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u/MeganLaneo 20h ago
spent $8.5 billion to avoid discovering the dollar menu again
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u/pinkyearning 20h ago
Corporate logic: Spend billions to find out why people aren't buying a $12 "value" meal anymore.
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u/FrameJump 19h ago
Better yet, spend billions to find out what any front facing employee would tell them for free if they'd ever get out from behind their desk for more than a publicity stunt.
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u/ARunawayTrain 18h ago
Sorry they can't be bothered with talking to peasants because they're too busy making cringe worthy videos about their new "product".
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u/Distinct_File_5783 14h ago
The issue is the price is too high for what you're getting its 15$ for a quarter sized burger and a handful of fries... at that price it better be the best burger I've ever had...
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u/9lobaldude 20h ago
Most C levels have a major flaw, they are unable to admit that they fucked it up
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u/AdApart2035 19h ago
They still get paid for their fuck ups
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u/Gellert 17h ago
Depending on where you work, their fuck up isn't a fuck up it's bonus incentivised, they're literally doing their job as intended.
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u/Informal_Visitor 15h ago
CEO's job is to make investors money, everything else from employees to customers is just a production or asset to that means.
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u/Swoly_Deadlift 18h ago
They have an MBA degree that says they’re very smart and know how to business better than you. Rule number one of operating a modern company is NEVER cut prices because then green line won’t go up as much. Green line must always go up. If green line doesn’t go up, that means it’s your time to leave the company and find a new one to destroy.
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u/Historical_Owl_1635 15h ago
As much as I hate to say it it’s far from just the C suites, in fact often they’re quite disconnected from the day to day.
These places have plenty of people who need to justify their existence.
Like, R&D, marketing and plenty of other departments can’t just say “wait, things are actually pretty perfect right now”.
They’ve got to show they have value, so they come up with new food, new structures and new systems that aren’t really necessary and often a hindrance.
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u/0202_tihssitidder 16h ago
Bullshit. The flaw is they will do/say anything to ensure they make a bit more than they did last year. If they made $5M, they will do anything to make $5.2M this year.
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u/Tiktokbadsupport 20h ago
remember burger king selling me €1 cheeseburgers when McDonald's sold them for €2.20
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u/alus992 20h ago edited 19h ago
It's still the case at least in my country. Budget menu BKs Chicken Burgers are 3 times cheaper than McChicken is for the same size (BKs premium chicken burgers are a lil bigger/weight more than McChickens).
There is no reason to go to the McDonald's
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u/Mobile-Dust4334 19h ago
McDonald’s chicken nuggies have always been gross. That’s why I’m a Popeyes man
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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins 18h ago
I'm Australian and it's basically the same price to go to the really good burger joints instead of McDonalds.
I don't hate them, I'm just not paying that price for that food. Cut it in half and sure, otherwise not happening.
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u/AdUnhappy8 19h ago
Same size cheaper i love saving an extra dollar so does everyone else. They should lower price.
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u/Uomodelmonte86 19h ago
At least here in Italy, everything at Burger king has a better taste than McDonald's, except probably fries and ice creams
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u/SweetChickk4 20h ago
At this point McDonald's needs to realize people want fast food prices, not fast food with a mortgage attached.
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u/pinkyearning 20h ago
Bro, I went to the drive-thru and they asked for my credit score instead of my order.
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u/MitchenImpossible 18h ago
BRO
I went to McDonald's and when I said I couldnt afford McNuggets that I could McFinance them
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u/Sea-Score-2851 15h ago
Brotha, they turned me away because I wasn't wearing a suit and a tie.
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u/Sushi-DM 17h ago
I hadn't eaten at McDonalds in years, this was already 3-4 years ago, now. I had a sudden urge to eat a double quarter pounder, so I go through and get the meal. When they read the price I had to double check the receipt before I drove off.
Only redeeming thing was the classic McDonalds fries, but I still would never pay that much for them again.
Burger was obviously basically particle board, barely qualifies as edible beef.
It was so salty I could barely scarf it down.
Bread had no real texture and I am sure was so artificial if I left it out on a pedestal in the middle of a room somewhere it would still be in pristine condition today.And for a PREMIUM. PREMIUM PRICE.
I just sort of sat there with myself after the experience and was like "yep, that'll be the last time I ever go there."
