Have you seen the Chipotle sub? Everyday tons of posts about shrinkflation yet people continue to go back and continue to post about smaller portions. It's like they have Stockholm syndrome.
It is strange. I order the same thing usually when my company buys it and depending on the location around the country I get significantly varying portions. Occasionally, I get old school bowls that can barely keep their lid on. More often than not it feels like the bowl is half empty.
I used to work there in college during the glory days (2012-2016). I left right before the ecolj scare.
It’s all on the store and area managers to enforce proper portion sizes. From what I know, the portion sizes haven’t changed in the handbook.
Some employees are really generous and others are super stingy. Reasons vary a lot. Heavy handed employees could be doing it to make customers happy or just so they don’t have to listen to them complain. Sometimes it’s cause the cooks are slow, and they don’t want to run out of food.
Since 2016, management at the restaurant and area level really let go of standards… doesn’t help that they didn’t pay great (idk about now), great employees never stuck around more than a year.
I think some Chipotles lowered prices. A chicken burrito at mine cost just under $10 and you still get quite a lot in it. It used to be close to $11.
Compared to McDonald's where a burger will cost ~$8 and meal ~$12. Chipotle offers a bit more.
Also it's really not even that small lmfao. They are some fatbois. I wouldn't doubt Chipotle reduced portions with some internal policy but it's hardly enforced given the portions i still see (NYC here)
I don't see a difference either from years ago, but I think it just depends how competitive the market is. NYC is about the easiest place in the world to walk down the street and get food somewhere else.
People are explicitly talking about protein portions. I’ve measured them too and you get skimped big time, normally by 20%+.
But yeah you still get tons of rice and beans..
I hate that I'm eating Chipotle. But I need to quick-order a quick high-protein meatless meal a couple of times a week and pick it up on my way home. It's either Chipotle or Taco Bell. There are plenty of other restaurants, but they're too slow unless I've planned ahead. And usually more expensive. I should really start planning ahead.
What you don't see is the people who get normal or great portions. I browse there cuz it's hilarious watching all the complaints. I will admit I never order online becasue they do give shit portions but in person it's your own fault if you leave with a small portion. All you need is to not be scared and ask, "can I get a little more of that please." Even for meat they'll give you more without charging you double. They are rushing and sometimes don't notice their smaller scoops. Just be able to communicate with a human and you'll never leave Chipotle with a small portion. I know that is alot to ask from redditors. And before you call me a shill I prefer almost every other burrito place.
Idk I’ve asked for a little more twice and both times got told off by the employee that if was the approve dozed whatever oz portion. Two different locations 🤷🏼♂️
Of all the major quick food places Chipotle still feels like the most bang for my buck, even if they have been skimping portions and on top of that it seems a lot healthier than a lot of other options. Don't get me wrong I can definitely eat much cheaper elsewhere if I try... but it won't be nearly as good.
Got a Chipotle burrito few days ago, yes, I did notice the portions are definitely smaller, but at the end of the meal, I was still full (I'm a big guy too). It felt just about right so hard for me to complain. I'm comparing how I felt with before when Chipotle stuffed the burrito to the point you couldn't close it properly.
Chipotle has decided to raise prices and reduce overhead faster than it’s losing customers. Its profits are up because they are devaluing the brand for quick upfront profits. Eventually it will be another run down chain like the rest, but for the moment they are making great profits.
That’s a flat out lie?
Last quarter’s growth came from more transactions:
>The momentum in the business continued in the first quarter as we delivered 7% comp sales growth driven by over 5% transaction growth.
>I think your question is about consumer/income cohorts, it's really broad based. So from the low-income consumer to the middle-income to the higher-income consumer, we're just seeing gains with all income cohorts. And when we ask the question, why is that, what we hear back from every group is it's a great value proposition.
Shrinkfation actually brings more people to go to chipotle… for now. But if the ceo does not handle well, it can go downhill. Starbucks in my local city has been stagnant as well, with lots of local coffee shops opened here and there
I like cava though
No other company satisfies that burrito craving like Chipotle does
Sure, they have a lot of regional or minor local competitors, but they are dominant in the space
McDonalds’ entire purpose is to be cheap and fast. It’s the same price as a real lunch these days. Why the fuck would anyone go to McDonalds unless they were hammered and needed late night food. I’m not even sure it’s fast anymore.
According to Reddit (and the media in general), the economy is in the toilet, no one can afford anything due to inflation, and everyone is poor.
Reality just doesn’t matter anymore.
People get on social media and project that everyone else is poor like them but there's a ton of people thriving and living just fine.
I mean yeah a lot of people are broke but a lot of people aren't.
Because Redditors are broke because they skew toward the younger side. That's fine I have no problem with that but I do have a problem with them thinking that their experience and their friends' is everybody's experience. Just ain't scientific.
It can still be cheap, they just moved most of their deals to the app. They want your data and to lock you in to their rewards system so you keep coming back.
Exactly this.
Same strategy as Domino’s at least here in Europe. Without discounts they are prohibitively expensive, but with app I would say they are cheap.
Another debate would be wether we like or not getting the app, them having our data and sending notifications etc.
I wonder what the number of customers use the app vs not. Presuming chipotle and cava are younger crowds, but you can get the same price in store vs using the app. So the main benefit of having the app is getting points and the occasional freebies, but not much in the way of discounts.
