McDonald's to 'rethink' prices after first sales fall since 2020

nobody ever went to mcdonald's because it's "good" but because it was cheap and fast
now it's none of those 3 things. no reason to go there at all. that applies to most other fast food shit too.
- McDonalds also directly supports the IDF
  
  it was a franchise choice for that community. not to defend mcdonalds, but this happens, just not usually by genocidal groups.
  "In regard to the news that McDonald's in Israel was donating meals. We affirm that it was an individual decision on their part," McDonald's franchise in Saudi Arabia said in a statement. "Neither global McDonald's nor us nor any other country had a role or relationship with that decision, neither directly nor indirectly."
  McDonald’s is a global chain but its franchises are often owned locally and operate autonomously.
  McDonald's Corp declined to comment but a source close to the company in the U.S. said the Israel franchise was an independent business that licensed McDonald's brand. The source said it’s not unusual for franchisees to engage with their local communities when they are in need.
  
  It also relies on forced prison labor.
  https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e
  
  Sounds like I need to buy a Big Mac.
- Only reason to go there now is because they've tricked my kids into being addicted to it.
  
  glad they're raising you right
- Only thing i noticed it's bland. Saving on salt?
- When big mac is made right, and the ingredients haven't been sitting around all day, it's pretty dang good. Even their basic hamburgers.
  
  Trusting that the underpaid and overworked employee is going to deliver a "pretty good" burger from a fast food joint isn't a gamble many people are willing to make anymore. And I don't blame those employees at all.
  
  made right
  haven’t been sitting around all day
  LOL
  
  Have you ever had a cheeseburger at a real restaurant in your life? This is a serious question.
  
  So, basically, it's never good.

I won't go back until hash browns are 2 for $1.
Fuck outta here with this $2.00 hash brown bullshit.
- You can get a pack of frozen hash browns for cheaper than that. Saves time, money, and tastier imo.
  
  And crunchy af in the air fryer.
  
  Shout-out to Trader Joes' hash brown patties.
- Wanna say they’re $2.79 where I’m at. I know for sure they were just under $3
  
  Yep fuck that.
  2 for $1.
  And egg McMuffins and sausage muffins should be <$3.00.
  And the sausage burritos should be 2 for $1.
  McDonald's trying to act like they're a restaurant and not a fucking logistics company. The market rate of a potato doesn't affect the price of French fries at McDonald's when they legitimately own the rights to the only brand of potato that is used to make McDonald's French fries.
  Any company that is known by all doesn't do what the average person thinks they do.
  McDonalds? Logistics company
  CocaCola? Logistics company
  Ups? Logistics company
  Starbucks? Logistics company
  Miller/Coors? Logistics company
  Shaw's? Logistics company
  W.B mason? Logistics company
  Exxon Mobile? Logistics company
  Amazon? Logistics company
  The price of sugar doesn't affect Coca-Cola. The price of wheat doesn't affect millercoors. The price of lumber doesn't affect wb mason. The price of gasoline doesn't affect ups. The price of coffee doesn't affect Starbucks. The price of beef, potatoes, and dairy doesn't affect McDonald's. The price of oil (barely) doesn't affect Exxon Mobile.
  These are the fucks that pull the levers. Not the farmers. Not the lumberjacks. Not the oil refiners.
  
  $2.79, before taxes. Don't forget these are US companies. And any charges outside the US have likely already been taxed locally, before international tax was applied.
  Don't ever assume the US gov is paying you fairly. Taxes are only an excuse for them to make even more money by manipulating the rules.
- It's worse here in Canada.
- 3 USD

I miss cheap fast food. Feels like it will never come back anywhere.
- Hole-in-the-wall ethnic food shops/take out are the way. If you want 'murican fast food, you gotta break the bank... but find a little family owned taqueria that does their shit right and you can stuff your face with the best tacos you've ever eaten for like $3. Highly dependent on your local options ofc, so keep an eye out.
  In my experience, the sketchier the restaurant looks, the better the food is.
  
  If a restaurant looks shady and stays in business, it's either a front or the food is delicious.
  