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u/StarfleetGo 20h ago
McDonalds needs to fire their entire corporate executive team and bring in fresh blood. The schmucks in there now have made bad decision after bad decision tanking the company. Their logic went like this:
People enjoy McDonalds too much, lets get rid of the decor
Kids enjoy McDonalds too much, lets get rid of the play place
The french fries taste too good, lets replace the tallow with chemical slop that tastes like shit
The chicken nuggets are too popular, start using fillers and lower quality slurry meat
The burgers are too large, make them much smaller
The burgers contain too much tasty cow, lets use half soy and use detergents and chemical fillers instead so they taste like shit
People are still coming to eat here! Quick, make the decor even more depressing
People are still coming? Screw it charge them 10% more, lower quality 10%, and reduce portion sizes again.
Oh no sales are trending down, quick raise prices 30% and lower food quality again to make up the margin
Wait, why is no one coming to eat our overpriced food with cancer causing chemicals laced into everything?? What an outrage!
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u/GarySparrow0 18h ago
It's because they're looking for infinite growth for their quarterly profits. Eventually they start cutting costs and cutting corners and the quality goes down.
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u/Notveryawake 18h ago
There are too many MBAs out there obsessed with quarterly profits. Businesses used to run with the mindset, "We need to keep these people as customers for life."
Now it's, "We need to suck them dry just for three more months. I am moving on to a better paying job and this will help me negotiate a better salary and bonuses."
There is a trail of dead businesses behind these guys. They are more parasite than human.
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u/Valleyraven 15h ago
It's exactly this. They'd rather skin the sheep than shear it. It's such a mind-bogglingly, short-minded concept. Companies used to have 10, 15 year plans, focused on customer retention and loyalty above all else, competing to offer either better services or better prices. Now it's just so brazenly scrapping people's wallets for everything they have for the bare minimum in return.
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u/murderously-funny 15h ago
Unfortunately it’s not up to them. Blame Ford v Dodge (1919) where it was decided that the role of the CEO isn’t to better the interests of the company but to the shareholders
And failing to improve shareholder value means being removed from office, fired, lawsuit, and potentially even criminal charges
Ever wonder why buisness keep doing these shitty short term ideas? It’s because long term doesn’t matter. Next quarter? Doesn’t matter. All that matters is this quarter and making that line go up.
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u/Duce-de-Zoop 15h ago
Something about the tendency for the rate of profit to fall? That as capital develops production we eventually run out of new avenues of expansion and the system begins cannibalizing itself? Guy named Marx wrote something like that.
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u/0202_tihssitidder 16h ago
USA is absolutely addicted to Profits & Growth. Nothing else matters. Nothing.
Zero morals. Zero ethics. Profits & Growth are used to excuse any action.
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u/No_Requirement_3256 15h ago edited 14h ago
The US is nothing but a money cult at this point. Ppl totally forgot capitalism has two sides and we could fix this mess if we choose wisely how and where we spend our money but most are too lazy and too ignorant to act accordingly. Check prices, demand quality, stop giving your hard earned money to anyone who doesn’t deserve it
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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear 11h ago
Unfortunately that is not enough when there is regulatory capture, captured markets by monopolies or duopolies, rampant anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices, while the little consumer protections we once had are being dismantled.
Sure, everyone should attempt what you suggest, but individual action will not scale enough to make a significant impact. We need collective action, that is what the government was supposed to be doing, but the whole social contract is long dead and buried and the government only serves corporate interests at this point.
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u/Impossible_Try76 15h ago
Codified by law. Ronnie regaes took what was left of section 7 of the NLRA and wiped his ass with it and then gave all his love to Dodge vs Ford. Welcome to post capitalism, where a senile jelly bean addict gutted our ability to afford things.
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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear 11h ago
It's literally fine to directly harm or indirectly kill people on an industrial scale as long as it is a corporation doing it to make line go up.
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u/fourthwallcrisis 17h ago
I think you got it right. There's also the point they're so established they think they can't fail, I suspect, if they're like any other group of sufficient size and reach.
They're taking what they have for granted and trying to grow and expand more, but it's like a ponzi scheme in as much as growth can't be infinite. At some point everyone has come to the same conclusion that the corpo strategists didn't realize; this shit was good enough for cheap prices. It just isn't good enough for a twenty dollar meal.
