Fast food pricing

[negolien]

So I work 12 hour graves. Lunch at one of the sites I work is a challenge as there's no infrastructure. Sometimes I get fast food if I want a change from normal sandwich. Kfc us good I like my extra crispy cold. Only other options a subway type. I hadn't had subway in a couple years I guess. I went tonight was like 12 bucks. These companies are charging too much which is lowering traffic which is making them raise prices. I see it most at like burger King, Carl's Jr, roundtable... whoever is running these joints should be fired. They are delivering a self defeating buisness model inho.



/rant off

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

I couldn't agree more. I gave up on fast food a log time ago.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

The last two times at Schlotzskys the original deluxe only had half the meat it use to have and of course price went up. I done with them.

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

To me it is not as much of the price increase as the quality has gone to $hit.

Luckily there are a lot of options that are better where I live.

They call it fast casual. Better product, a little more money.

McDonalds - I have not set foot in for about 8 years. Better - 5 Guys, Habbit..
Carl's Jr- about 4 years. Price went up too much. Better - 5 Guys, Habbit.
Subway - Jerrod can keep it. 6 years. Better - Jersey Mikes, Firehouse, Local.
Dominos - The box taste better than the pizza. 20 years. Better - Anything, Guito's, Costco, Local.
KFC - tiny shrinking greasy chicken. 2 years. Better - Korean Fried Chicken, Mexican Fried Chicken.
Taco Bell - Just fake Mexican food. 2 years. Better - Any Local, Del Taco.
In-N-Out - Wheres the beef? - 6 months. Better - 5 Guys, Habbit.
Wendys - Had it one time 40 years ago, never since. Better - Trash can leftovers.

Best of all is I am now retired and usually make my own breakfast/lunch/dinner.

There are many local one off places around that have way better quality that when I am busy and don't have time or just a craving I do not have to resort to fast food.

This does not count quality restaurants. That is a different topic.

 

[zwiller]

Agreed. Overpriced and poor quality. That said, there ARE franchises that actually give a s***. Here there's 2 Wendy's locations that FN incredible. Well known family owns them and they run a tight ship. Cars into the street everyday for lunch. Same for our Lee's chicken but for dinner. They trounce the local KFC. Makes me proud to see it.

For deals, learned some tricks from a co-worker. Install the apps on your phone. IE I think it's this weekend (3) 12" subs from Subway for $18. BOGO is typical. Not advertised at all, on app only. Also cool, placing your order via app and you can geek out on the fixings.

 

[forktender]

So I work 12 hour graves. Lunch at one of the sites I work is a challenge as there's no infrastructure. Sometimes I get fast food if I want a change from normal sandwich. Kfc us good I like my extra crispy cold. Only other options a subway type. I hadn't had subway in a couple years I guess. I went tonight was like 12 bucks. These companies are charging too much which is lowering traffic which is making them raise prices. I see it most at like burger King, Carl's Jr, roundtable... whoever is running these joints should be fired. They are delivering a self defeating buisness model inho.



/rant off

You can thank Newsome, for the price increases.
Wages, taxes, and the higher cost of utilities.

 

[Retired Spook]

Many corporations in America have reached a point of no return - they have sucked every penny possible out of their supply chain, ingredients quality, portion size and work force - to keep shareholders happy. As corporations get richer, politicians get greedier, and they use underpaid workers to get their cut. CEO's have 3-private jets while telling their customers and workforce that they are helping society, while they profit at the cost of America. Only the worst of humanity rises to the top.

 

[mike243]

Prices are stupid crazy these days, had a great cheeseburger and onion rings from a small country store this week , didn't look at prices just ordered, $7.50 , I was shocked 6-8 oz burger hand patted and cooked perfectly, plenty of rings . wish we still had a place that good close to home. this would have been $12-$13 something in the Knoxville area

 

[SherryT]

I used to grab a Subway (Italian "base") every week back when I was working and hadn't had one in a few years, so a couple of months ago, I stopped and got one...

First off, I was STUNNED at the price increase...I mean, the last time I had one, a 6" sandwich, chips, and soda cost less than $6 total, but this was +$10. I was hungry and tired, so I thought "hey, I'll call it a "treat" and pay it!".

The bread-like-substance was AWFUL (taste and texture), it had half the meat it used to AND it tasted COMPLETELY different than what I remembered.

Scratched Subway off my list.

Then, the other day I stopped at McDonald's and got a regular cheeseburger/fries. It tasted more like a cheap "cereal burger" (actually, I've had "cereal burgers" that tasted better!), but the worst offense to me was that they finally managed to screw up their fries...it was like trying to chew up salty cardboard.

Scratched McDonald's off my list.

The last time I went through the drivethrough at Arby's, I just drove on through when I saw the prices. Same goes for Captain D's.