  I was amazed to find out the chicken place I order from looked nice (for a sketchy hole in the wall ethnic food place). $30 CAD for two or three days worth of INCREDIBLY good chicken and fries
  Like seriously, it was dying mall food court sketchy when I expected, "...You killed the health inspector with a pan to the head didn't you?" sketchy
  
  In Louisiana some of the best fried chicken and other Cajun food is in gas stations. Not even joking. It’s usually small towns, but there are some around NOLA and other cities, too.
  
  Bag of Dick's burgers are the only way to go in Seattle.
  
  I wish we had those around here. Even the hole-in-the wall Indian places start their plates at like $12. It's absurd.
  
  All the local taco places near me are like 10 bucks for 2 tacos
  
  You reminded me of a dumb song by a little known christian singer from the 70s and 80s that my dad liked.
  We played this song on repeat as kids because there was a giant belch in it.
  I give you Randy Stonehill's American fast food (what a stupid way to die)
  
  You absolutely can get great American food from a hole in the wall. Also, I’m not sure why you had to say ‘murican as if our food has something wrong with it. Just a weird flex. I’m lucky to live in a city with a plethora of food trucks all around and you can get pretty much any kinda cuisine for cheaper than fast food joints.
- Cheap food is still out there, but it's not corporate food.
  Corporations put profit above all, which is anathema to how every successful chain became successful. Whatever mechanism they had to stresamline production, negotiate with vendors, push addition products (would you like fries with that?), their primary goal was always consistency and value. You know what to expect, and it's worth the money.
  You'll find that now in local diners, in food trucks, in cafes, and in small restaurants where they value good food over profit, but you won't find it at most chain restaurants.
  
  Food trucks are hit or miss. The food can be OK but the ones here tend to be very overpriced for the quality.
  Someone else mentioned ethnic places which have become my go to for good, cheap food. There's a gyro place near me where you can get a gyro and fries for like $7. It takes 5 minutes and the food is fresh.
- Taco Bell still has $1.25 bean and rice burritos where I live. It’s like 400 calories so it’s a pretty good deal.
  
  Not here! The burritos at Taco Bell here are outrageous. A single bean burrito is 4.50CAD. The 7-layer? 8 BUCKS. The Grilled Cheesy? Fuck you, over ten dollars for a single burrito. A burrito that isn't heated right, has all the ingredients separated into disgusting pockets of single ingredient, and makes you feel terrible after eating them.
  And mind you, these aren't even combos. This is just one burrito.
  
  Taco Bell is my goto for cheap fast food
- I assume you are North American, look for small ethnic food shops. You will find better food at a cheaper price.

Notice they are too embarrassed to post their prices online. To see the price, you have to put the item in the cart then use some bs 3rd party app. WTF McDs?
- "If you have to ask the price, then you can't afford it" happening in a McDonald's, while people are out here financing a pizza from Dominos. It's like we lost the Cold War.
  
  That's too insanely dystopian for anybody in sci-fi to have predicted it.
  The closest would be Demolition Man having Taco Bell (or Pizza Hut) as fancy dining. But they imagined the chain upping its game when it gained monopoly. How naive.
- That’s how they charge different prices based on region.
- Taco Bell does this too, because their prices are so ridiculous now.
  
  Warning! This definitely reads like a taco bell add but I just really appreciate taco bell for having food for vegans and not price gouging like the rest did.
  Hard disagree, if you learn what to order and how to customize your food.
  Fat ass burritos for 3.50 are not a bad deal imo, and I regularly make my own burritos at home.
  They have some trap items to avoid for sure, but the staples are still cheap. Hard shell and soft shell, rice and bean burritos, nacho fries are sort of in the middle price wise, etc.
  They are the easiest place for me to make a vegan order from hands down, they actually label shit on their order tablets. They have some freebies that are totally worth it some people never find out about because they order at the speaker exclusively. Fresco replaces cheese and dairy with a pico de gallo, you can toast most regular burritos, and even though its extra you can add nearly anything into anything for super cheap.
  Im actually not sure if I'm scamming them somehow because choosing their cheapest items and modifying is always cheaper than buying the same thing but premade. Not in any rush to ask about it either.