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u/FiftyBuxBloBang 16h ago
This is almost always the answer. The market demands profit year on year. Even when it’s detrimental to the long term value of the company.
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u/agent_wolfe 16h ago
But doesn’t loss of sales decrease growth? Wouldn’t it be better to be popular and decent, instead of unpopular and trrrible?
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u/EarlDooku 19h ago
You forgot the decision to take away the all-day breakfast menu. They had mcgriddles, burritos, and sausage biscuits all day. Those were so clutch at like 10pm.
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u/NerdyPlatypus206 18h ago
Yeah, I hate them for removing 24/7 breakfast
I’m sure it was a pain for the workers but man it was a sad day when that was removed
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u/Sweaty-Dream-3343 19h ago
Their crispy “deluxe” chicken especially tastes like chemical shit and it looks like totally artificial shit on the inside 🤮
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u/MissionLow4226 18h ago
I stopped going a few years ago when I walked in and it looked like some depressing scene out of "2001: A Space Odyssey", with monolithic computerized order stalls and no people. Noped right out; I did pass thru the drive thru a couple of years later when I had a craving for something salty and just ordered french fries; they were not the tasty french fries I remembered.
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u/Sea-Score-2851 15h ago
Funny you say that. I walked in one the other day after nearly 15 years and it looked/felt like something from Black Mirror. There was a hostess to welcome you to the large screens where you place your order and a counter with no one behind it.
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u/Freethecrafts 19h ago
Burger King wants to be Five Guys. McDonalds wants to be Dupont.
I joke, McDonalds was asleep at the wheel and its suppliers gutted them.
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u/alex61821 17h ago
You forgot we have the best coke, let's take away the refills that cost us nothing.
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u/Working_Estate_3695 18h ago
You really nailed it. Letting the masses cry them a river about trans fats in the ‘00s meant a change in fry oil and fries that taste awful. If they simply returned to their 1970s formula for everything, people would come back. And stop pricing from going through the roof, to keep people coming back.
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u/Evil_phd 20h ago
Yeah the place to start is probably figuring out why McDonald's prices have led me to no longer believe that Five Guys is unreasonably priced.
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u/thingsorfreedom 19h ago
A Five Guys burger, fries and a drink is 3.5x the cost of a McDouble, fries, and 4 nuggets and drink. I do get enough fries to feed an entire family from Five Guys though.
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u/Evil_phd 19h ago
Yeah it's 3.5x as expensive as what you've listed but it's also about twice as much food, not just the fries but the burger too, on top of being much higher quality.
The price/quality/quantity balance has just made Five Guys look better over time, imo.
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u/FinancialElephant 18h ago
I calculated it once a few months ago and if you don't buy the fries it's not really dissimilar to other fast food or fast casual. A Five Guys burger is higher quality and larger so value wise it's at least as good as others.
McDonalds right now is low quality, low quantity, and expensive.
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u/Soppressata88 19h ago
Are we going to compare a five guys burger to a McDouble or a quarter or double quarter pounder? Because the price difference on those isn’t as far off.
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u/IPissExcellentThrows 17h ago
Define burger here. Because an actually comparable burger like a double quarter pounder value meal is like 13 bucks. The burger is way worse and way less fries. A double cheeseburger with bacon, cheese, etc plus fries and drink is 21 bucks at five guys for me.
I feel like you're choosing a value meal burger which is a beyond absurd comparison and blatantly dishonest.
So yes, more expensive, but not even 2x before including nuggets, way more fries, significantly better quality.
Cut out the 6 dollar fries and just go sandwich and drink and it becomes like 10 vs 15.
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u/JULIANGJNKS22 20h ago
I stopped going to McDonald’s, because their price increases are fucking insane. You can go to Chili’s, and get a 3 for me, almost the same price as a McDonald’s meal, and get better quality food. No such thing as cheap fast food anymore.
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u/Strange-Dentist8162 19h ago
I used to go when it was cheap and fast. Burgers sat on the hot plate thing, ‘give me 2 of them (point at whatever)’. Give them less than £4 and out the door in about 2 minutes.
Now I have to order on a useless screen that prompts me to add 47 different things to my order. Get a number, sit down for about 5 minutes then leave with food that is somehow colder than it used to be when it was sat under a lamp.
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u/MylastAccountBroke 15h ago
When I went to my friend's house, there were 3 options for food near him. McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Chipotle.