Looks like the big chains have chosen to price themselves out of the FF market with inferior ingredients, reduced portions, and higher prices.

 

[mike243]

LJS 2 piece fish frys and drink $10+ the platter use to be less than $10 with fish and chicken . crappie season is about to start and going to make a mess or 10 to put in the freezer I hope

 

[normanaj]

I haven't had any type of fast food in 19 years.That stuff would sit in my belly like a lead weight.

 

[negolien]

I worked as a shift supervisor at Mcdonalds back in the early 90's the food was better and much cheaper remember the 12 packs of burgers lol. Our shake machines were never down btw not sure what happened there. Best part of working there was Frankensteining my own food

 

[JLeonard]

It’s all about money. Haven’t had a McDs burger in quite a while. Would rather make my own. Only thing worth getting there is is the McMuffins. And I got a machine to make my own now.
as my cooking skills have increased ( thanks to you all!) I find myself disliking eating out more and more.
Jim

 

[mcokevin]

as my cooking skills have increased ( thanks to you all!) I find myself disliking eating out more and more.
Jim

I'm with you here. Steaks, burgers, bbq - hell no, I can do better. The only things we eat out are things we can't or don't want to cook at home, which is basically sushi, Thai, and Indian. Once a month we'll get a nice takeout meal from one of our spots locally, other than that it's home cookin'

 

[SmokyMose]

I pretty much gave up on fast food joints years ago and started taking leftovers to work (except when I was traveling and could expense account it.). Since I retired I can count on one hand the # of times I've ordered at a FF place. I had lunch with my daughter last year and we opted for 5 guys. Two cheeseburgers, fries and drinks was almost $25. I couldn't believe it.
I understand the price of labor and ingredients has gone up and they have to keep their bottom line, but like negolien said, it's self defeating. The Worm Oroboros. The snake that eats it's tail....

 

[jcam222]

I hand out meals to friends pretty often who tell me I could easily get $15-$18 per to go container. I used to think they were crazy until I saw what fast food costs now. Pretty sure they are right lol. Heck 2 Wendy’s doubles without a bun , no fries or drinks is like $15 or more

 

[negolien]

I saw an add from Burger king about them stackers and I was all excited. I got 2 double stackers and a large onion ring it was $18.50. I wass like damn well least the burgers should be big. they were the size of mcDoubles with 1 piece of bacon... I about flipped my lid. I can get two of the quarter lb singles for $8 yet you're selling Basically mcdoubles for twice the price LOL. Then they wonder why their drive thru is virtually empty. $12 for a footlong at subway lol $7 for a western bacon cheeseburger at Carl's $26 for a large round table pizza. These are all hard no's for me. They should be going with a smaller stock share and more traffic but nope max dollar is all they are after. Oh and these morons couldn't get your order right if you directly supervised them 90% of the time lol

 

[Fueling Around]

We generally avoid FF, too.
Another thing on my $hit list is "Food Trucks". When FT started getting popular 20+ years ago, they were a definite step up from the old Roach Coach.
Food was great and CHEAP. Somewhere, somehow over the years they evolved in glorified FF of mediocre food with even higher prices.

So I work 12 hour graves. Lunch at one of the sites I work is a challenge as there's no infrastructure.
...

Not even something as a small microwave or better yet a toaster oven?
Got both at the farm so I try to plan meals around them when we are around the shop.
Tractor or truck shifts is a bit more challenging. Tractor is great, because I know the hot spots on manifolds to reheat a variety of food.
Truck not so much so and sounds as maybe similar to your dilemma. I pack hot soup or chili in a 16 oz. thermos. My former boss used to do soups, spaghetti, hot dish (casserole) and even hot dogs in boiling water in a thermos.
I never tried it but often contemplated putting a couple of ribs in with the chili.

 

[TripleLindy]

It’s not just fast food. Restaurant prices have gone nuts, too. I’ve started keeping track of what we spend on our home cooked meals. I cooked salmon last night and got a high-quality piece of fish that was about $20/lb. We had rice and green beans in the pantry, neither of which cost much, so add $3. $23 all in for 2 people and it was a superb meal. Same dinner would have easily cost $30 each in a restaurant. Bonus - I enjoyed my own bottle of Buffalo Trace, probably saving another $50 or so. Bonus Bonus - didn’t have to worry about calling an Uber because I was already home.

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Prices are nuts. As zwiller said. Most of the apps you score the good deals. We’re kinda forced to get it once a week with all our stuff for our ids but everytime we order it’s always through whatever FF we choose apps.

Also, Little Caesar’s is still towards the top of my list. I consider them fast food bc of the hot and ready and although the price has gone up over the years it’s still only like $6 for a large pep pizza. Hard to beat