Honestly, I’m amazed people still go there to eat. The food was never really good, but at least it used to be fast and cheap. But these days, it’s neither anymore. McDonald’s is now more expensive than the gourmet burger places in my city; that feels insane.
- It always takes a year or two for the business to really feel it. First, it takes consumers awhile to visit and realize the prices are so high. Most people aren't going to McDonald's every week. And sometimes it takes a few visits before they really notice the sting.
  Eventually, the place just gets a reputation for being pricey, and people slowly stop going. But it's a frog in a boiling pot thing, and of course the executives search for any other reason besides their own pricing decisions from 18 months ago.
  Have you ever noticed in those surveys they always ask "what can we do better?" And the answers usually don't include "be cheaper".

Four McDoubles for 20 bucks. Fuck off!
- I remember them being $1 each and it was the fastest/easiest way for me to get some protein in a pinch.
  Then they were like 2 for $3, which was still OK.
  But $5 is insane.
  
  They were literally a dollar in 2013. Used to get em all the time
  
  Is that person rounding or are mcdoubles really 5$ a piece now?
  
  "Dollar Menu", feels like a long lost dream
- At that price, Five Guys.
  
  At once?
  
  from where im at, five guys is an easy $20-25/meal, burgers starting around $10-12 before fries & drink. rather find a bbq place and get pulled pork and mashed potatoes.
  
  Didnt five guys double their prices? I understand they CAN make good burgers, although they won't cook them to the right temperature for me (back when I did eat meat) for safety reasons, but is it worth it?

I'm so glad that I live in a big city, where there are hundreds of awesome small burger joints that sell better quality burgers at a much lower price.
- Must be nice...
- I wish this was a thing. There's maybe one place but it's not even in the same ballpark.
  
  Yeah where I live there's a burger urge. Sells shitty burgers for like 30 dollars AUD
  
  My nearest burger joint is locally owned and charges $11.75 for a single burger and $12.75 for a double. The fries are $3.50.
- Bullshit on the "much lower price". Give some examples.
- I'd argue people don't buy at McDonalds because their burgers are awesome. Their burgers are average at best. You can definitely get a much better meal with the price of a McD meal.

McDonald's whole niche is "cheap but edible", the second you remove cheap from that equation the value proposition is gone.
- They saw what Pepsi was doing with Frito-lay and figured why not?
  
  $11 for a 12 pack of sprite where I live. No. Fucking. Thanks.

Oh wow.... Increased prices resulted in people going else where.... Who would have seen that coming 🤔
- I mean, you're half right. Yeah, it's gotten expensive, but it's now expensive for McDonald's-quality food. It's not the worst of the worst, but you can easily find better quality food cheaper.

the only fast food that didnt go stupid during covid in my area ... quality, price or service... seemed to be five guys
i think its the simple menu plus it was already quite expensive, and so i assume they are paying a fair wage to keep good people.
- Five guys already had astronomical prices.
  
  i could have sworn i said exactly that
- 5 guys is insane where I live. $45 for 1 double hamburger, med drink, 1 kids hamburger, med drink and a med fry to share. I stopped going to 5 guys after that one a few months ago.
- I would go to five guys if one of them would put in a drive thru. Drive thru food and ambiance but as a sit down restaurant? Why?
  
  this is a great point. it does seem like the perfect place for a drive thru

Scrolled through for a while and didn't see anyone complaining about ditching coupons for their app bullshit. I'm not using an app for fast food
- But how else are they going to complete their digital transformation and leverage their industry-leading customer volume to deliver high-quality consumer data and drive growth for shareholders? Why don't you care about the shareholders?!
- Eh, I'm okay with an app as long as it's good.
  The McDonald's app is not good. At all. In the slightest. It won't even let me login 99% of the time.
  
  I think they did something to throttle user access. I was using it once 3-4 times a week. Either just the Friday fries or a drink for $1. Now I can’t log in anymore. Seems to me like they wanted to stop people from using it.
  
  If the same experience can be made using a website, then an app is not needed.
  They only push the app because they "need" to be able to send you notification and sell the data they gather about you.
  
  it's literally one of the worst experiences of any app. it's SLOW as fuck, barely responds when you touch stuff, took weeks to get logged back in like you said you had issues with. some of the deals are ok, you can get chicken sandwich combo sometimes for like $6, but that's about it. their chicken sands aren't bad.
  
