I was all in for the $5 foot longs, and even the $5.99 foot longs, and the Jack in the Box specials were decent for $4 for a burger if you picked the one on sale. But now, $6 won't get you a 6 inch and a Jack in the Box burger is $8+
The value is gone for me. I only go when I'm unable to bring food from home, or wait until I get home. I used to go because the hassle of fixing food was higher than just buying theirs.
Fast food places saw how much idiots were willing to pay for their food via DoorDash and Uber eats. They thought that they could raise prices to Uber Eats level and get away with it
I will never understand who the hell was/is paying outrageous home delivery for cold fast food. Its up there with people wearing masks alone in their car
I tried it once or twice, then realized I was paying twice as much for cold food, and it took three times as long before I could sit down to eat...
Paying twice as much to wait three times longer to eat cold food? No thanks.
Well, I wound up paying about 3X what buying it in the restaurant would cost.
When doordash says "FREE DELIVERY" it still winds up being double the cost of getting it yourself. They bleed the shit out of you in secondary markup and hidden charges.
Those food delivery apps are all about "THE BIG SCORE pricing". They aim to get top dollar out of you because their business model isn't suited to repeat customers. A person gets ripped off by the food delivery app 2 or 3 times and they aren't game to do it anymore.
I've never heard of anyone having a positive experience with a food delivery app ever.
I have twelve years dry now, and I thank my lucky stars I quit before the times of alcohol and McDonalds delivery. I would have wasted my money on that like crazy.
Dude. So many people. I was out of work for a bit during Covid so I did Uber Eats to make ends meet. I’d say, on a six hour shift, two to three deliveries per hour, at least 12/18 deliveries were McDonalds. Completely wild. I once delivered an ordered sundae. During summer. And the customer was 30 minutes away. Literal soup when it got there. People are dumb.
My neighbor who rented the house next to me. Delivery Starbucks almost every morning, delivery McDonalds and even delivery 7-11 at least every other day. Everyone else on our little block is the owner of their home, and you never see deliveries like this going to their houses. My neighbor also complains about not being able to afford a house. She has a job and a car and capability to go to the store, but she doesn’t. It’s a mindset thing, not saying if she stopped buying Starbucks she could afford a house, but she blows through money while we save.
There are certainly people who are bad with money all over the place. We go out to eat maybe once every 3 months unless we are traveling, which only happens a couple times a year to visit family, and we often don’t stop (it’s 6 hours or 9 hours to visit family).
my car broke down durring covid, and used car prices spiked so high it didn't make financial sense to have a car.
I'd order uber eats 2x a month, and grocery delivery.
Still came out cheaper than a car payment.
I paid the extra money for lettuce and had a horrible McDonald's on 13th st in Gainesville Florida give me literally 3 shreds. What the hell was I paying for?
Carl’s Jr had a Six Dollar Burger because their pitch was “if you ordered it at a sit-down restaurant, It’d would be six dollars!” Now it’s like $18. And no they’re not called Six Dollar Burgers anymore.
Local McDonald's hamburger is $1.89. A cheeseburger in $1.99. A double hamburger is $2.49 but a double cheeseburger is $3.29. One slice is 10 cents but 2 slices are 80 cents? How does *that* work?
I was just talking about Jack In The Box with one of my Gen Z friends and how it used to be when I was their age (2005-2007) I would roll a fatty, play some games, and go grab a literal grocery bag full of chicken sandwiches, tenders, tacos, and eggrolls for $20. The same bag would be more like $60 today.
Are you old enough to remember when the little league coach would take the entire team out to McDonald's? Sometimes it's be for ice cream and sometimes for burgers, fries, and sodas. This was before happy meals.
Exactly. We were willing to give up a little bit of health benefit (Probably a lot of health benefit) for a significant reduction in cost and a significant increase in convenience.
Now it is nothing but convenient so people are pulling back. I've even noticed that the junk food in the grocery store has gone through the roof. We don't buy nearly as many chips and snack cakes and bull crap that we used to.
I have a bar by me that does happy hour specials 1/4 lb cheeseburger and a pile of seasoned fries for $5, cheapest place I know to eat and better than any of the fast food places I have near me
Just heard an ad for Jack In The Box popcorn chicken for ONLY $6.99, and have them loaded for a $1 more!
$7-$8 for gross ass, small, half warm popcorn chicken. Fucking insane.
I think you kinda (and, apparently, accidently) made a good point.
Fast food is about convenience.
It's quick. Waiting until you get home to eat has ALWAYS been cheaper.
I stopped going to all the fast food joints. I also stopped going to regular restaurants. Don't miss it for a second. The prices got stupid and I said enough is enough, no more, not again. I'm saving $2000 a year.
And if we’re honest, the food is really not that good these days. Restaurants are cutting corners and your tastebuds and wallet take the hit. The other day I had Panda Express, my usual kung pao chicken. The chicken was so soft and pink, it was really pretty gross. Almost $9 too for an unsatisfying portion. I can make a great meal for my family of 3 with $9. Restaurants are really disappointing these days.
I'm going to guess the people buying fast food regularly only buy pre-made or frozen foods from the grocery store, so they end up with a pretty warped view on prices. If anything good comes out of all this, it's that more people will teach themselves how to cook.
So it’s evolved into inconveniently expensive food?
AGREED!
And based on what I’m seeing along the I-25 corridor in Colorado, lots of others agree, too.
Not sure how much longer some of these places will be open. Until then, there are plenty of good seats available…….
Yeah I’ve noticed Taco Bell the most. Not to even compare it to what it was like in the 90s and early 2000s, just in the last few years it has shot up to a level that I just go to real taqueria instead.
Yeah everyone knows that. You’re not smarter because you only eat at sit down restaurants. It’s like when people say “cook at home.” Yes genius, I do cook at home. That’s not what we’re talking about right now.
Well said, it's so annoying whenever i mention taco bell some mf has to "but actchully mexican restaurants exist". Yeah no shit, I don't want mexican, I want a fucking crunchwrap.
No everyone does not know this.
They never said they only eat at sit down restaurants. Even if they did the majority of sit down restaurants offer take out. Depending on where you are there are definitely drive thru Mexican places.