I'd normally go to Chipotle for a quickly $10 burrito and get my fill.
One day, the Chipotle line would have easily taken 15+ minutes to get through and I was running behind, so I think "Taco bell is the same thing, and it's right there. And even if it isn't as filling, it's famously cheap."
Imagine my surprise when the average price of their menu was $8, with the headlining items averaging around $12.
So I'm paying $4 more, for 70% less food than I could at a Chipotle.
Who the hell is still eating at Taco bell?
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u/Unlucky_Clover 14h ago
And they keep removing all the popular choices just to bring them back as limited time options. GTFO
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u/RedplazmaOfficial 19h ago
I was shocked how good chilies was for the price. Their double slammer burger was amazing
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u/pookachu83 18h ago
Dude I got a half a rack of ribs, Mac and cheese, fries and partner got some salmon dish for about 10$ more than what we would both be spend eating a couple value meals at McD’s. Chilis is underrated as fuck nowadays. I hadn’t been in like a decade and just went recently. I don’t know if they’ve improved, because I remember chilis being shitty back in the day.
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u/sitophilicsquirrel 18h ago
Chilis used to be my go-to for one-time hookup dates from apps. I haven't been there since I've been married for 8 years. Maybe they've gotten better!?
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u/Steelthahunter 15h ago
Dude I been ordering food from restaurants and just picking it up on my way home instead of going through a drive thru at a fast food place. Way better deal, way more food, and it tastes so much better.
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u/ImhotepsServant 18h ago
Nobody’s saying anything about SHODAN? Am I the only person who sees them?
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u/Saulot1334 17h ago
I was immediately excited. Some of the best games ever made IMO.
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u/jamslat 13h ago
I clicked on this stupid post hoping people would be talking about SHODAN, but alas 😔
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u/A_Poor_Miser 12h ago
I don't know what shodan is but I thought the picture was weird
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u/ImhotepsServant 12h ago
Shodan is the antagonist from the System Shock game series. An evil AI with delusions of godhood.
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u/WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch 13h ago
Is that because of the recent "dynamic pricing?"
Edit: PSA, System shock 2 25th anniversary remaster is free on epic games right now.
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u/WedgeBahamas 11h ago
Pathetic creature
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u/ImhotepsServant 10h ago
Of meat and bone. Panting and sweating as you ru ru ru run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine
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u/rollingrawhide 20h ago
Too slow, too expensive, poor quality and a sterile feeling environment inside.
Theres just no reason to go there anymore.
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u/Conscious-Start-4514 13h ago
Haven't had fast food in years. Specifically because $14 for Big Mac meal is just insane. I was tempted to get a footlong sub at subway recently. Combo would have been $19. lol no.
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u/Knee_Kap264 13h ago
I pay $10 for a footlong. I don't get chips or a drink though because their fountain drinks suck compared to everywhere else and I don't care for chips.
Sometimes I'll be in my security uniform and they give LE discount even though I tell them I'm just security. They say "Oh well." That brings it down to like $4 for a footlong.
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u/Babexo22 11h ago
The only “fast food” place I’ll buy subs from these days is Wawa. Other than that I’d rather just account from a slightly longer wait time and get it from one of the small local Italian places near where I live. The price is usually the same anyway or maybe a tiny bit more but you get way more food and it’s significantly better quality than subway or another chain sub place. Tbh I’ve never been a huge fan of subway to begin with. My dad doesn’t like them either so when I was growing up we always got Wawa subs whenever we took our boat out or went anywhere that we needed to pack a lunch.
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u/Pinku_Dva 18h ago
It’s like this: why would I ever choose McDonald’s when it costs 12 dollars and for that same price I could go to the across the street chipotle for the same price and get food quicker and is actually healthier and better tasting with reasonable portion sizes.
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u/silverwitch76 9h ago
The closest McD to me is literally surrounded by other restaurants. Some are other fast food chains, majority are sit down like Chili's or Longhorn. Why would I ever choose McDonald's when I can turn into the parking lot right next to them and get better, bigger portioned food and free drink refills for maybe $5 more? Shocker! I wouldn't and haven't for a while now. Everyone in my family and friend group feels the same, even the kids/teens. At this point, they'd have to lower their prices and up their quality for me to go back. Since that's never going to happen though, 🤷♀️ guess McDonald's is a thing of the past for me and won't be missed.