  Here's the problem. How to get the average person to think far enough into the future to understand why the data collection is almost always a bad thing for them.
  In most cases it will save you in the long run to avoid the app discounts than to use them.
- I'm currently waffling on whether or not to use my bank account info with the app for a small gas station chain. It would get me a $0.10 discount per gallon, but I'd have to use the app at the pump. I get that they'd save fees with credit card processors so that's why they're offering it, but using a credit card is so much less effort and doesn't require me to keep yet another app on my phone.
  
  I find with a lot of apps like that they're glorified web browsers, which means that most of the time you can just use their mobile site. One less app collecting data, draining battery etc
  
  Get a Costco membership then get gas at Costco with the Costco Visa. Sure, they know everything about you, but at least it's a single company and you're not giving them direct access to your actual bank account.
  I drove all the way from Chicagoland to around Pensacola and back, only got gas at Costcos along the way. Saved probably $20 just in price difference between Costco and other nearby stations, while also earning 4% back on the Visa.

Last month, the head of its US operations formally responded to the complaints with an open letter to customers, saying social media was painting an inaccurate picture. He said the average price of a Big Mac in the US, which is now $5.29 (£4.11), was up 21% since 2019 - roughly in line with the pace of inflation - and many items had risen by less.
Sure, place the blame on anyone but themselves.
$5.29 is ridiculous for a Big Mac, which is super tiny.
- Especially because that’s just the sandwich, not a side and a drink. A combo meal is like 10.15$
  I’m sorry but the quality of the food does not justify 10 dollars.
  For comparison, I remember in Berlin not even 5 years ago I got a currywurst with fries and a drink for 3.60 € (about 3.90$), and in London I got an absolute mound of fish and chips with peas for like 6.50 £ (about 8$). Both of these I got as much or way more food than a Big Mac combo and they were much better quality.
  
  I won't defend McDonald's, but you'll struggle to get fish for under £7-8 now, and the chips are £2-3.
  In the south, at least.
- roughly in line with the pace of inflation
  Roughly in line with the terrible inflation of the past 5 years which has been primarily driven by corporate price gouging.
- I think you hit the nail on the head there. Even if they were to lower the prices, they'll just make the fucking burgers even smaller.
  Does anyone remember how much bigger the Big Mac was in the 90's? Shrinkflation is everywhere.
  
  They could always try to lower the quality standards to lower the price. Lmao! Quality standards! As if!

I think we have two classes of "fast food" now. The higher class places like Five Guys, Poke Bros, Panera are going to cost you more, and you're not going to go there every day (or even every week), but they're pretty damned good.
The OG fast food places - McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Hardee's/Carl's Jr., Arby's, Taco Bell - they're just not good enough to command the higher prices that the new class of fast food can. Not to mention that the quality of all of those chains has declined dramatically in the last decade. Obvious drop in quality plus increase in price, people notice that.
- ... They have always been. There is fast food and fast casual.
  Fast food would love to be fast casual, they sell the idea to seem like fancy fast food. Like McDonald's having table service through the kiosk, etc.
  But this isnt new. It's literally the business plan of the places you mentioned to not be fast food.
- Except you can get a Duo meal for $7 at Panera that's soup sandwhich and chips and that's 3$ cheaper than McDonald's
  
  I’ve never met an Panera that has everything in stock, so you’re going to be making a second or third line choice. One of your items is guaranteed to be out. Regular sandwiches, god knows why, are $14.
  
  Lol no you can't. I didn't believe you, so I checked. $11.79, and that's for mostly cheaper options of the pick 2 (broccoli cheddar + frontega chicken). And I live in Missouri, where shit's cheap.
- Sadly the Panera here has become garbage. The staff were seemingly wholly replaced, they look unhappy all the time, the food and ingredients have shrunk, and now you have to hope you hear them call your name so you can go pick up your food from a completely different counter (they used to bring it to your table which was a nice perk of going there), or stand around like an idiot for 10 minutes while your kid or significant other holds a table for you. And to top it off, the cinnamon roll changed again.
  I don’t mind not having the food brought to me, but they could at least give us the hockey pucks again to alert us when the food is ready. Perhaps that’s just this specific store.
  I used to love Panera. Maybe somewhere it’s still good.

Definitely don’t work to make the “food” better, yeah, just price gouge like every other company now.
No loss for me since I don’t go there anyway. But my childhood weeps a little for the good ole days.
- McDonald's may be shit but at least they're generally consistent. I know what I'm getting when I go there. And (for me at least) it's a quick fix if I end up coming home late and don't feel like cooking. The issue is cheap shit is supposed to be cheap. 5 years ago I could get a burger and fries and water for 4-5 bucks. Now it's almost 9.
  