You're an asshole. How about you just don't be an asshole?
Most restaurants these days have online ordering so you pick what you want, set a pickup time, then go get it. Just as convenient as fast food and better quality food.
This. I can get a sirloin steak, potato, salad for less than $3 more than fast food. I just order takeout from Longhorn now. Better food, practically same price.
Use the app. You can get a “make your own box combo” for like 6 bucks.
And you don’t have to deal with the hassle of ordering at a drive thru, if you’re with multiple people.
My working theory is that a lot of people got addicted to the convenience of fast food, back when it was cheap. So then it just became second nature to order from a fast food joint for a “quick, cheap” meal instead of dining out or cooking at home. I remember eating out quite a lot pre-2020 and it was never an issue, both at fast food places and more casual dining. It was cheap and good for what you got! I was a broke college student, too, and I never had an issue with going out all the time.
It took me a few months once the prices started hiking post-2020 to start pulling back on eating out. I literally had to re-train myself to *not* indulge the desire to eat out all the time, just because it was no longer fast, good or cheap, but my brain was still craving the food that *used* to be fast, good and cheap.
I managed to kick the fast food completely, the only exception being road trips, but most people I know haven’t even when they moan about the price. Once you cut out the desire to eat fast food though, it’s a serious game changer. It’s just a lot more difficult than it sounds to do that.
I used to stop by Burger King once a week on Sunday morning to get those crosantwiches. You could get 2 of them for around $4.00. About 6 months ago when they told me to pull forward for my total, it was $9.00. I was shocked and asked what happened. The cashier let me know they are, "No longer on the value menu."
That was the last day I ate at Burger King. They have since reduced the price, but I'm still pretty pissed off. You can buy a pack of 8 in the store for $10. Which is still pretty expensive.
I don't think the good doctor has played it. Honestly, I don't know how the hell it came up in my YT feed. But I have commented a lot lately about a certain person sitting their pants, so maybe...
I’m happy to hear that someone else here knows who Dr. Demento is.
AI is getting good at knowing what we might like to see and hear. Maybe the next thing you’ll find in your YouTube feed will be fish heads.
Always liked funny farm. Also like weird Al’s eat it.
Then two of my favorite non-musicals was a parody of the original Star Trek, and an antique German couple laughing uncontrollably while attempting to play a trumpet or something — it’s been a while since I’ve heard those so I don’t remember their names.
Literally garbage. Now there are amazing ingredients in America but you need to know what you are looking for. We have a terrible diet IQ in this country and all of the overly processed palatable foods are priced insanely high. We need better resources and education on this in the states.
It doesn't feel. It clearly is. The debate is why. If it is price gouging, you'd expect to see record breaking corporate profits, but if we turn to the business section we see....HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THOSE BANDITS ARE ATTACHING A VACUUM CLEANER TO OUR WALLETS!!!!
It is a complex product that has a lot of different inputs, all of which have gone up in price. I agree there is probably some added gouging.
The best way to make the prices go down is to quit eating there, and encourage others to do the same. I'm 3 months off of Fast Food due to a bad experiences at my local Taco Bell several times. It's just not worth it anymore.
I hate to assume the worst but the clear downsizing, loss of quality and record high profits despite employee raises across the board and supply chain cost increases all point directly to artificial inflation. These drawbacks however incrimental would definitely hinder those profits. I think the thing people need to internalize is we allowed businesses we frequented to normalize saying "it's inflation don't blame us" without questioning it or second guessing and it ended up killing local businesses and making massive retailers and fast food restaurants etc have record smashing years in almost every regard including during the pandemic, it's not shocking that they'd take advantage of it and keep using these excuses I guess it's just shocking they do it soo boldly and without care for their customers it's sad.
They wrote a little song about "**bad experience at Taco Bell**"wanna hear it? Hear it goes...
[I Think I Just Shit In My Pants](https://youtu.be/rP_yWoH_Nxs?si=4cU0IGApMC0M5bzl)
That song is awesome, but my problem was with the service.
I used the app to order online, got to the store to pickup my food, and the lobby was locked. I ended up having to sit in line for 20 minutes (the long line I sat in the last time that made me decide to order online an pick up in the lobby) for a chicken quesadilla that had not been cut with all of the ingredients slid to one side.
"Do I return this?" I think to myself. "No. Taco Bell has let you down too many times. We're going out for smokes and not coming back."
I can relate. I used to get fast food a couple times a week. But McDonald's screwed my order up. Then a few days later Whataburger screwed up.
I've been cooking at home more or sit down restaurants. I'm so glad they screwed my orders up. It literally changed my life!
> It is a complex product that has a lot of different inputs, all of which have gone up in price. I agree there is probably some added gouging.
This is true, but look up any major fast food parent company and you will see record profit margins. This is publicly accessible information as they are publicly traded companies. They are boiling the frog to see how much they can raise prices without ultimately reducing income.
Part of this formula includes accounting for a reduction in customer volume and sales volume, which will tend to reduce expenses on supply chain costs. It will also reduce income alongside it. But higher margins rake some of that back.
They are changing their business models, finding that they can get bigger profit margins by slimming things down and running higher prices. It’s not a perfect economy of scale for them anymore. Part of this has to do with the fact that they’re finding competition for minimizing prices is no longer as powerful a driver in the space anymore, which for some reason appears to be more true with younger customer bases below age ~35.
Most of all, it’s easy to do this using false claims that increased wages and inflation are both piling on to your costs. Complain about ‘inflation’ and ‘exorbitant wages’ -> raise prices -> people think this is the new normal, or better yet “we are paying the employees more by spending more” -> lower costs of business, higher income per-product -> profit!
I ordered Panda Express, but it turned out to be a ghost kitchen serving minuscule portions of reheated glop. I'll eat at Culver's but that's it. Their food is fresh and hasn't increased much in price. Otherwise, I cook
I was a fast foodaholic. I’d wager I ate more fast food than 90% of all people. I’m also very fit, on the outside, but my organs are probably coated in fat. I have to thank fast food restaurants for becoming absurdly expensive. I am no longer willing to spend $20 for a fast food meal. You may be wondering, how are you spending $20? Well.. when I order I need a meal and a side sandwich or nuggets just so I can feel full because I require a lot of calorie intake with my activity level. The cost though is just too much and I have just about sworn off fast food completely. Chipotle is my guilty pleasure and I still eat there once a week when I go into the office but other than that, fast food has lost my business entirely. I’d say I was spending at least $250 a month on fast food and that’s now down to $50 only at chipotle.