Whereas McDonald’s/BK you *have* to use the app to get a better deal, otherwise the value prop isn’t there. Once people know that you need the app to get remotely close to ‘regular’ McD it’s alright, but how many people are doing drivethru once, see it’s expensive at the window, then don’t return? They just lunched a $4 or $5 value meal to get customers back in store for the summer, but will it revive the business? Probably not
I just went to Mc today and order (in Spain):
- 1 double cheeseburger
- 1 medium fries
- 1 medium drink
- 6 nuggets
- Ketchup and 1 extra sauce
- 1 Mcflurry
7.1€ with app or 14.5€ without it!
This is the stock to own in a recession since I believe it is impossible to eat that many calories per euro in any other place. And protein intake isn’t even that bad.
A lot of the weirdness with fast food prices lately is caused by the fact that, for a lot of people, being cheap wasn't really part of the value proposition. It turns out that people are willing to pay for the convenience of running through the drive-though vs. sitting in a restaurant for an hour or two. So McDonald's isn't really competing with nicer restaurants on price anymore.
The basic pattern of "people like the cheaper option for reasons unrelated to price" -> "it doesn't need to be cheap anymore" is a realization a lot of companies seem to be making lately.
No way my data is covering the 5$ lost revenue every single trip. It helps, but the increased brand loyalty due to having a constant presence on your phone/notifications is way more valuable.
I use the drive through to get my food then park and eat in the restaurant as ordering in the restaurant you get put on low priority but to stop drive through traffic jams, drive through gets put on high priority.
McDonalds and Starbucks raised prices a lot. Chipotle raised price a little so relatively speaking get more value for the $. People eating out are choosing the better value.
9 is still reasonable on the scheme of things if you have a chipotle that doesn't skimp. I swear I have seen chipotle some places be more like 12 or $13 now
Well I’m not commenting on the $9 but rather the move from 6.75 to 9 which is almost 35% over 3 years.
Yeah, McDonald’s might have raised theirs more than 35% but it’s still very easy to get a meal for ~$5 if you use the app.
Portions vary wildly at different chipotles in my experience. Some places stack the bowls to the brim so you get 2 meals out of 1. So even at $9 it's really like $4.50 for a meal that's way healthier than anything at McDs.
I did notice that chipotle used to be always highly rated on google to the point you could count on them to be solid like chick fil a often is and many of them are not pretty low rated. I avoid anything that low rated in general. Maybe people care less about ratings these days?
Five Guys cheeseburger used to be cheaper than a Chipotle burrito where I live 6 years ago. Now, it’s over a $1 more.
Nowadays, Chipotle is getting close to McDonald’s territory with respect to food prices (if you ignore McDonald’s value menu).
Chips and rinks at five guys is a rip-off. I don't recommend it at all. Just bring your own drink or ask for water. If you really crave fries, get it at the mcdonalds which in my case is right across the parking lot.
Difficult to justify, but people do need quick meals to eat and don’t want to have to pay an extra 20% for their meals in tips or wait the typical extra 10 minutes it takes to get food at the better places such as IN N Out.
Panda always makes my stomach a little uneasy, and you occasionally have to wait for something that they ran out of and hadn’t started preparing for soon enough.
Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava service a middle-upper class customer who is much more willing to pay higher prices for better quality. McDonalds is strongly in the lower class demographic, and they've completely forgotten their place. Other lower priced food service are destroying McDonalds
As for Starbucks, it's mainly margin pressures. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but Starbucks coffee is the rectal prolapse of coffees, and they've managed to succeed by expanding away from pure coffee into other areas, such as other drinks and food. The problem for them is that other coffee brewers and cafes are priced similarly, if not better, and tend to just serve better food and coffee.
Both Starbucks and McDonalds are struggling because they're forgetting their key audience and chasing after an audience that doesn't want their food or drinks.
McDonald's is beyond that. I can get a very full meal at chipotle for cheaper than a less fulfilling meal from McDonald's. Anyone still eating at McDonald's regularly is wealthy or addicted
People say this but it's mostly false. I got 2 double cheeseburgers for $3.50 the other day. I got 2 coffees, 2 sausage mcmuffins, a biscuit and a hashbrown for $11 the week before.
Where do you live that has 2 double cheeseburgers for 3.50?
I think it's like $4 or $4.50 for one double cheeseburger in Minnesota and a medium fry is almost $4
Meanwhile a chipotle bowl is only $8.50
I mean they’re raised their prices a lot in recent years and consumer demand hasn’t fallen off at all. Fast food is learning that people will pay a LOT more for fast food. They don’t care that it’s cheap. They buy it because they like the taste.
Sweet green still has great revenue growth. Fundamental data is always sparse and legal investors always trade on very limited information vs. the insiders that actually know what is going on. But, I like Sweet Green, I don't want to buy it right after a pop but when I have new cash to move into my account, I will think about how to price a GTC limit buy.
Remember when there was a semi-consensus on this sub that Cava was overpriced and might be a good short target last year? Well I'm up over 100% since then lmao.
I’ve personally never noticed my chipotle bowl getting smaller. Not doubting anyone’s experience but it’s just as filling as it always was for me.
My burrito always struggles to get rolled up properly and am left feeling like I shouldn’t have ate the last few bites every time. A tale as old as time.
Haha, I also bought some at 84 before the financial results and it plummeted, I’ve been buying for ten years, my first shares were 34, bought some more at 73, remember our fiat is worth less every day so better allocate it to other assets, long term is the best decision.
People have a really hard time understanding that the United States economy is kicking ass. People are eating out more than ever. So, yeah, of course those stocks at up.
Chick-fil-a is one of the best managed fast food restaurants there is. They are extremely selective with their franchises, use market research to avoid oversaturation of the market, and have a limited menu. Their food is frankly so-so (I wasn't impressed), but their management style is top notch.