  Aren’t they coming out with that $5 meal deal?
  
  Their consistency is sadly what made me buy McD at every country I was in Europe last year. At some point I got tired of.the food I could find there, and just gave up and bought a Big Mac meal at least once per country.

I feel like lately fast food has lost its appeal.
It isn't that fast any more, the service has gone done hill (habbitually checking orders now, because they're often wrong) and the prices are a joke.
- The One True BK. Nice.
- Having to stand there waiting ages while a bunch of delivery guys turn up and grab orders off the counter is a piss-take.
  What happened to "grab it off the rack behind them"?

they jacked prices as much as they could, had record profits, now they will have to pull back because people don't have money.
- It's almost like they were warned several times that "No wage, only spend" would result in consumers who can't afford to consume.
- I really hope McDonalds and like-minded companies become a case study on why you shouldn't inflate prices for short term profit. It'd be great to see them hemorrhage customers and sales.
  
  Nobody who needs to will learn anything from this.

My McDonald's boycott is in it's 24th year. There is nothing to miss.

The bigger reason I don’t go to McDonald’s is because of the self serve kiosks they’ve forced on us instead of paying people to run the registers.
Price is still a reason though, so I’m glad they are at least considering that as well.
- i don't get why people complain about this -- i'd so so much rather type my order in myself, see what's in everything, make modifications easily, etc without having to talk to someone. get those workers on the line and help ease the load on the kitchen
  
  They didn't "get those workers on the line" though. They fired them. Fuck McDonalds, and FUCK ANY BUSINESS that forces these fucking things on us. I'm not there to work, I'm there to order food and eat. If you can't be bothered to take my order, I can't be bothered to drop a fucking dime on your business.
  
  Because I go there once in a blue moon and it's easier for the guy doing it 1000x/day to push in my order than me finding it on a big dumb Kiosk menu.
  I won't frequent places that force me to use a kiosk.
  
  Also, I feel a bit awkward when I order two BigMacs at the register.
  
  Maybe i am just too old and go to McDonald's too infrequently, but i can never figure out how to get my order done properly on the kiosks. Try ordering a McGriddle combo with a Carmel latte. There's no visible option for that. Unless you ppan on doing a basic order, the kiosks suck
- Why would you want people to take orders? It's not some amazing work that is satisfying. We should be glad these jobs are going away
  
  If they're going to be gouging us on price the least they can do is employ people.

Their solution will be to raise prices by 1% to make up for lost sales.
- Hey sales are falling, let's implement flex-pricing and increase prices during peak times.

How about you guys rethink the food
If you can reconstitute some kind of edible food that maintains some semblance of the low price, I think that'll be enough. People started going to Five Guys and paying $16 because your burgers are clearly made of mouse shit.
- The "food" they have now is the product of decades of incremental changes made to cut cost and tinkering with fat, salt and sugar contents to fool your brain into giving you a dopamine hit for eating it. What they have now doesn't even taste like hamburgers anymore.

I live in Ireland and I like McDonalds occasionally. But there is no doubt that there food is quite expensive and they aren't innovating. Once a month there will be some new burger which is usually just the same as a normal burger but with bacon or bbq sauce or some shit but it's just boring and lazy marketing. What is worse than the food is the entire ordering experience - those bullshit kiosks are very time consuming and aggravating to use and then because they're cutting staff you can look forward to a 5 or 10 minute wait for food to appear. I remember when I worked in McDs at peak periods you'd get your food almost as soon as you ordered it (unless it was a grill item) but not any more.
- I only have positive vieuw on the kiosks. Easy to adjust your burger and i get the right stuff after. When in quick i can t ajust the burger on the kiosk and have to order old fadhioned. Then i often get a normal made.
  