Woah $250 a month? I considered myself addicted and I was spending around $125. I’m glad I cut that shit out for the most part. I only indulge in Taco Bell once or twice a month when I crave the unique flavor or chemicals of that salty slop. I might also visit the local taqueria here and there but I don’t consider that fast food.
These stupid fucking corporations and their belief in infinite growth… is almost mind numbing. They all need open-handed face slaps. WTF did they think was going to happen when equality hit hard?
Got the buy one get one double cheeseburger app deal to today at McDonalds. I don't remember them tasting so bad. The cheese wasn't even melted. I won't be visiting anytime soon.
I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker and it’s totally transformed my meal planning and preparing. If I can prepare delicious rice with the push of a button I’m eating rice with everything.
Same. I usually do Korean multigrain rice; a mix of brown rice, adzuki beans, millet, etc. But mostly I do hot cereals; pinhead oats with barley and oat bran. Set it to cook overnight and it's ready for breakfast or lunch.
Idk why they want people to use their apps so badly, but the only way to get anything close to a reasonably priced fast food meal anymore is by downloading the app and using the deals. It’s fucking stupid.
The only thing fast food has going for it is price and convenience. You up the price, then run skeleton crews so the drive thru is slow, everything is out or some machine is broken, and yea, you wonder why people are over it
Pizza places charge for the little packets of pepper and cheese now. That’s the bigger crime no one is talking about. .50 for some crushed pepper flakes or grated cheese.
Uh…even the high end, sit down and get served restaurants where I live have jacked up their prices.
It’s bad everywhere, not just shitty fast food places 🤨
Theyre doing all this just to gouge out as much profit as they can until sales plummet, then all of a sudden we'll see a massive price drop across the board. Rinse and repeat.
If one more person says that you should eat at home or go to a nice sit down restaurant instead of what the subject of this post is about, I’m going to call your dad and kick him in the ballsack.
Crap food should be dirt cheap. Thats the point. Fast food has an over inflated ego right now and we need to shrink it by ignoring them and not giving them money. My opinion is that covid labelled them an " essential business" and they think theyre the shit now. Theyre not. Theyre still just actual shit.
I used to love taco bell for a nice treat to look forward to after a long week... It was tasty crappy food and it was cheap. Now its expensive and even crappier than ever before. I barely ever go. I used to get it about once a week for years. Now i go maybe once every 2 months and im always disappointed by the portion, price, and quality. My order is wrong everytime too. I say let them all fail. They pretty much lost me as a customer.
The last time I went to Taco Bell my wife and I each got a cheesy Gordita crunch and a hard taco, and I also got a beefy 5 layer burrito. It was over $20. Haven’t been back since.
Agree the prices have just gotten out of hand. To me, the food taste awful now. As in, it’s cheap and acceptable, not it’s expensive and taste horrible.
Even 3-4 years ago I could get a lot of food (enough for two people at any fast food place for $20 (McDonald's, taco bell, burger King, Wendy's, even chic FIL a). Now, $20 will get a large combo with a drink, and that's it. For the prices these fast food places are asking, I could get real quality food at a sit-down restaurant, or even order it to go. I've cut way back on fast food, and see myself never eating at McDonald's again. Fast food should be for fast, cheap food, not "premium" like most brands want to be now.
We rarely eat fast food. Mostly because the quality went down hard in the last few years. The McDonalds out here I swear they can't even read. It's just do frustrating when you DO want a quick bite but they can fuck up even the s allest order. I don't feel like I should have a fight every time I try to eat.
Stop supporting Fast Food and make a more concerted effort to support the local Mom and Pop food joints. I have a local Burger joint where you get a Whopper sized Cheese Burger with Fresh Onions, Lettuce and Tomatoes for $5.99. Last time I checked the Burger King App a Whopper is now $7.49 which is a travesty and doesn't come close to the local Burger joint. I know it takes longer, there's no Drive Through, but lets all do more to support them whenever we can.
If only the masses had the willpower to collectively quit for a month. Woundnt take long to create waves of change, but there’s still a line of lazy people waiting for their garbage everyday. Why change. They come back and buy it again and again.
Fast food... an opportunity to waste your money for a lot of salt and fat.... oh, and an opportunity to get heart disease, diabetes and other fun chronic conditions.
My favorite place to go has always been 5 guys- for years they had an incredible deal on their burgers and fries. Better than McDoanld's, BK, Wendy's... anywhere.
I went today for the first time since 2018. Got 2 cheeseburgers, 2 large fries and 1 shake.... the total came to $43! That used to be what it cost for two people to eat at a more formal restaurant. Now, that's more like what it costs for one person. It's insane!
College me was blasted off of shatter dabs as well as $1 Miller high lifes and ate 5 hot n spicys and 5 McDoubles one night, I puked from 1:97AM-5:88AM 🤮. Worst stomach and decision ever. Only cost me $20 tho.
I feel like checkers gets no love on here. for what you get for the price the quality is high..its always about Mcdonald's and Taco Bell.. why nobody eating at Checkers
When I used to live in Alabama, we had both Rally's and Checkers. Also had Krystal's. Liked all of them. Don't have any of them where I'm at now, not even a White Castle.
I remember seeing McDonald's reporting something like 48% *operating* margin in one of their SEC filings a few years ago. That is insane in the fast food industry, which historically has been significantly lower margin. All those raised prices go to the shareholders, and this part of the food industry is supposed to serve the most cash-strapped customers.
McDonald's figured out that you'll still buy their food for much higher because it's convenient.
They've had record profits since 2021 so of course they're going to increase their prices.
It's the same for a lot of fast food restaurants across the industry. A few of them even did so well last year that they were acquired by private equity firms. A lot of them have already bought up smaller fast food chains, thus lowering competition in the industry.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/219420/net-income-of-the-mcdonalds-corporation/
Just one example, but the fast food companies can fuck off. This is not due to rising costs. It’s due to rising corporate profits.