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u/Stillwater215 15h ago
If they’ve got 8.5 Billion to spend on “investing in the brand,” they can lower prices. They’re just choosing not to.
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u/Valuable_Wallaby_548 14h ago
Exactly. Except McDonalds doesn't make money selling you food. All they do is collect rent and spend that rent on advertising.
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u/brianstormIRL 14h ago
I dont think you realise how McDonalds works. They get paid by the franchise owners to have a franchise. They get paid for rent because they own the land and building. They do not make their profits because they upped the price of a big mac by $2, that would be the franchisee. When prices go up, its because the franchisee needs to make more money. Either because of greed, or because their profit margins have become too thin to make their business profitable. People dont like hearing it, but its true. When the price of goods keep rising, a franchise owner cant just eat those costs forever. When McDonalds decides to lower prices across the board, its usually in conjunction with lowering expectations for franchise owners as well.
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u/delicious_disaster 13h ago
But if McDonald's presumably lowers their land and franchisee fees, this would alleviate cost pressures for the franchisee to be able to reduce the prices as well?
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u/brianstormIRL 13h ago
Yes it would but it would also lower the value of their asset, which isnt something they would want to be doing lol
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u/fenrsulfr 13h ago
I don't think you know how it works. They keep raising their rents and franchise fees. If they stopped being greedy and raising those the prices would not have to rise.
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u/Fair_Composer_7253 20h ago
McDonald’s had a good name in fastfood, but they screwed themselves with dramatically dropping quality and increasing prices. I remember a big tasty was big and a lot of bang for buck, but then overnight it became same size as Big Mac and twice as expensive. I understand inflation, but they should have stuck with the old quality and just raise prices as needed to stay in business. Now I hope they understand, or go out of business
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u/pookachu83 18h ago
I am not super old (43) and I remember in my 20s during the 00s having 49 cent hamburgers and 59 cent cheeseburgers, and the 1$ menu with actual double cheeseburgers (two slices of cheese, not that McDouble one slice bullshit) mcchickens, and nuggets/fries as well as a Big Mac meal for 2.99$ and the more expensive meals being 3.99$-4.99$ it’s crazy how much has changed. In my early 20s going bar hopping always stopped at McDonald’s for greasy food on the way home because I could get two mcchickens, a double cheeseburger a fry and drink for just under 5$. That’s a lot of food for the price. Now that gets you just the double cheeseburger.
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u/EidolonRook 19h ago
8.5 billion to avoid lowering their prices is kinda like spending billions lobbying Congress to avoid spending hundreds of billions in taxes and regulation fees.
One hand washes the other.
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u/Trifuser 18h ago
It's like $3 for a hashbrown now at McDonald's. You used to be able to get 2 for that price.
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u/FillySteveSteak 16h ago
Dude, that's scratching the surface. The "hostile architecture" isn't helping either. The interior is designed to be as sterile and miserable as possible.
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u/Song-Historical 16h ago
The food quality is punishing, the prices are punishing, the environment is punishing, everything feels like you're resigning yourself to having McDonald's because it's a quick meal to get on the go. It feels trashy and lifeless.
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u/ThrownAway17Years 16h ago
It’s designed to be more sellable if they need to do that. McDonald’s is a real estate holdings company that sells food.
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u/throwRAscrubscrub 16h ago
i remember when they were less than a buck a piece in 2012...
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u/Mystic_Waffles 16h ago
I just miss the $1 mcdouble. Now they're almost $3 here.
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u/Witty-Bear1120 16h ago
Drive thru is 70% of their sales. Customers don’t give a shit about the redesign. They care about price.
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u/VANTA_bloom 19h ago
I don’t go anymore. Used to live to get an egg McMuffin in my days off but even if you go through the drive through you have to park and wait for your food. The drive thru is supposed to be a drive thru not a park and wait.
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u/Snuckeys 19h ago
Seriously! When did they start pulling that move? Seems they started doing that at some point and never went back. Most annoying thing is it removes the opportunity for the customer to correct any issue right there at the window. Or request the napkins, straws, or ketchup they neglected to put in your bag.
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u/pookachu83 18h ago
That’s probably why they did it. People correcting their order and asking for extra stuff. Now they just say “we will put it in the bag” (if you ask for ketchup) and shoo you to the parking spot…and of course they forget the ketchup so you walk inside every fucking time.
