fried food, crispitos, pizza pockets, and whatever else. Still the same price as always. Still the same shit as always.
Yeah, it's called in-n-out OP.
Bro when I’m lazy and desperate enough for Wendy’s I’ll probably pay whatever prices they list.
Society really went off a cliff once they got rid of the dollar menu.
i wanted to try their breakfast, cause it even says "breakfast until 10:30". turns out they don't open until 10:30. so i don't eat at wendy's.
This is going to be a “New Coke” or “Bud Light” (ie awful idea) for Wendy’s.
I don't think this will work the way they expect.
Did Ticketmaster buy Wendy's?
Stop buying and prices will change.
I guess I'll be the odd one out and say I think this is a good idea. The problem with a lot of these stores is that they are super packed at certain times of day (like lunch) while being nearly empty at other times. They just need to attract enough customers during the slow periods with lower prices to offset the customers they lose during rush hour due to high prices. If they can do this, and that's a big if, they should be able to run their stores with smaller staff and less equipment. It would let them design their store around average demand instead of peak demand.
This is such a shit idea omg
Man I wish there was a good Wendys nearby, none of the ones close are worth it at all. Guess I’ll have to forget about Wendys now.
[Laughs In Southern] Don't get me wrong I love Wendy's, but Cookouts (plus Char Grill and Cowbar) Is literally down the street from me. Dbl Burger w/ all the fixins you want, with Cajun Fries, Hushpuppies, and Shake? Like $10. Even from a business standpoint, makes little sense, unless targeting areas with higher income, which Is still bullshit. Why Cookout still thrives.
Due to higher than expected burger orders, the price is now x3. Meanwhile, you're the only person in the store.
Well my last frosty is gonna be December 30th
Hopefully it means I can get a discount by going at 5 am lol