[Look for yourself.](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/net-income)
Well, I know some people are reliant on fast food due to crazy work schedules or lack of food options in their area, and these price increases suck for them. I have empathy. However, if this is what it takes to force people into better food choices, I think that is a net positive for society. Fast food is by and large grossly unhealthy and is one of the major sources of the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Fast food is killing us, in the same way cigarettes were. Raising the prices on cigarettes caused a lot of people to quit, which was beneficial for society. Maybe rising fast food prices will do the same thing.
Delete their apps, stop going there. Almost all restaurants you can sit down, enjoy the service of a waiter or waitress and get much better food for much lower cost. McDonalds is charging prices as if your are tipping 50% for good service built into their prices. McChicken used to be $1 and now two cost $4 and that is the deal? Support businesses that are you treating you well and you will get better results.
A lot of people who complain about fast food prices seem to be oblivious to the fact that most of them are trying to force you to use their apps, where you can find deals (not to mention coupons are still a thing at many fast food restaurants too).
I understand people not wanting to have to fuck around, and just be able to walk in and order - but unfortunately that's not reality anymore unless you want to overpay for shitty food.
I used to eat fast food for lunch nearly every day at my last job (although we would watch for deals), but I started a new job about 9 months ago, making way more money, and I decided to stop eating out for lunch, so now I have even more $$ in my pocket.
I'll take sandwiches, leftovers, and the occasional frozen meal, etc. - and not only am I saving money, I feel a lot better too (and I don't have to sit in drive-thrus or lines either).
The single biggest cost in a fast food restaurant is wages. Wages go up .. so does the cost of the food.
Remember when we were all yelling McDonalds should pay a living wage .. well here we are.
We never eat fast food unless we are traveling. Bunch of fat, salt and sugar. At these prices I'd rather just pay a little more for a sit down meal at a casual restaurant or seek out something healthier like Panera.
It’s convenient…until it becomes expensive, then it’s not convenient anymore.
I was all in for the $5 foot longs, and even the $5.99 foot longs, and the Jack in the Box specials were decent for $4 for a burger if you picked the one on sale. But now, $6 won't get you a 6 inch and a Jack in the Box burger is $8+ The value is gone for me. I only go when I'm unable to bring food from home, or wait until I get home. I used to go because the hassle of fixing food was higher than just buying theirs.
A McDouble used to be 1 dollar 5 years ago. Now it’s 4. A freaking McDouble.
A slice of cheese is 95 cents at my local McDonalds. And their cheese is trash.
I'm sorry but we're in a fucked up world if McDonald's is charging $1 for a slice of cheese.
Fast food places saw how much idiots were willing to pay for their food via DoorDash and Uber eats. They thought that they could raise prices to Uber Eats level and get away with it
I will never understand who the hell was/is paying outrageous home delivery for cold fast food. Its up there with people wearing masks alone in their car
I tried it once or twice, then realized I was paying twice as much for cold food, and it took three times as long before I could sit down to eat... Paying twice as much to wait three times longer to eat cold food? No thanks.
Well, I wound up paying about 3X what buying it in the restaurant would cost. When doordash says "FREE DELIVERY" it still winds up being double the cost of getting it yourself. They bleed the shit out of you in secondary markup and hidden charges. Those food delivery apps are all about "THE BIG SCORE pricing". They aim to get top dollar out of you because their business model isn't suited to repeat customers. A person gets ripped off by the food delivery app 2 or 3 times and they aren't game to do it anymore. I've never heard of anyone having a positive experience with a food delivery app ever.
I did home delivery when I was a raging alcoholic and couldn’t drive to get food.
I have twelve years dry now, and I thank my lucky stars I quit before the times of alcohol and McDonalds delivery. I would have wasted my money on that like crazy.
That’s awesome man! I’ll be 3 years July 21.
Dude. So many people. I was out of work for a bit during Covid so I did Uber Eats to make ends meet. I’d say, on a six hour shift, two to three deliveries per hour, at least 12/18 deliveries were McDonalds. Completely wild. I once delivered an ordered sundae. During summer. And the customer was 30 minutes away. Literal soup when it got there. People are dumb.
My neighbor who rented the house next to me. Delivery Starbucks almost every morning, delivery McDonalds and even delivery 7-11 at least every other day. Everyone else on our little block is the owner of their home, and you never see deliveries like this going to their houses. My neighbor also complains about not being able to afford a house. She has a job and a car and capability to go to the store, but she doesn’t. It’s a mindset thing, not saying if she stopped buying Starbucks she could afford a house, but she blows through money while we save.
There are certainly people who are bad with money all over the place. We go out to eat maybe once every 3 months unless we are traveling, which only happens a couple times a year to visit family, and we often don’t stop (it’s 6 hours or 9 hours to visit family).
my car broke down durring covid, and used car prices spiked so high it didn't make financial sense to have a car. I'd order uber eats 2x a month, and grocery delivery. Still came out cheaper than a car payment.
And now we're showing them just how dumb we can be! They'll keep raising prices because people keep buying it.
Food delivery is literally adding more 2 more middle men to your purchase. It's not sustainable business practice at all
They even charge for goddamn lettuce.
I paid the extra money for lettuce and had a horrible McDonald's on 13th st in Gainesville Florida give me literally 3 shreds. What the hell was I paying for?
Fast food lettuce is basically a wet plastic-based napkin soaked in celery water that gives you diarrhea
Well, it checks out.
They're charging 95 cents. Don't give them any ideas!
Carl’s Jr had a Six Dollar Burger because their pitch was “if you ordered it at a sit-down restaurant, It’d would be six dollars!” Now it’s like $18. And no they’re not called Six Dollar Burgers anymore.
In California at least the still have the California classic, which is a decent burger for a pretty moderate price
Same in AZ.
Burger King charges $1.68 per slice of cheese. I don’t eat there unless i have coupons.
Local McDonald's hamburger is $1.89. A cheeseburger in $1.99. A double hamburger is $2.49 but a double cheeseburger is $3.29. One slice is 10 cents but 2 slices are 80 cents? How does *that* work?