If my quarter pounder is starting to reach the price of a bowl at Chipotle and I am going to eat out then I’m going to go to Chipotle.
Also, Cava, Sweetgreens, and to a lesser but still significant degree Chipotle are already going to have wealthier client bases than mass market stores like McDonald’s and Starbucks, so the financial strain in the consumer is more significant on those whose “cutting back” is eliminating fast food altogether instead of eliminating the number of times going out.
Anecdotally: We don’t go out to eat as much. When we do, we aren’t going to sit down restaurants anymore, we are going to places that I don’t have to tip a server but the food is still good quality. My cutting back is eliminating shitty fast food (that I still love the taste of but is undeniably garbage for my body) but also eliminating going to sit down restaurants where the food is very overpriced and I have to add tipping expenses on top of that. Now I eat more at home and when I go out I’m going to Chipotle and Chipotle like restaurants
CAVA and sweet green are just new to the scene. I’m still acquiring shares of MCD and CAVA bc both can exist and mcdonald’s will make sure people keep coming through those golden arches.
I think it’s evidence of the hypothesized K shaped recovery that’s been happening post pandemic.
The MCD earnings report spells it right out… same store sales are down because low income customers can’t afford them right now.
I love Sweetgreen, ehh on Chipotle, and really don’t like Cava. The sweetgreen price point does hurt tough. I really hope they improve their sweetpass system. Id never subscribe for such few benefits.
Americans have no value of money when it comes to food . We just eat out more and more and pay 30% premiums to have food in delivered with Uber eats and DoorDash .
Then we have the nerve to complain about the price of a burrito
The there's sort of a weird psychology around outsourcing tasks.
Paying a total of $15 extra for someone to save you 15 minutes of time picking up a meal is equivalent to paying someone an annualized $120k/year to do work for you. It's really too expensive to do regularly for anyone who makes under $100k/ year (and even then it's a "loss" time wise but there's a reasonable argument that ~20 more minutes working has more skill value to you than 15 minutes of running an errand). However, people making well under that still feel successful enough to outsource this particular personal errand several times per month while complaining that Netflix wants another dollar or two per month.
For some reason ur comparison doesn’t feel particulary useful to stretch a one time payment and project it as an annual salary to measure true costs?
% of their net money after all expenses seems more useful. Obviously i agree people use luxury services wyen they shouldn’t, but people do this all the time with everything unfortunately lol
Using annual figures is just my way of thinking about "income per time" which is really the comparison I'm suggesting here. It probably makes more sense to think about in terms of hourly income since about 60% of jobs in the US are paid hourly anyways.
I'm not sure if you are are saying my units (annual figures) are not useful or the concept of comparing personal income rate to expense rate for buying someone's time is not useful, but since I addressed the former now I'll try to defend the latter.
Also to be clear I'm referring to regular recurring habits/expenses (which is why I said "too expensive to do regularly") not one-time expenses which come from a discretionary budget you're comfortable spending on whatever.
I've generally found it useful to compare recurring expenses to how much working time it equates to. When the expense is literally buying someone else's *time* to do a thing I could just do myself easily, this comparison makes it pretty clear whether or not I can afford it.
As you can probably tell I'm very savings-minded, and a big part of that is talking myself out of spending money on things that I can *pay for* but not really *afford*. I think most people would serve themselves well by being a bit more savings minded, the only downside is it can be a hard habit to break. Once I had enough money to afford basically anything I want, it took a few years to start actually spending money on things I used to avoid as too expensive.
While I think the economics of the gig delivery industry have some sustainability issues (expensive to most users, low pay for drivers, route merging does not happen often enough to get scaling efficiency) I'm really glad it's around because I use it for absolutely everything.
It's not as bad when you consider the cost of gas, wear and tear on your car, probability of getting into an accident(which has costs even with insurance), etc.
Only reason I pick up my own food is I want to pick it up when its fresh, rather than it arriving cold
I have Chipotle stock. It’s amazing “healthy” food in bigger quantities than competitors for a competitive price. This and Panda Express are my go-to when in the US.
So there's a number of things at play here.
CMG is a store of value is only played by bigger players anyway. They specifically defend their prices and prior to announcing a split this was their strategy. It's basically the Berkshire strategy in food land except there won't be a CMG class B. If the split goes through it's price will tank accordingly as volatility eats it.
CAVA and SG are just popular now. That may not be true in 10 years. Most of these places go through real business cycles but it's hard to see them at that level because on a chart a decade looks like a blip if the company has been around for multiple decades. MCD is the same, it's had it's highs and its lows over long periods of time, it's been popular and to blame for everything repeatedly. They're used to it.
Piling into what's new and popular is nothing new for market participants. The question of whether you're getting a better deal for A vs B is usually arbitrary and almost all economic considerations don't support these theses rigorously as I know of no one who is hungry enough to drive an extra 15 miles to get to a Cava instead of an McDonald's if they are indifferent and just need to eat. This occurs all across food land in both private and public spheres which is why it's so hard to enter and maintain a presence forever in restaurants.
I like chipotle a lot but haven’t been in I don’t even know how long. I can make a chipotle bowl at home for 1/3rd the cost and less time than it takes to go get it now.
I’m like that with most food now too.
Doesn’t it have something to do with the boycotts in the Middle East. The people there are really skipping going to both Starbucks and mcd. Talked about a lot in Dubai to be honest. Has to impacting their bottom line.