  I find them frustrating, because they are slow. There's no reason why they couldn't put a decent processor in them and have them actually function properly. Half the time I press a button and then end up hitting it again cause I don't know if it read the first press, since the feedback it so slow.
  The Lowes near me just recently switched to newer self-serve kiosks that actually work, it's amazing how much better an experience it is.
- I used to eat at McDonald's a LOT, and the main reason was you could get a large quarter pounder meal for under $10. Now it's $12+, depending on where you go. I used to get a solid quarter pounder, now it's a 50/50 chance the thing is so soaked in grease that it soaks through the cardboard and the bag, and the fries are 50/50 already luke warm.
  But the innovation thing got me thinking: right before the pandemic, McDonald's in the US was doing "Meals from around the world," and it was basically McDonald's items you could only get outside the US (I think they had a French one, definitely a Canadian one, I think Brazil, etc). They changed every couple months, and it was cool! You go to try something that you may not otherwise get to.
  They also used to have a lot of them open 24/7 (as did a lot of businesses), and then the pandemic shut everything down and they stopped doing it. When I worked nights and would get out of a catering event at 2 am, I'd be able to swing by McDonald's on the way home and I knew I was getting a decent meal. Now?
  I'm lucky if when I order a large meal with a large drink, I actually get a large drink. Idk if this is happening all over, but I'd say 6/10 times now, I order a large meal and the cashier automatically puts in a medium drink. When I ask about it, they say they'll let the people know up front, and then they don't. And then I feel like a jackass for having to tell the people at the window my drink was supposed to be a large (I know they're the same price, but if I ordered a large meal, why would I order a medium drink?), and they usually give me a look or an eye roll.
  Whereas before the pandemic, I was once asked to pull up to the second window to wait for my food. I wanted 5 minutes, tops, and the manager brought me my food and gave me 2 free meal tickets for the inconvenience. I went last week and waited 10 minutes and the kid didn't even confirm my order before basically dropping it through my car window and walking off.
  I don't blame the employees, even in my state McDonald's wages are laughable, so who gives a fuck? But wtf happened to the corporation, where's the care? It's disappointing to see, not that I have sympathy for a billion dollar corporation.

I stopped understanding McDonald’s when there’s hundreds of homemade-like small burger places everywhere. They are so frikin tasty and cost the same
I still remember eating an especially tasty one and playing Disco Elysium then dying from heart attack in the game. Somehow it has become a permanent memory
- Exactly, McDonald's niche was a very cheap and quick burger. Why pay $12 for a shitty McD when I can have a $10 burger at the Apple Pan

As far as I can tell the whole appeal of McDonald's is bland but edible food, quickly, at a low price.
Over the years, they've switched to what appears to be a prepare by order method so it's no longer quick (it used to be on the little racks behind them, all pre-made), and it's no longer cheap (especially if you get delivery and therefore immediately send half your dinner money to a Silicon Valley billionaire). It's not quite Burger King levels of pricing, but it's getting close.
The only thing they've got left is bland but edible, and that's only desirable if you're feeding a bunch of picky children.
There are so many better places to eat, and they don't cost an enormous amount more.
- It's definitely a lot slower. I remember working there and at lunchtime they'd be working the grills 24 down - basically double the usual capacity and that stuff was wrapped and put into the racks constantly. They'd try and make burgers to meet demand with a holding time by which the burger should be sold by or thrown into a red bin. Usually it worked fine and waste was minimal but I assume some beancounter thinks that system and red bin waste costs McDonalds more money than it does to waste 5-10 minutes of somebody's lunch break. If people get pissed off by the wait though they might consider going somewhere else - after all, if they're going to wait, why not in a place where something more substantial than a burger is being prepared.
  
  Or even a more substantial burger. I just learned that the standard McDonald's burger patty is 45 grams (that's 1.6 oz or approximately 1 medium celery stalk in freedom units). 45 grams! Only the quarter pounder has the 4 oz (113g for the rest of us or the weight of two large eggs for the Americans) patty.
  This is all the pre-cooked weight. If your average patty loses 25% of its weight during cooking, that 45g patty becomes about 34g. WTF.
- I don't think the production method has changed, I worked there a decade ago and it seems to be the same, essentially precook the meat and assemble to order. However, I think they no longer pay employees enough to care about speed. They don't pay more now than when I worked there. In fact, I moved to a state where they pay LESS. Why the hell would anyone working there bust their ass to get food out quickly? You get what you pay for.
  