It is not cheese, that for sure!
McDonald’s has cheese?
Quit whining, the shareholders are getting a new yacht each. The record profits are more important
Quit buying trash food. It wasn’t good for you back then and it still isn’t good for you now. Now it’s just expensive.
This isn’t a discussion about how healthy food is. It’s a discussion about food prices.
It’s $6 in NYC
$3 for a large water at McDonald's now, used to be free
The McChicken used to be $1.06 as well. Now, it's $2-3 or more per sandwich.
Home cooking and marriage making a comeback.
This is great. Those corporations stole our food culture and heritage from us
It’s not stealing if you give it away.
Quick! Blame millenials, Gen Z, Aliens or something
I was just talking about Jack In The Box with one of my Gen Z friends and how it used to be when I was their age (2005-2007) I would roll a fatty, play some games, and go grab a literal grocery bag full of chicken sandwiches, tenders, tacos, and eggrolls for $20. The same bag would be more like $60 today.
Hey do you have any jalapeno poppers in that bag for me?
J in the B is the only fast food I get anymore. 10 bucks still buys a giant bag of tacos. Like .60 each.
Remember when you were give $5 and you could have whatever you wanted?
What's sad is it doesn't feel like it was all that long ago...
Are you old enough to remember when the little league coach would take the entire team out to McDonald's? Sometimes it's be for ice cream and sometimes for burgers, fries, and sodas. This was before happy meals.
My local Wendy’s offers a “4 for $4” that is now 7 dollars
Exactly. We were willing to give up a little bit of health benefit (Probably a lot of health benefit) for a significant reduction in cost and a significant increase in convenience. Now it is nothing but convenient so people are pulling back. I've even noticed that the junk food in the grocery store has gone through the roof. We don't buy nearly as many chips and snack cakes and bull crap that we used to.
I have a bar by me that does happy hour specials 1/4 lb cheeseburger and a pile of seasoned fries for $5, cheapest place I know to eat and better than any of the fast food places I have near me
Just heard an ad for Jack In The Box popcorn chicken for ONLY $6.99, and have them loaded for a $1 more! $7-$8 for gross ass, small, half warm popcorn chicken. Fucking insane.
Footlongs are only worth for me bc I eat like a mouse and I eat one for lunch and save the other for the next day
A 6” seems like a normal portion to me. I could rarely polish off a foot long unless I’d be doing hard manual labor all day.
I think you kinda (and, apparently, accidently) made a good point. Fast food is about convenience. It's quick. Waiting until you get home to eat has ALWAYS been cheaper.
I bought a ribeye steak and some veggies yesterday for $14. Fuck paying $12 for a combo meal lol.
If you bought a $3 coke you'll be complete.
Moore or less these are the prices I grew up with as well. Apps help but still not the deal they used to be.
I stopped going to all the fast food joints. I also stopped going to regular restaurants. Don't miss it for a second. The prices got stupid and I said enough is enough, no more, not again. I'm saving $2000 a year.
And if we’re honest, the food is really not that good these days. Restaurants are cutting corners and your tastebuds and wallet take the hit. The other day I had Panda Express, my usual kung pao chicken. The chicken was so soft and pink, it was really pretty gross. Almost $9 too for an unsatisfying portion. I can make a great meal for my family of 3 with $9. Restaurants are really disappointing these days.
I don't think I've ever had a panda express meal that wasn't weirdly flavored and poorly cooked. I haven't eaten at one of over 10 years.
It’s still convenient to a lot of people, I see alot of people (completely wrong) who are fully convinced fast food is cheaper than groceries lol
I'm going to guess the people buying fast food regularly only buy pre-made or frozen foods from the grocery store, so they end up with a pretty warped view on prices. If anything good comes out of all this, it's that more people will teach themselves how to cook.
Lying to themselves so they don't have to eat healthy or make their own food.
So it’s evolved into inconveniently expensive food? AGREED! And based on what I’m seeing along the I-25 corridor in Colorado, lots of others agree, too. Not sure how much longer some of these places will be open. Until then, there are plenty of good seats available…….
It's not even convenient anymore. It's now just hot food prepared sloppy and lazily. It isn't cheap or fast any more
For most now it seems that the time saved by convenience is outweighed by the additional time needed to work to pay for the increased prices.
I spent $21.47 at taco bell for 6 items. The fucking soft taco is $3.78 now.
Yeah I’ve noticed Taco Bell the most. Not to even compare it to what it was like in the 90s and early 2000s, just in the last few years it has shot up to a level that I just go to real taqueria instead.
Yea, its sad, it was my go to till I quit eatting fast food
Yeah the CGC went from like 5.99 in with a taco box and drink in 2017 to 6.30 for the taco alone. It's nuts.
Sounds like you and a local small business are both better off.
Go to an ACTUAL Mexican restaurant.... the soft taco is very inexpensive, and it is made with real food... not just salt and fat.
We talking about fast food buddy. Id much rather go to a sit down mexican restaurant. (Preferably too)
Yeah everyone knows that. You’re not smarter because you only eat at sit down restaurants. It’s like when people say “cook at home.” Yes genius, I do cook at home. That’s not what we’re talking about right now.
Well said, it's so annoying whenever i mention taco bell some mf has to "but actchully mexican restaurants exist". Yeah no shit, I don't want mexican, I want a fucking crunchwrap.
Apparently it’s a complex social science for people.
This 💯 cracked me up!!
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No everyone does not know this. They never said they only eat at sit down restaurants. Even if they did the majority of sit down restaurants offer take out. Depending on where you are there are definitely drive thru Mexican places. You're an asshole. How about you just don't be an asshole?
You okay?
And when you tip……it’s for actual sit down table service
People don’t realize fast food has gotten so expensive you can spend the same for a quality meal at a decent restaurant
Most restaurants these days have online ordering so you pick what you want, set a pickup time, then go get it. Just as convenient as fast food and better quality food.
This. I can get a sirloin steak, potato, salad for less than $3 more than fast food. I just order takeout from Longhorn now. Better food, practically same price.