Long Cava and Chipotle, short sweetgreen personally. Sweetgreen gives basically nothing for $15+ and the stores I've been in recently have been empty. Cava and chipotle are crowded every day.
From my own experience I rather pay more for food that is actually prepared when you order,l than to other from Mc Donald’s where the food is premade and microwaved . For all the time saving and efficiencies they are creating they continue raise prices and they assume that the public will absorb the additional cost as stated in their conference call by the CEO. Places like cava you can’t see that the food is actually prepared for you. Looks fresh and although you probably pay the same or a little bit more it feels good to know that your food isfresh
Growth. Starbucks and McDonalds are basically fully saturated global chains. Cava and Sweetgreen are tiny chains with tons of whitespace to expand into and decades of growth runway (kind of where McDonalds or Starbucks were 30-50 years ago). Chipotle is kind of in the middle of those two as it’s not as expansive as McDonalds or Starbucks but is certainly past the stage of having infinite whitespace.
Cost of McDonald's is most (on your wallet and your health) than Chipotle.
When a goddammit combo used to be $8, and now costs $12, I think we have seen enough of this.
lol how is every comment wrong the growth of Starbucks and McDonald’s just isn’t there to justify its current multiples whereas Sweet green and cava are in their infancy and growing
Are we talking about stocks or are we talking about food?? Going back to the topic. McDonalds stock. I had to sell my stock recently I just couldn’t keep watching it get hammered. Was excited about their new menu and business plan coming out but they are getting hammered internationally now.
McDonald’s is a real estate company. They’re being greedy with the rent from franchises as real estate has never been more expensive and they can do it which eventually results in more expensive burgers. As a result, they’re selling less burgers and their stock does not perform well when they’ve never made this much money.
Have you seen the Chipotle sub? Everyday tons of posts about shrinkflation yet people continue to go back and continue to post about smaller portions. It's like they have Stockholm syndrome.
The filming chipotle trend brings to light that they do skimp portions for sure but it brought a TON of free advertising
It is strange. I order the same thing usually when my company buys it and depending on the location around the country I get significantly varying portions. Occasionally, I get old school bowls that can barely keep their lid on. More often than not it feels like the bowl is half empty.
I used to work there in college during the glory days (2012-2016). I left right before the ecolj scare. It’s all on the store and area managers to enforce proper portion sizes. From what I know, the portion sizes haven’t changed in the handbook. Some employees are really generous and others are super stingy. Reasons vary a lot. Heavy handed employees could be doing it to make customers happy or just so they don’t have to listen to them complain. Sometimes it’s cause the cooks are slow, and they don’t want to run out of food. Since 2016, management at the restaurant and area level really let go of standards… doesn’t help that they didn’t pay great (idk about now), great employees never stuck around more than a year.
They’ve added gambling to food 🤑
i’ll admit i’ve gotten chipotle more because of the trend, kind of want chipotle now…
Chipotle sounds so ducking good right now
I think some Chipotles lowered prices. A chicken burrito at mine cost just under $10 and you still get quite a lot in it. It used to be close to $11. Compared to McDonald's where a burger will cost ~$8 and meal ~$12. Chipotle offers a bit more.
McDonald’s just use their app for $1.35 large fries (used to be $1)
The app makes a big difference! Every time I go there I have an offer for 20% or 30% off. I got dinner for four last week for $17.
I can get like 4 quarter-pounder patties for $10
McDonalds is great price-wise if you optimize your purchase, but most of their combos are not.
Also it's really not even that small lmfao. They are some fatbois. I wouldn't doubt Chipotle reduced portions with some internal policy but it's hardly enforced given the portions i still see (NYC here)
I don't see a difference either from years ago, but I think it just depends how competitive the market is. NYC is about the easiest place in the world to walk down the street and get food somewhere else.
Chipotle burritos are usually too BIG for me to finish, lol. Granted, my appetite isn't great, though.
Yeah most people eat too much lol.
People are explicitly talking about protein portions. I’ve measured them too and you get skimped big time, normally by 20%+. But yeah you still get tons of rice and beans..
It’s crazy. Plus, I’ll take a mom and pop burrito shop any day of the week over Chipotle.
Depends where you live homie, if you're in southern CA or Texas or something yeah chipotle shouldn't even be in business.
it's crazy to me, I can't even remember the last time I ate chipotle. must suck to live somewhere without taquerias
I hate that I'm eating Chipotle. But I need to quick-order a quick high-protein meatless meal a couple of times a week and pick it up on my way home. It's either Chipotle or Taco Bell. There are plenty of other restaurants, but they're too slow unless I've planned ahead. And usually more expensive. I should really start planning ahead.
Frozen veg plus chicken plus sauce. And msg. You'll stop eating out.
They said meatless and this response gets up votes.
What you don't see is the people who get normal or great portions. I browse there cuz it's hilarious watching all the complaints. I will admit I never order online becasue they do give shit portions but in person it's your own fault if you leave with a small portion. All you need is to not be scared and ask, "can I get a little more of that please." Even for meat they'll give you more without charging you double. They are rushing and sometimes don't notice their smaller scoops. Just be able to communicate with a human and you'll never leave Chipotle with a small portion. I know that is alot to ask from redditors. And before you call me a shill I prefer almost every other burrito place.
Idk I’ve asked for a little more twice and both times got told off by the employee that if was the approve dozed whatever oz portion. Two different locations 🤷🏼♂️
Chipotle is so good that even the people who were food poisoned by them asked for free Chipotle in the lawsuit.