  It was a lot longer ago than that.
  They used to have it so those racks behind the counter were stuffed with already made standard prep burgers, and if you just wanted that you'd get one pulled off the shelf and be served in seconds.
  You only had prep-to-order if you wanted the change the default configuration, no lettuce, no mayo, etc.
- Here in Germany Burger King is actually cheaper than McDonald's, especially when you use coupons, since the ones at Burger King are actually useful.
- You feed picky children by giving them anything they don’t eat the next day.

Oh no!
.... Anyway.

I don't get fast food often, but I did go to McDonald's a week or two ago. I learned that they replaced their fountains so that they no longer dispense water, so you can't get a free cup of water anymore. You have to buy a bottle of water or a soda.
I don't intend on ever returning to a McDonald's.
- The charging for packets thing is the one thing that irks me nonstop especially the employees that stick by it. Unless they’re getting penalized, why do you have to gatekeep an extra BBQ sauce for 25 cents?
  Sure, keep them behind the counter so people don’t grab 20 but asking for 1-2 extra shouldn’t require a surcharge or separate transaction.

the firm would lean on discounts to try to stop the sales decline
So not even price cuts, just temporary discounts. Eff off!
- Dynamic pricing inbound.

I went to an Asian mall in my city the other day. My wife and I got these two huge containers of food+bubble tea and dessert. Came out to $16 for the two of us. A big Mac meal costs about $18 now where I am. Fuck that place, I used to go every week. Now I haven't been in over a year.

Any time I try to get fast food I see what they’re charging for it and remember steak is $10 a pound. Steak and frozen veg with a baked potato for about the same price.
- Steak and eggs at a breakfast spot near me is $20 (plus tip). To add insult, it’s a “touristy” one, so while the food is good, they definitely up-charge a bit, say $1-2, on most things vs places off the beaten path.
  So….why am I buying a ‘meal deal’ for $13-15 at McDonalds again? I might as well go and fork out a few more bucks for table service and better food at that price point.

They were making way too much money to begin with, nevermind growth.
Also McDonald's is just a real estate company, I'm guessing the franchisees are complaining they aren't going to stick around.

Their food sucks. 🤷‍♂️

They should just quadruple the prices and make it an elite experience,
- Why not? It worked for Taco Bell.
- So, something like shake shack?

As someone who used to be a daily fast food eater, I'm just proud that these greedy fast food chains have forever lost me as a customer. Ethics aside, after not eating at these places for so long, I now get to compare the experience to the local places around me or my own cooking skills. The only way I'd ever go back to one of these fast food joints I used to frequent daily is if they provide a better value than myself or the local restaurants here. And the local quick service places here give you a ton of good food instantly for under $10, which I know McDonalds et al will never reach again.
- I think this will be the long term impact.
  Customers have been pushed to discover alternatives and are unlikely to return for reasons beside price and quality.
  For example, there are sit down restaurants near me that haven't raised their prices or have barely done so and are now cheaper than McDonald's.
  The fact that local one offs haven't needed to raise prices signals to me that a large multinational company did not need to either. This adds a fuck off and die factor to my future purchasing decisions. I am not a price conscious customer but I take being gouged personally.

In part due to boycotts btw.

My boss at work went to pick up some McDonald's food a few months ago, not particularly because he wanted to eat that, but because he wanted one of those free glasses that came with the meal - honestly, what a strange reason, right?.
He was sick for a solid two weeks due to salmonella. If I have had any desire to go eat there again, it evaporated when he told me that.
- Not to try and discredit your or your boss or anything but a lot of people assume that they got salmonella from the last food they ate. Usually it's from food they ate a day or so ago, as the incubation time is between 24 and 48 hours.
  If he got sick right after eating McDonald's food then it's probably just a coincidence. Have he got sick 2 or 3 days later then yeah it was probably the McDonald's burger.
  Also what free glass?
  
  Honestly, even if it hit him 2-3 days later, it'd be kind of hard to pin it on the McDonald's unless he ate all of his meals there that day or there was an outbreak of salmonella in the area and McDonalds was the common factor between the cases.
  He could have just as easily gotten it from his breakfast or dinner, and that may even be more likely. I won't pretend for a moment that McDonald's employees can be 100% trusted to follow their proper food handling procedures and such to the letter, but I'm certain that a corporate outfit like McDonald's probably has so many guidelines in place and has idiot-proofed as much of their equipment as possible that it should be next-to impossible for them to be at fault even if half their rules end up getting ignored.
  There's of course cases where things out of their control could happen, like they get a batch of lettuce that's contaminated with salmonella from their supplier, but that's the kind of thing that could happen at literally any restaurant, and there's only so much you can do to mitigate that.