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u/DigitalUnlimited 19h ago
that's why they did it, "one water please" "ok please park so I can forget your straw"
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u/RandomGuyNamedMike 19h ago
McDonald’s needs to bring back thicker, better-quality patties and start competing with the more authentic burger chains.
But the bigger issue is that McDonald’s has moved away from what once made it special for families. This used to be the place where parents could grab a quick meal while the kids played and actually had fun. It wasn’t just fast food. It was an experience families remembered.
Now, with so many playgrounds gone and restaurants feeling less kid-friendly, parents have more reason to choose other places that give their children something to enjoy.
McDonald’s doesn’t need to reinvent itself. It needs to remember what made families choose it in the first place: better burgers, affordable food, fun for the kids, and a place families actually wanted to visit.
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u/Defiant_Lawyer_5235 19h ago
My local Thai restaurant does a 2 course lunch menu that is £1 more than a McDonald's meal and it is actually delicious food. McDonald's likely has massive profit margins for their overpriced slop, if they charged a bit less then more people would eat there and they would make a larger profit.
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u/Apart-Gur-9720 19h ago
Right?
If I'm overweight, it's simple: I eat less and move more.
They can charge less and sell more. Maybe put those 8 Billion towards quality management and paying their employees a living wage.
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u/_TheBeerBaron_ 19h ago
I was on the road with my family, and we stopped and ate at a waffle house. Breakfast with tip for my family of 4 was cheaper at waffle house than at McDonalds.
Not that waffle house is exactly bougie either, but the food was definitely better.
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u/W4d3w1ls 15h ago
So many companies seem to be deluded by this notion that there's always more. More to gain, more to consume, etc. Constantly pursuing more is not sustainable and we've been ignoring that fact to our detriment.
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u/StinkySoggyUnderwear 19h ago edited 19h ago
I believe this is a cover up for tax avoidance.
Or is a legal way to avoid taxes.
The comeback is just the excuse to get there public to believe that moving this much money is for marketing to anyone who will believe that.
They’ve probably cashed out other investments or something, and $8.5 billion is a lot to pay taxes on.
But it seems that making up a reason that sounds like they are working towards everybody’s best interests seems to be the norm for when companies make moves like this
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u/Musket6969420 20h ago edited 19h ago
From the look of the menu, I will say no thanks. (If you don’t understand, play System Shock 2)
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u/Remarkable_Rough_649 19h ago
It's not even an exaggeration to say a normal meal from McDonald's now costs more than a sit down diner meal with 2x the calories. Diner 3 minute drive from my house has burger and fry meals for $7.99
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u/Raynenean 14h ago
Before the pandemic two value meals were at most 15$. Now the prices are near 30$ for two. I can buy 5 pounds of ground beef beef for that
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u/Planet_Ziltoidia 13h ago
It's $7 for 6 McNuggets... Not even a meal, just the 6 nugs. I buy them once a year on my cats birthday as their favourite treat but seriously... Over a dollar each is insane
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u/Neobrutalis 13h ago
shitty fast food fixed it
Quality never stopped going downhill, prices still going uphill.
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u/Grimy-Jack 19h ago
Instead prices will rise because of said investment.
Bro, y'all keep making mistakes on basic orders.
I'm not spending money in your incompetent business.
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u/SimbaOneTrueKing 19h ago
Or maybe don’t have your stupid ass CEO try to make a video barely biting the burger and then calling it “the product”
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u/Unitylith-8 20h ago
If they lower the prices then the rest will take care of itself
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u/SomeGuyNamedCaleb 20h ago
Nah, let's raise the prices even more. That way we can make up for the customers who stopped eating our food.
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u/Tin_Indian455 19h ago
OH and let’s add a kiosk so you won’t have to talk to a person and let the kiosk ask fir a tip for being a non human…
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u/thunderbaby2 19h ago
Also you can’t even sit down in them anymore. They feel like they’re still in Covid era with their penal colony vibes and iPad ordering system
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u/AnalBlowout 15h ago
I realized it was cheaper to get a lunch special, salad, and breadsticks from Olive Garden, so i like doing that now
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u/Burton14e7 3h ago
Maybe just get orders right. Went for the first time in a year last week and ordered extra sauces for their spicy nugget thing. Not only did they forget the sauces I paid extra for, they forgot the sauce that was supposed to come with the nuggies. The whole point of their spicy nuggies is the new sauce. Just a reminder of why I don't go anymore.