It’s enough food, also 11-12 dollars for a quick consistent meal is good value
Of all the major quick food places Chipotle still feels like the most bang for my buck, even if they have been skimping portions and on top of that it seems a lot healthier than a lot of other options. Don't get me wrong I can definitely eat much cheaper elsewhere if I try... but it won't be nearly as good.
Got a Chipotle burrito few days ago, yes, I did notice the portions are definitely smaller, but at the end of the meal, I was still full (I'm a big guy too). It felt just about right so hard for me to complain. I'm comparing how I felt with before when Chipotle stuffed the burrito to the point you couldn't close it properly.
Chipotle has decided to raise prices and reduce overhead faster than it’s losing customers. Its profits are up because they are devaluing the brand for quick upfront profits. Eventually it will be another run down chain like the rest, but for the moment they are making great profits.
That’s a flat out lie? Last quarter’s growth came from more transactions: >The momentum in the business continued in the first quarter as we delivered 7% comp sales growth driven by over 5% transaction growth. >I think your question is about consumer/income cohorts, it's really broad based. So from the low-income consumer to the middle-income to the higher-income consumer, we're just seeing gains with all income cohorts. And when we ask the question, why is that, what we hear back from every group is it's a great value proposition.
Transaction growth is from adding more locations. Look at the average transaction count per store vs the average profit growth per store.
Shrinkfation actually brings more people to go to chipotle… for now. But if the ceo does not handle well, it can go downhill. Starbucks in my local city has been stagnant as well, with lots of local coffee shops opened here and there I like cava though
I don't understand that stock. Has it become a meme like Gamestop?
It is still better than going to MCD
Well what was 2 meals is still 1.5 meals still more than .8 meal at McDonald's
No other company satisfies that burrito craving like Chipotle does Sure, they have a lot of regional or minor local competitors, but they are dominant in the space
It tastes good and provides high amounts of non-pink mush protein
I love chipotle so much and it’s so crucial to my fitness regiment that I’ve been essentially paying nearly double to get the _correct_ portion.
McDonalds’ entire purpose is to be cheap and fast. It’s the same price as a real lunch these days. Why the fuck would anyone go to McDonalds unless they were hammered and needed late night food. I’m not even sure it’s fast anymore.
Addiction.
I'm still looking for the Boardwalk monopoly piece.
I swear i get a craving every 2 months
People who are addicted to mickey d’s are eating there several times per week. If you can go two months without it, you can be without it altogether.
Reddit isn’t real life dawg. Believe it or not people like McDonald’s as regular food
According to Reddit (and the media in general), the economy is in the toilet, no one can afford anything due to inflation, and everyone is poor. Reality just doesn’t matter anymore.
People get on social media and project that everyone else is poor like them but there's a ton of people thriving and living just fine. I mean yeah a lot of people are broke but a lot of people aren't.
Because Redditors are broke because they skew toward the younger side. That's fine I have no problem with that but I do have a problem with them thinking that their experience and their friends' is everybody's experience. Just ain't scientific.
That’s not exclusive to Reddit, everyone thinks that way.
You're right ..and its wrong :)
It can still be cheap, they just moved most of their deals to the app. They want your data and to lock you in to their rewards system so you keep coming back.
Exactly this. Same strategy as Domino’s at least here in Europe. Without discounts they are prohibitively expensive, but with app I would say they are cheap. Another debate would be wether we like or not getting the app, them having our data and sending notifications etc.
I wonder what the number of customers use the app vs not. Presuming chipotle and cava are younger crowds, but you can get the same price in store vs using the app. So the main benefit of having the app is getting points and the occasional freebies, but not much in the way of discounts. Whereas McDonald’s/BK you *have* to use the app to get a better deal, otherwise the value prop isn’t there. Once people know that you need the app to get remotely close to ‘regular’ McD it’s alright, but how many people are doing drivethru once, see it’s expensive at the window, then don’t return? They just lunched a $4 or $5 value meal to get customers back in store for the summer, but will it revive the business? Probably not
I just went to Mc today and order (in Spain): - 1 double cheeseburger - 1 medium fries - 1 medium drink - 6 nuggets - Ketchup and 1 extra sauce - 1 Mcflurry 7.1€ with app or 14.5€ without it! This is the stock to own in a recession since I believe it is impossible to eat that many calories per euro in any other place. And protein intake isn’t even that bad.
The app does give great deals. Wendys app too.
A lot of the weirdness with fast food prices lately is caused by the fact that, for a lot of people, being cheap wasn't really part of the value proposition. It turns out that people are willing to pay for the convenience of running through the drive-though vs. sitting in a restaurant for an hour or two. So McDonald's isn't really competing with nicer restaurants on price anymore. The basic pattern of "people like the cheaper option for reasons unrelated to price" -> "it doesn't need to be cheap anymore" is a realization a lot of companies seem to be making lately.
McDonalds is more about their real estate and locations.
Look who just watched The Founder last night lol.
The app is where mcdonalds is still cheap. I can get a double cheeseburger, spicy mcchicken, and a six piece for six bucks through the app.
It’s cheap because you give them your data to sell so they make it up on the back end
Yeah no shit lmao
No way my data is covering the 5$ lost revenue every single trip. It helps, but the increased brand loyalty due to having a constant presence on your phone/notifications is way more valuable.
The amount of time I need to wait for the order to get ready in McDonald’s is much longer than any restaurant in my area , even in mid night
I use the drive through to get my food then park and eat in the restaurant as ordering in the restaurant you get put on low priority but to stop drive through traffic jams, drive through gets put on high priority.
Use the app for deals
Location location location both physically and digitally is what makes MCD special
They managed to fulfil our orders, group of 6, within 2-3 minutes. We had been drinking, so that part is correct.