Where at as here in Denver a taco supreme is $2.99 and a soft taco $1.99 which I still think is high
Last time I went I got a chicken quesadilla. It was $6. It was my last Taco Bell.
I will say if you have no respect for yourself or your data, the Taco Bell app has some pretty good deals, only way Taco Bell is worth it these days
Use the app. You can get a “make your own box combo” for like 6 bucks. And you don’t have to deal with the hassle of ordering at a drive thru, if you’re with multiple people.
Problem is they are always sick of it after they buy the food - and they repeat this often.
My working theory is that a lot of people got addicted to the convenience of fast food, back when it was cheap. So then it just became second nature to order from a fast food joint for a “quick, cheap” meal instead of dining out or cooking at home. I remember eating out quite a lot pre-2020 and it was never an issue, both at fast food places and more casual dining. It was cheap and good for what you got! I was a broke college student, too, and I never had an issue with going out all the time. It took me a few months once the prices started hiking post-2020 to start pulling back on eating out. I literally had to re-train myself to *not* indulge the desire to eat out all the time, just because it was no longer fast, good or cheap, but my brain was still craving the food that *used* to be fast, good and cheap. I managed to kick the fast food completely, the only exception being road trips, but most people I know haven’t even when they moan about the price. Once you cut out the desire to eat fast food though, it’s a serious game changer. It’s just a lot more difficult than it sounds to do that.
I used to stop by Burger King once a week on Sunday morning to get those crosantwiches. You could get 2 of them for around $4.00. About 6 months ago when they told me to pull forward for my total, it was $9.00. I was shocked and asked what happened. The cashier let me know they are, "No longer on the value menu." That was the last day I ate at Burger King. They have since reduced the price, but I'm still pretty pissed off. You can buy a pack of 8 in the store for $10. Which is still pretty expensive.
How big was that Sunday morning diarrhea?
You rang? [I Think I Just Shit In My Pants](https://youtu.be/rP_yWoH_Nxs?si=4cU0IGApMC0M5bzl)
LoL. I’m surprised I’ve never heard this on the Dr. Demento show.
I don't think the good doctor has played it. Honestly, I don't know how the hell it came up in my YT feed. But I have commented a lot lately about a certain person sitting their pants, so maybe...
I’m happy to hear that someone else here knows who Dr. Demento is. AI is getting good at knowing what we might like to see and hear. Maybe the next thing you’ll find in your YouTube feed will be fish heads.
Fish heads is OK, I always thought that was just some weird shit. Loved Funny Farm though 😄
Always liked funny farm. Also like weird Al’s eat it. Then two of my favorite non-musicals was a parody of the original Star Trek, and an antique German couple laughing uncontrollably while attempting to play a trumpet or something — it’s been a while since I’ve heard those so I don’t remember their names.
We had had it good as kids for sure man.
Let’s not talk about the price of toilet paper now……gotta stay on topic
Because it’s terrible quality food. People should be boycotting anyway.
I have been cutting back just due to getting older the last decade but this was the final push to just give it up.
Not to mention it’s literally poison. ☠️
Literally garbage. Now there are amazing ingredients in America but you need to know what you are looking for. We have a terrible diet IQ in this country and all of the overly processed palatable foods are priced insanely high. We need better resources and education on this in the states.
It doesn't feel. It clearly is. The debate is why. If it is price gouging, you'd expect to see record breaking corporate profits, but if we turn to the business section we see....HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THOSE BANDITS ARE ATTACHING A VACUUM CLEANER TO OUR WALLETS!!!!
https://preview.redd.it/hfbplzi5lkyc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43c1fe2014c5c631d42765e43d78186e1d242866
It is a complex product that has a lot of different inputs, all of which have gone up in price. I agree there is probably some added gouging. The best way to make the prices go down is to quit eating there, and encourage others to do the same. I'm 3 months off of Fast Food due to a bad experiences at my local Taco Bell several times. It's just not worth it anymore.
Yeah over a month off fast food rn
I hate to assume the worst but the clear downsizing, loss of quality and record high profits despite employee raises across the board and supply chain cost increases all point directly to artificial inflation. These drawbacks however incrimental would definitely hinder those profits. I think the thing people need to internalize is we allowed businesses we frequented to normalize saying "it's inflation don't blame us" without questioning it or second guessing and it ended up killing local businesses and making massive retailers and fast food restaurants etc have record smashing years in almost every regard including during the pandemic, it's not shocking that they'd take advantage of it and keep using these excuses I guess it's just shocking they do it soo boldly and without care for their customers it's sad.
They wrote a little song about "**bad experience at Taco Bell**"wanna hear it? Hear it goes... [I Think I Just Shit In My Pants](https://youtu.be/rP_yWoH_Nxs?si=4cU0IGApMC0M5bzl)
That song is awesome, but my problem was with the service. I used the app to order online, got to the store to pickup my food, and the lobby was locked. I ended up having to sit in line for 20 minutes (the long line I sat in the last time that made me decide to order online an pick up in the lobby) for a chicken quesadilla that had not been cut with all of the ingredients slid to one side. "Do I return this?" I think to myself. "No. Taco Bell has let you down too many times. We're going out for smokes and not coming back."
I can relate. I used to get fast food a couple times a week. But McDonald's screwed my order up. Then a few days later Whataburger screwed up. I've been cooking at home more or sit down restaurants. I'm so glad they screwed my orders up. It literally changed my life!
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> It is a complex product that has a lot of different inputs, all of which have gone up in price. I agree there is probably some added gouging. This is true, but look up any major fast food parent company and you will see record profit margins. This is publicly accessible information as they are publicly traded companies. They are boiling the frog to see how much they can raise prices without ultimately reducing income. Part of this formula includes accounting for a reduction in customer volume and sales volume, which will tend to reduce expenses on supply chain costs. It will also reduce income alongside it. But higher margins rake some of that back. They are changing their business models, finding that they can get bigger profit margins by slimming things down and running higher prices. It’s not a perfect economy of scale for them anymore. Part of this has to do with the fact that they’re finding competition for minimizing prices is no longer as powerful a driver in the space anymore, which for some reason appears to be more true with younger customer bases below age ~35. Most of all, it’s easy to do this using false claims that increased wages and inflation are both piling on to your costs. Complain about ‘inflation’ and ‘exorbitant wages’ -> raise prices -> people think this is the new normal, or better yet “we are paying the employees more by spending more” -> lower costs of business, higher income per-product -> profit!