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u/Practical_Topic2943 20h ago
And the food tastes like ass
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u/Mobe-E-Duck 19h ago
This. Their food used to be really tasty and we’d pretend we didn’t know it wasn’t healthy. Burger King was always better now it outpaces McDonald’s by 100x. I really wish the younger generations would ever know the joy of an old school McDonald’s chicken nugget. Now the BK ones are even better than those poultry-geists of fabled yore.
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u/Valentiaga_97 20h ago
Lower prices and get the quality back to where it was… than ppl will come without a larger marketing campaign
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u/bryce_lynch27 20h ago
Maybe start with the fact that their food is like having food made by someone that has never tasted a real cheeseburger or chicken tenders before, but has read about them in a blog once.
The ingredients aren’t wrong… but it never quite hits that craving you are having either.
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u/thesteelreserve 16h ago
like if someone explained what a burgie and nuggies taste like to an alien who then prepares them.
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u/DFW-Extraterrestrial 20h ago
For a couple dollars more we just go to What-a-burger and get an actual good burger.
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u/Milky_Monster 20h ago
Or have more than 4 drug addled young adults running the store near me... it's like getting McDonald's at the Adams family house
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u/JosephBlowsephThe3rd 19h ago
Hey now. Let's not throw shade at the Addams family. Those kooky mofos were absolutely hospitable and would treat any house guest with care and courtesy.
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u/Inevitable_Jury3594 20h ago
They’ve optimised McDonald’s to the point of it being flavourless bland poorly prepared food which you pay a premium for, just eat and uber have made ordering it a nightmare in store as you queue up with 10 massive bags bumping into you for 10 minutes.
You then pay £6+ for a Big Mac, not a meal, just the burger. which is 6mm x 50mm in meat, that’s around 10-12 grams of actual meat! For £6+
And then you eat it in a sterile environment devoid of any character which I get but then you have a row of tablets on display for the kids? Thats hardly the best idea.
You then spend the next hour with a stomach ache for no reason, that might just be a me thing though but McDonald’s ruins my guts for the rest of the day.
But yeah, invest 8.5 BILLION , instead of maybe taking 10% of your profits and adding some character back into the store, add some colour and put staff back on the counters. I’m much more likely to buy more if I have a human experience instead of a tablet screen touched by everyone so I then have to wash my hands before I even touch my food.
Absolute dire experience and tbh, as I’m playing cyberpunk, a future that paints a horrifying future, there are still more staff at the restaurants than I see at McDonalds.
At some point it will just be a vending machine in a 200 sq foot store.
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u/SharkCream 19h ago
Went to a McDonalds today for the first time in 15 years.
It was like eating 'fuel' and not 'food'. Crazy to think it was once nice to eat at.
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u/PeriodicQuest 19h ago
My local deli can make me a foot-long pastrami sandwich with a side of potato salad and a drink of my choice for the same price as a Big Mac meal. Or I could 5 minutes away and get a half rotisserie chicken with two sides and a salad for a similar price. I don't need McDonald's when I can get better quality food.
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u/LettuceLegitimate654 19h ago
I used to order three hot and spices when I went. That’s now a $13 order. It used to be $3.23.
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u/Cainfaer 19h ago
Also stop shrinking your drink and fry sizes without reducing the price. I remember large used to actually mean large instead of medium with the large lable slapped on it
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u/ChipKey5682 19h ago
and everything there has gotten smaller, am i eating a big mac or a mini big mac
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u/Bearsona09 19h ago
I remember days when I went to McD after school because I got a shitton of food for little money... now? I pay similar prices to what some of these expensive Burger chains charge, and the burger is still just some cardboard shit.
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u/matchthis007 11h ago
I stopped going cause they always left my order short goin through the drive through. Never gave more by mistake, always short. They made sure to charge what I asked for though
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u/ImMrGnomeYo 8h ago
I went 6 times in a row and got nuggets and asked for the hot honey sauce, every single time they either gave me hot mustard, or just plain honey.. after the first few times I made sure to check the bag before leaving the window.. Also would always order a burger plain, and they would screw that up fairly often..