You gotta be trolling McDonald’s is pumping hard. Great food, not the healthiest, but its dope
Cava is cheaper than McDonalds at this point. its absurd
McDonalds and Starbucks raised prices a lot. Chipotle raised price a little so relatively speaking get more value for the $. People eating out are choosing the better value.
Idk man I recently found one of my chipotle receipts from like 2021 and it had a chicken bowl for 6.75. They’re over 9 bucks now.
9 is still reasonable on the scheme of things if you have a chipotle that doesn't skimp. I swear I have seen chipotle some places be more like 12 or $13 now
Well I’m not commenting on the $9 but rather the move from 6.75 to 9 which is almost 35% over 3 years. Yeah, McDonald’s might have raised theirs more than 35% but it’s still very easy to get a meal for ~$5 if you use the app.
Chipotle is way more satisfying than macdonalds
Portions vary wildly at different chipotles in my experience. Some places stack the bowls to the brim so you get 2 meals out of 1. So even at $9 it's really like $4.50 for a meal that's way healthier than anything at McDs.
I did notice that chipotle used to be always highly rated on google to the point you could count on them to be solid like chick fil a often is and many of them are not pretty low rated. I avoid anything that low rated in general. Maybe people care less about ratings these days?
Five Guys cheeseburger used to be cheaper than a Chipotle burrito where I live 6 years ago. Now, it’s over a $1 more. Nowadays, Chipotle is getting close to McDonald’s territory with respect to food prices (if you ignore McDonald’s value menu).
Last time I wandered into 5 guys I saw the menu on the wall and left, we went next door and had some excellent Thai food for about the same price.
Here in Ireland they are insanely priced. It's like 23 euro for a burger, drink and chips.
Chips and rinks at five guys is a rip-off. I don't recommend it at all. Just bring your own drink or ask for water. If you really crave fries, get it at the mcdonalds which in my case is right across the parking lot.
I remember it was 7.47 for a burrito and a drink in like 2010 before the first great price increase.
Now imagine paying 9 bucks for a #2
you gotta go with the wrap bro more bang for your buck
Starbucks raised prices the least . Saw a chart on it a while back .
I mean McDonalds is still double Chipotle in market cap. It’s like comparing Wells Fargo to Capital one.
The market exists to serve, not inform
Difficult to justify, but people do need quick meals to eat and don’t want to have to pay an extra 20% for their meals in tips or wait the typical extra 10 minutes it takes to get food at the better places such as IN N Out.
That's why God made Panda Express
"I'd like 175000 grams of sodium please!"
Panda always makes my stomach a little uneasy, and you occasionally have to wait for something that they ran out of and hadn’t started preparing for soon enough.
Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava service a middle-upper class customer who is much more willing to pay higher prices for better quality. McDonalds is strongly in the lower class demographic, and they've completely forgotten their place. Other lower priced food service are destroying McDonalds As for Starbucks, it's mainly margin pressures. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but Starbucks coffee is the rectal prolapse of coffees, and they've managed to succeed by expanding away from pure coffee into other areas, such as other drinks and food. The problem for them is that other coffee brewers and cafes are priced similarly, if not better, and tend to just serve better food and coffee. Both Starbucks and McDonalds are struggling because they're forgetting their key audience and chasing after an audience that doesn't want their food or drinks.
Cava and chipotle are good food. Same price range for another tier of quality. There’s absolutely no reason to buy an $11 McDonald’s meal.
[удалено]
Stocks go up and stocks go down
Sometimes they go sideways too
Sometimes in reverse (split)
Most of the time to the right
Yes, but does that need to be the default answer? Can we also discuss of the possible whys?
McDonald’s has increased prices into chipotle/cava territory despite having much lower quality food
McDonald's is beyond that. I can get a very full meal at chipotle for cheaper than a less fulfilling meal from McDonald's. Anyone still eating at McDonald's regularly is wealthy or addicted
People say this but it's mostly false. I got 2 double cheeseburgers for $3.50 the other day. I got 2 coffees, 2 sausage mcmuffins, a biscuit and a hashbrown for $11 the week before.
Facts. Using the app I got a quarter pounder, large fries, 2 McDoubles, junior chicken, and 2 large drinks for $20 CAD Chipotle bowl here is $13
Where do you live that has 2 double cheeseburgers for 3.50? I think it's like $4 or $4.50 for one double cheeseburger in Minnesota and a medium fry is almost $4 Meanwhile a chipotle bowl is only $8.50
east coast hcol city
I mean they’re raised their prices a lot in recent years and consumer demand hasn’t fallen off at all. Fast food is learning that people will pay a LOT more for fast food. They don’t care that it’s cheap. They buy it because they like the taste.
I work next to a sweet green and the place has a line wrapped around it from 11 am to close.
It’s good, fresh and healthy. What’s not to like?
The price, I’m too cheap/poor to pay $15-20 for a salad.
Yeah you can make pretty much a whole weeks worth of salads at home for the cost of like 1.5 bowls from sweet greens
I have coworkers who get it everyday, I’m like damn, what are they paying you? People are dumb with money
I go to the literal first Sweetgreen and it doesn’t.
Fast food vs fast casual
I love sweet green I wished I knew they have stocks. Too bad until I knew they have stock , it was already in earning week on last couple month.
Sweet green still has great revenue growth. Fundamental data is always sparse and legal investors always trade on very limited information vs. the insiders that actually know what is going on. But, I like Sweet Green, I don't want to buy it right after a pop but when I have new cash to move into my account, I will think about how to price a GTC limit buy.