- I think you kind of need to define a bit what fast food means and what you consider small.
  Following the McDonald's model with a drive through, self-seating dining area, no table service, etc. those are mostly going to be chains, although some chains are pretty small, only operating in certain areas with a handful of locations.
  And there are exceptions of course, some independent restaurants do have a drive through (often I see this setup when they move into a location that was formerly a corporate fast food place) and there's chains or locations that don't have a drive through, or do have table service, etc. but those tend to be exceptions rather than the rule.
  If you expand it a bit to include other small, no-frills restaurants with a heavy emphasis on fast service and take-out, there's a lot of places that could fit the bill. Pretty much every town has some little hole in the wall burger joint, deli, sandwich shop, taqueria, Chinese takeout, pizzeria, bodega, snack bar, etc. that you could potentially argue fits the fast food category.
  Most of those places probably don't exactly advertise themselves as fast food and would probably want to avoid that label (although to be fair, the same can probably be said for most fast food restaurants, I've never heard a McDonald's commercial call themselves "fast food")
  There's also going to be some overlap with other categories, fast-casual, convenience stores, etc. where the lines get blurred about what can be considered "fast food."
  In general though, in America, the term "fast food" is usually going to refer to the larger chains, and the smaller independent restaurants with otherwise similar service will be called something else.
- Kinda, but not really. Restaurants are kind of a tough business in the US.

This isn't just McDonalds. I walked into KFC the other day and it's got so darn expensive there, too. Nowadays we don't bother eating out unless we're on the road or something. Just ain't worth it.
- KFC isn't even a blip on my radar for this reason

Gradually increasing revenue each year is more sustainable, as it avoids the pressure of constantly surpassing record highs and potentially alienating your customer base. CEOs somehow fail to understand this. Morons.

Finally. Better late than never I guess.

Learn how to cook the food first.

First sales fall since 2020.
Three years? So what? That's nothing. Now if they said first sales fall since 2002, now that would be something.
- No business weathered Covid without a drop in sales, except maybe for the healthcare sector. Good luck finding any customer-facing business that survived Covid without lost sales.
  
  Healthcare definitely lost out during the pandemic. Hospitals were struggling to stay open amidst consumers opting to delay elective procedures.
  
  Yeah basically all business lost money when covid hit.

Good. I used to grab a burger after work sometimes but it barely feels worth it anymore.

At what point are we blaming people who eat there?
- Blame them for what? The sales decrease? That makes no sense.
- The people that eat there are not tolerating their continued price gouging after the pandemic shortages.
- Many have little choice in the matter.
  
  What? Isn't it cheaper to buy and cook your own meals?
  
  Wrong, there are so many fast food places to go to besides McDonald's. There is literally no one on this planet who is forced to eat there.
- Every time a thread like this pops up the sentiment is that their food is awful and you're an idiot for eating there - so I'd say for at least a decade or two.
- Since day one sir. Since day one.

bubble popping?
- We all wish

They largely removed their vegan options. Nuff said.
- Because low demand, the demand is low because McDonald's is a burger joint. Also most vegans are ethical vegans and wouldn't support giving business to a huge player in the cattle slaughter game.

- Can we get rid of the Mostly Bullshit Fact Checking bot?
  
  In the footer
  Beep boop. This action was performed automatically. If you dont like me then please block me.
  
  The media which is the furthest on the left on that horseshoe scale are the antisemite ones.

Imagine 'McDonald's' being your baseline fur 'decent fast food'
- It's descent in some European countries.
  
  That's what I'm saying though, (as an American) if your baseline grocery budget is greater than the McD 'value meal', then you're likely just allotting your funds poorly.
  The avg "$1 menu" item can be bought from your local grocer/butcher for as much as 1/4 price before seasoning. If you're "going to McD for savings" then you're the exact reason the world has the problems that it has.
  Edit: "is decent" lmao have you ever had more than breadcrumbs? Imagine growing up in 'potato russia' and thinking your food has flavor.
  Try tomatoes, try watermelon, try something and get out of your brainwashed ignorocracy.