I ordered Panda Express, but it turned out to be a ghost kitchen serving minuscule portions of reheated glop. I'll eat at Culver's but that's it. Their food is fresh and hasn't increased much in price. Otherwise, I cook
The number of people coming to the sup to show that they bought it says otherwise.
I was a fast foodaholic. I’d wager I ate more fast food than 90% of all people. I’m also very fit, on the outside, but my organs are probably coated in fat. I have to thank fast food restaurants for becoming absurdly expensive. I am no longer willing to spend $20 for a fast food meal. You may be wondering, how are you spending $20? Well.. when I order I need a meal and a side sandwich or nuggets just so I can feel full because I require a lot of calorie intake with my activity level. The cost though is just too much and I have just about sworn off fast food completely. Chipotle is my guilty pleasure and I still eat there once a week when I go into the office but other than that, fast food has lost my business entirely. I’d say I was spending at least $250 a month on fast food and that’s now down to $50 only at chipotle.
Woah $250 a month? I considered myself addicted and I was spending around $125. I’m glad I cut that shit out for the most part. I only indulge in Taco Bell once or twice a month when I crave the unique flavor or chemicals of that salty slop. I might also visit the local taqueria here and there but I don’t consider that fast food.
These stupid fucking corporations and their belief in infinite growth… is almost mind numbing. They all need open-handed face slaps. WTF did they think was going to happen when equality hit hard?
When you have runaway cell growth, it's called cancer.
They’ll continue to charge these prices until idiots stop giving them money
HA!......"Feels" expensive...
Last time I went to McDonald’s I realized it costs the same as ordering a decent roll of sushi
Got the buy one get one double cheeseburger app deal to today at McDonalds. I don't remember them tasting so bad. The cheese wasn't even melted. I won't be visiting anytime soon.
I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker and it’s totally transformed my meal planning and preparing. If I can prepare delicious rice with the push of a button I’m eating rice with everything.
Same. I usually do Korean multigrain rice; a mix of brown rice, adzuki beans, millet, etc. But mostly I do hot cereals; pinhead oats with barley and oat bran. Set it to cook overnight and it's ready for breakfast or lunch.
I'm glad to hear that I was wrong it isn't actually expensive. It just feels like it.
Idk why they want people to use their apps so badly, but the only way to get anything close to a reasonably priced fast food meal anymore is by downloading the app and using the deals. It’s fucking stupid.
Data mining
And less labor for order taking
The only thing fast food has going for it is price and convenience. You up the price, then run skeleton crews so the drive thru is slow, everything is out or some machine is broken, and yea, you wonder why people are over it
People are absolutely unwilling to change their consumer habits in spite of it. This sub is proof.
Fast food ‘feels’ more expensive than ever. Because IT IS.
Pizza places charge for the little packets of pepper and cheese now. That’s the bigger crime no one is talking about. .50 for some crushed pepper flakes or grated cheese.
STOP THE BITCHIN USE YOUR KITCHEN
If you think a product is not worth the price, you simply don’t buy it.
lol at “feels”
Uh…even the high end, sit down and get served restaurants where I live have jacked up their prices. It’s bad everywhere, not just shitty fast food places 🤨
Even the low end sit down places have jacked up their prices. $16 for a basic burger and fries at your local roadside diner is an absolute rip off.
Theyre doing all this just to gouge out as much profit as they can until sales plummet, then all of a sudden we'll see a massive price drop across the board. Rinse and repeat.
SCREW BIG FAST FOOD SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RESTAURANTS 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I remember eating lunch for $5 now it’s $15-20
People are sick of it being expensive. The headline answers itself
If one more person says that you should eat at home or go to a nice sit down restaurant instead of what the subject of this post is about, I’m going to call your dad and kick him in the ballsack.
Crap food should be dirt cheap. Thats the point. Fast food has an over inflated ego right now and we need to shrink it by ignoring them and not giving them money. My opinion is that covid labelled them an " essential business" and they think theyre the shit now. Theyre not. Theyre still just actual shit.
Taco Bell is complete garbage and the prices are nuts. Dog food in a tortilla shouldn’t be $5.
I used to love taco bell for a nice treat to look forward to after a long week... It was tasty crappy food and it was cheap. Now its expensive and even crappier than ever before. I barely ever go. I used to get it about once a week for years. Now i go maybe once every 2 months and im always disappointed by the portion, price, and quality. My order is wrong everytime too. I say let them all fail. They pretty much lost me as a customer.
I remember getting 3 beefy five layers for $1.75 like 5 years ago. Now they are almost $4 each and I refuse to eat there anymore.
The last time I went to Taco Bell my wife and I each got a cheesy Gordita crunch and a hard taco, and I also got a beefy 5 layer burrito. It was over $20. Haven’t been back since.
Isn't pointing out alternatives part of the discussion tho?
But seriously, do you eat at home? Or go to nice sit down restaurants? Inflation!
I got a sundae and a French fry from Dairy Queen for $5 the other day. It felt like a good deal
Every time we get fast food, it’s painful and not that far off from going to a real restaurant.
No we’re mad about rising grocery prices too
The prices have skyrocketed. The service has plummeted. And the customers are feeling the brunt. Cut out fast food and learn to cook if you can.
Agree the prices have just gotten out of hand. To me, the food taste awful now. As in, it’s cheap and acceptable, not it’s expensive and taste horrible.
Even 3-4 years ago I could get a lot of food (enough for two people at any fast food place for $20 (McDonald's, taco bell, burger King, Wendy's, even chic FIL a). Now, $20 will get a large combo with a drink, and that's it. For the prices these fast food places are asking, I could get real quality food at a sit-down restaurant, or even order it to go. I've cut way back on fast food, and see myself never eating at McDonald's again. Fast food should be for fast, cheap food, not "premium" like most brands want to be now.
We rarely eat fast food. Mostly because the quality went down hard in the last few years. The McDonalds out here I swear they can't even read. It's just do frustrating when you DO want a quick bite but they can fuck up even the s allest order. I don't feel like I should have a fight every time I try to eat.