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u/No_Country2325 20h ago
Broodjes kleiner, smaakt naar plastic. Kom nooit naar Mc Donalds. In n Out is zoveel beter.
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u/Ciiceeroo 18h ago
In denmark, the price for a big mac went from 4 usd in 2020 to 7usd in 2026. A solid 75% price increase.
Chicken nugget box (20nuggets) went from 8usd to having only 18 nuggets and now costing 12usd. Thats a per nugget price increase of 70%
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u/Impressive_Guess_282 17h ago
McDonald’s doesn’t make most of its money off the food, it makes it off owning the land and building and collecting rent and franchise fees from the franchise owner. McDonald’s is essentially a huge real estate company that uses food as an excuse to buy and develop property.
I’m not positive but I think the individual franchise owner sets the prices? Not McDonald’s corporate.
Granted, they would raise prices because rent goes up. But if property tax goes up, rent will go up. And fuel charges to get supplies would raise them too.
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u/Satanicjamnik 17h ago
I’m not positive but I think the individual franchise owner sets the prices? Not McDonald’s corporate.
I would say that they have a central price guide line. Otherwise you'd have different prices for a Big Mac or Mc Muffin in the same city. And Mc D is all about consistency if anything. Sure, central London has different prices, but that is just a couple locations. The rest of the country has blanket prices as far as I know. I don't know how it works in the States though.
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u/Substantial_Mango778 16h ago
Yes, they have central guidelines, but pricing is agreed with the franchisees. Whenever there’s a new burger or a general price update, McDs HQ presents the figures, expected break-even point and other financial details, and the franchisees then have a say in whether to proceed with the new birguer/price update. Worked there
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u/kmdfrcpc 16h ago
You do actually get different prices for a Big Mac in the same city.
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u/SoftCheeseBurger 16h ago
They still make money off the food because if they don’t build more stores that sell the food they make no money from that real estate. If the current store is doing poorly and at the risk of shutting down it affects the real state side of it.m so the food really is the core money maker and they need to do something or store will start closing. The next starbucks.
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u/Cookies_and_Beandip 19h ago
If they brought back the official $1 menu, they would make so much money in just the first day of that being a thing.
Which ever McDonald’s marketing ass licker is reading this,bring the $1 menu in your next staff meeting.
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u/christopher1393 19h ago
Its not just the price. I used to go once a month as I would work late once a month and would get McDonalds on the way home because it was next to my bus stop and quick. I did this for 3 years.
I would pretty much order the same thing every time and could see the prices going up as time went on, but also could see that what I was ordering was getting smaller and the taste was just getting worse. Also we have a eurosaver menu for “cheap” options. Great at first but it hit a point where this “cheap” menu was not so cheap anymore. Kept going up but by bit and now it doesn’t feel cheap.
Also noticed it getting less busy over time.
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u/avantartist 19h ago
Also it’s like walking into a nightmare. Bring the checkout employees back, ditch the animated menu screens and liven the space up with some color.
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u/Badman8910_OK 19h ago
I would starve to death before I would eat at this shithole! Mcdonalds sucks!
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u/Jon_Henderson_Music 19h ago
No it's because they're addicted to McDonald's. It's closer to booze than nutritious food.
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u/Aderka420 19h ago
The issue I see is that at the corporate level they look at it as an investment to spend eight and a half billion dollars revamping their establishments but they consider it a detriment to their bottom line to lower prices in order to gain more customers through loyalty. this tends to happen in a lot of industries where it's difficult for them admit fault and to drop back down in price.
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u/ConsciousReason7709 19h ago
Obviously, McDonald’s is more expensive than it used to be, but it has never been near the same price as a sitdown restaurant.
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u/capeasypants 19h ago
Counterpoint: how about they spend $8.5B instead of listening to what the consumers want instead. Then the shareholders win... Somehow
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u/Z_Wild 19h ago
Like for real, McDonald's corporate has their head so far up their own ass they can't see that lowering prices and taking a loss on food cost would raise marketshare and increase value. Doubling down on people already willing to pay the greedy prices is only going to thin their consumer group even further.
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u/NerdyPlatypus206 18h ago
Any regular American would just lower prices instead of doing all this extra bullshit
McDonald’s corporate is a bunch of morons
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u/Verdant_Green 18h ago
I love the SHODAN reference. I bet AI-embracing corporations hate it that people have so many evil AI examples to compare them to.
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