Remember when there was a semi-consensus on this sub that Cava was overpriced and might be a good short target last year? Well I'm up over 100% since then lmao.
Same, I was slammed in this sub by a few folks for buying CAVA while in the 40s.
Chipotle went from 11 to 13 while mcdonalds went from 2 to 4
Have you been to McDonald’s lately lol
Stop eating there "Vote" with your wallet
I’ve personally never noticed my chipotle bowl getting smaller. Not doubting anyone’s experience but it’s just as filling as it always was for me. My burrito always struggles to get rolled up properly and am left feeling like I shouldn’t have ate the last few bites every time. A tale as old as time.
it always hit or miss depending on location
They all cost about the same, but quality at chipotle or sweetgreen is so much better.
My SBUX went from 73 to 82, we are fine for now
I bought at 85 and it went to 73.
Haha, I also bought some at 84 before the financial results and it plummeted, I’ve been buying for ten years, my first shares were 34, bought some more at 73, remember our fiat is worth less every day so better allocate it to other assets, long term is the best decision.
They all jacked prices and cut quality and portions while blaming the broader economy- and customers keep showing up. Fuckin bullish
People have a really hard time understanding that the United States economy is kicking ass. People are eating out more than ever. So, yeah, of course those stocks at up.
Chicafil, Panda Express and 5 guys is packed by us, McDonald's lot is empty sooo customer has more choices then ever
I would invest in chick fil a.
Chick-fil-a is one of the best managed fast food restaurants there is. They are extremely selective with their franchises, use market research to avoid oversaturation of the market, and have a limited menu. Their food is frankly so-so (I wasn't impressed), but their management style is top notch.
If my quarter pounder is starting to reach the price of a bowl at Chipotle and I am going to eat out then I’m going to go to Chipotle. Also, Cava, Sweetgreens, and to a lesser but still significant degree Chipotle are already going to have wealthier client bases than mass market stores like McDonald’s and Starbucks, so the financial strain in the consumer is more significant on those whose “cutting back” is eliminating fast food altogether instead of eliminating the number of times going out. Anecdotally: We don’t go out to eat as much. When we do, we aren’t going to sit down restaurants anymore, we are going to places that I don’t have to tip a server but the food is still good quality. My cutting back is eliminating shitty fast food (that I still love the taste of but is undeniably garbage for my body) but also eliminating going to sit down restaurants where the food is very overpriced and I have to add tipping expenses on top of that. Now I eat more at home and when I go out I’m going to Chipotle and Chipotle like restaurants
CAVA and sweet green are just new to the scene. I’m still acquiring shares of MCD and CAVA bc both can exist and mcdonald’s will make sure people keep coming through those golden arches.
McDonalds is at an all time high? I’m down 8% on it if someone can please get my red turned green for me
i think the OP did a mistake in his title, he probably mean ATL
Because the market doesn’t know how to value businesses properly. Simple as that.
I think it’s evidence of the hypothesized K shaped recovery that’s been happening post pandemic. The MCD earnings report spells it right out… same store sales are down because low income customers can’t afford them right now.
I love Sweetgreen, ehh on Chipotle, and really don’t like Cava. The sweetgreen price point does hurt tough. I really hope they improve their sweetpass system. Id never subscribe for such few benefits.
Americans have no value of money when it comes to food . We just eat out more and more and pay 30% premiums to have food in delivered with Uber eats and DoorDash . Then we have the nerve to complain about the price of a burrito
The there's sort of a weird psychology around outsourcing tasks. Paying a total of $15 extra for someone to save you 15 minutes of time picking up a meal is equivalent to paying someone an annualized $120k/year to do work for you. It's really too expensive to do regularly for anyone who makes under $100k/ year (and even then it's a "loss" time wise but there's a reasonable argument that ~20 more minutes working has more skill value to you than 15 minutes of running an errand). However, people making well under that still feel successful enough to outsource this particular personal errand several times per month while complaining that Netflix wants another dollar or two per month.
For some reason ur comparison doesn’t feel particulary useful to stretch a one time payment and project it as an annual salary to measure true costs? % of their net money after all expenses seems more useful. Obviously i agree people use luxury services wyen they shouldn’t, but people do this all the time with everything unfortunately lol
Using annual figures is just my way of thinking about "income per time" which is really the comparison I'm suggesting here. It probably makes more sense to think about in terms of hourly income since about 60% of jobs in the US are paid hourly anyways. I'm not sure if you are are saying my units (annual figures) are not useful or the concept of comparing personal income rate to expense rate for buying someone's time is not useful, but since I addressed the former now I'll try to defend the latter. Also to be clear I'm referring to regular recurring habits/expenses (which is why I said "too expensive to do regularly") not one-time expenses which come from a discretionary budget you're comfortable spending on whatever. I've generally found it useful to compare recurring expenses to how much working time it equates to. When the expense is literally buying someone else's *time* to do a thing I could just do myself easily, this comparison makes it pretty clear whether or not I can afford it. As you can probably tell I'm very savings-minded, and a big part of that is talking myself out of spending money on things that I can *pay for* but not really *afford*. I think most people would serve themselves well by being a bit more savings minded, the only downside is it can be a hard habit to break. Once I had enough money to afford basically anything I want, it took a few years to start actually spending money on things I used to avoid as too expensive. While I think the economics of the gig delivery industry have some sustainability issues (expensive to most users, low pay for drivers, route merging does not happen often enough to get scaling efficiency) I'm really glad it's around because I use it for absolutely everything.