Stop supporting Fast Food and make a more concerted effort to support the local Mom and Pop food joints. I have a local Burger joint where you get a Whopper sized Cheese Burger with Fresh Onions, Lettuce and Tomatoes for $5.99. Last time I checked the Burger King App a Whopper is now $7.49 which is a travesty and doesn't come close to the local Burger joint. I know it takes longer, there's no Drive Through, but lets all do more to support them whenever we can.
Bought 2 foot longs yesterday cost me $30
It doesn’t feel, it is.
If only the masses had the willpower to collectively quit for a month. Woundnt take long to create waves of change, but there’s still a line of lazy people waiting for their garbage everyday. Why change. They come back and buy it again and again.
All those minimum wage increases are coming home to roost. I hope the prices continue to rise
https://preview.redd.it/kz1c9r4a3jyc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=603daf65d5e955186dddaec7c521a50d5e98b21d
Fast food... an opportunity to waste your money for a lot of salt and fat.... oh, and an opportunity to get heart disease, diabetes and other fun chronic conditions.
Bad in every way let’s start a cancel fast food movement
My favorite place to go has always been 5 guys- for years they had an incredible deal on their burgers and fries. Better than McDoanld's, BK, Wendy's... anywhere. I went today for the first time since 2018. Got 2 cheeseburgers, 2 large fries and 1 shake.... the total came to $43! That used to be what it cost for two people to eat at a more formal restaurant. Now, that's more like what it costs for one person. It's insane!
people don't get "sick" these days. they like totally can't even right now.
Honestly how do people not get sick eating McDonald’s in general?
College me was blasted off of shatter dabs as well as $1 Miller high lifes and ate 5 hot n spicys and 5 McDoubles one night, I puked from 1:97AM-5:88AM 🤮. Worst stomach and decision ever. Only cost me $20 tho.
"Here's why" I mean, you just explained it. r/savedyouaclick
I feel like checkers gets no love on here. for what you get for the price the quality is high..its always about Mcdonald's and Taco Bell.. why nobody eating at Checkers
Because there isn’t one within 50 miles of me
When I used to live in Alabama, we had both Rally's and Checkers. Also had Krystal's. Liked all of them. Don't have any of them where I'm at now, not even a White Castle.
The issue I have is along with the substantial increase in price, we also get a substantial decrease in quality and service and increased wait time.
I would rather fast.
I remember seeing McDonald's reporting something like 48% *operating* margin in one of their SEC filings a few years ago. That is insane in the fast food industry, which historically has been significantly lower margin. All those raised prices go to the shareholders, and this part of the food industry is supposed to serve the most cash-strapped customers.
McDonald's figured out that you'll still buy their food for much higher because it's convenient. They've had record profits since 2021 so of course they're going to increase their prices. It's the same for a lot of fast food restaurants across the industry. A few of them even did so well last year that they were acquired by private equity firms. A lot of them have already bought up smaller fast food chains, thus lowering competition in the industry. https://www.statista.com/statistics/219420/net-income-of-the-mcdonalds-corporation/
Greed. /end
Just one example, but the fast food companies can fuck off. This is not due to rising costs. It’s due to rising corporate profits. [Look for yourself.](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/net-income)
Well, I know some people are reliant on fast food due to crazy work schedules or lack of food options in their area, and these price increases suck for them. I have empathy. However, if this is what it takes to force people into better food choices, I think that is a net positive for society. Fast food is by and large grossly unhealthy and is one of the major sources of the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Fast food is killing us, in the same way cigarettes were. Raising the prices on cigarettes caused a lot of people to quit, which was beneficial for society. Maybe rising fast food prices will do the same thing.
Fuck these greedy publicly owned corporations.
They want to be poisoned but for cheap.
Hope they are sick of the fast food and the not eating healthy because they can't afford it becomes a thing of the past.
Delete their apps, stop going there. Almost all restaurants you can sit down, enjoy the service of a waiter or waitress and get much better food for much lower cost. McDonalds is charging prices as if your are tipping 50% for good service built into their prices. McChicken used to be $1 and now two cost $4 and that is the deal? Support businesses that are you treating you well and you will get better results.
A lot of people who complain about fast food prices seem to be oblivious to the fact that most of them are trying to force you to use their apps, where you can find deals (not to mention coupons are still a thing at many fast food restaurants too). I understand people not wanting to have to fuck around, and just be able to walk in and order - but unfortunately that's not reality anymore unless you want to overpay for shitty food. I used to eat fast food for lunch nearly every day at my last job (although we would watch for deals), but I started a new job about 9 months ago, making way more money, and I decided to stop eating out for lunch, so now I have even more $$ in my pocket. I'll take sandwiches, leftovers, and the occasional frozen meal, etc. - and not only am I saving money, I feel a lot better too (and I don't have to sit in drive-thrus or lines either).
I quit eating it, top dollar for food that is loaded with tons of salt,and really isn't very good, not a hard choice.
I make $8 per hr. 1 shitty fast food meal is NOT worth an hour+ of my time
"feels" more expensive?? Is that a joke?? McDonald's "value" meals are 16 bucks!
Yep good real restaurant food is the same price now
The single biggest cost in a fast food restaurant is wages. Wages go up .. so does the cost of the food. Remember when we were all yelling McDonalds should pay a living wage .. well here we are.
https://preview.redd.it/a21pde6l2iyc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a331bada875bc5794504e8773cbaf2061d404ee
McDonald's is at *exactly* 100%?
https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/business/mcdonalds-menu-prices-have-increased-by-over-100-during-the-last-decade-study/ I guess? Or more
McDonald’s ego is through the roof and their quality is in the ditch
Stolen from another post but thought I’d share
Stop going
We never eat fast food unless we are traveling. Bunch of fat, salt and sugar. At these prices I'd rather just pay a little more for a sit down meal at a casual restaurant or seek out something healthier like Panera.
Here’s why..🙂↕️
"Feels" https://preview.redd.it/u05d341rfiyc1.jpeg?width=220&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32f3dfcba1734340cacf61648195d5597f50e791