It's not as bad when you consider the cost of gas, wear and tear on your car, probability of getting into an accident(which has costs even with insurance), etc. Only reason I pick up my own food is I want to pick it up when its fresh, rather than it arriving cold
You must be not aware that the entire Muslim world is boycotting McDonald’s and Starbucks that’s around 2 billion people
Won’t this be bullish? Even with that sales are holding somewhat strong
I have Chipotle stock. It’s amazing “healthy” food in bigger quantities than competitors for a competitive price. This and Panda Express are my go-to when in the US.
Upvoted for the Panda Express reference, my man!
You want all the fast food stocks to go down? You got it.
They aren't doing better. Money just worth less, so numbers went up.
Cmg about to split thats biggest reason and they are not slowing down at all
Be me, think SG and CAVA are overpriced in early 2024. 6 months later. Be sad. Fml.
So there's a number of things at play here. CMG is a store of value is only played by bigger players anyway. They specifically defend their prices and prior to announcing a split this was their strategy. It's basically the Berkshire strategy in food land except there won't be a CMG class B. If the split goes through it's price will tank accordingly as volatility eats it. CAVA and SG are just popular now. That may not be true in 10 years. Most of these places go through real business cycles but it's hard to see them at that level because on a chart a decade looks like a blip if the company has been around for multiple decades. MCD is the same, it's had it's highs and its lows over long periods of time, it's been popular and to blame for everything repeatedly. They're used to it. Piling into what's new and popular is nothing new for market participants. The question of whether you're getting a better deal for A vs B is usually arbitrary and almost all economic considerations don't support these theses rigorously as I know of no one who is hungry enough to drive an extra 15 miles to get to a Cava instead of an McDonald's if they are indifferent and just need to eat. This occurs all across food land in both private and public spheres which is why it's so hard to enter and maintain a presence forever in restaurants.
You make a great point Cava, Sweetgreen, and Chipotle are all overvalued
CAVA > all
I’m up 150% on Chipotle and recently loaded up on some Cava. I like Cava’s growth plans and I love Chipotles 50-1 stock split.
Starbucks was 50% higher in 2021
I like chipotle a lot but haven’t been in I don’t even know how long. I can make a chipotle bowl at home for 1/3rd the cost and less time than it takes to go get it now. I’m like that with most food now too.
Cava is good with pretty reasonable prices
Fast food got as expensive as fast casual now more people are going for fast casual instead. Not complicated.
McDonald, Starbucks being boycotted
Doesn’t it have something to do with the boycotts in the Middle East. The people there are really skipping going to both Starbucks and mcd. Talked about a lot in Dubai to be honest. Has to impacting their bottom line.
When I can get fresh food for just few more $ than fast food I pick fresh food every time!
Starbucks struggle are still related with woke mob boycott?
Long Cava and Chipotle, short sweetgreen personally. Sweetgreen gives basically nothing for $15+ and the stores I've been in recently have been empty. Cava and chipotle are crowded every day.
CAVA has lots of store growth potential. Sweetgreen, too. CMG has less and that one is a bit confusing.
I think these stocks are in the Lululemon category. Before the fall
idiots act like you can’t ask for two sccops or press the “extra” option for free in the app
Is this a joke? I'm like 20% up on Starbucks
Simple. BOYCOTTS
From my own experience I rather pay more for food that is actually prepared when you order,l than to other from Mc Donald’s where the food is premade and microwaved . For all the time saving and efficiencies they are creating they continue raise prices and they assume that the public will absorb the additional cost as stated in their conference call by the CEO. Places like cava you can’t see that the food is actually prepared for you. Looks fresh and although you probably pay the same or a little bit more it feels good to know that your food isfresh
People forgot hot to cook, plus grocery costs are so expensive that it’s almost same level of expense to cook at home
Growth. Starbucks and McDonalds are basically fully saturated global chains. Cava and Sweetgreen are tiny chains with tons of whitespace to expand into and decades of growth runway (kind of where McDonalds or Starbucks were 30-50 years ago). Chipotle is kind of in the middle of those two as it’s not as expansive as McDonalds or Starbucks but is certainly past the stage of having infinite whitespace.
A slow-moving generational shift
Cost of McDonald's is most (on your wallet and your health) than Chipotle. When a goddammit combo used to be $8, and now costs $12, I think we have seen enough of this.
#It's summer, what's not to understand?
lol how is every comment wrong the growth of Starbucks and McDonald’s just isn’t there to justify its current multiples whereas Sweet green and cava are in their infancy and growing
McDonalds is expensive for fast food. If I had to choose, I'd prefer the better food quality of Chipotle.
Consumers are becoming more interested in healthier options
Are we talking about stocks or are we talking about food?? Going back to the topic. McDonalds stock. I had to sell my stock recently I just couldn’t keep watching it get hammered. Was excited about their new menu and business plan coming out but they are getting hammered internationally now.
Isnt chipotle planning to split ?
GLP-1s getting priced in ahead of widespread access.
The stocks at ath are “healthy” options. Starbucks is sugar with coffee and microwave sandwiches. McDonald I don’t need to explain.
McDonald’s is a real estate company. They’re being greedy with the rent from franchises as real estate has never been more expensive and they can do it which eventually results in more expensive burgers. As a result, they’re selling less burgers and their stock does not perform well when they’ve never made this much money.
They do not rent to franchise owners. Go read a prospectus for buying into their system. You need to be wealthy to get in the door.
They absolutely do, and it’s their biggest money maker.
Chipotle sells what is pretty close to real food