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The Year of McDonald's

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Re: The Year of McDonald's

#41

Post by b112 »

caseyohara wrote: post #11
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

When I was quite young (maybe 5-9) my family did a lot of trips to the U.S. for my dad’s IBM server training stuff. Something that made me anxious was the border crossing because my dad got all serious and told us to be quiet and it felt intimidating. As a consequence of being so young I couldn’t distinguish between Customs and a toll booth so they made me anxious too. And one day we were driving up to what looked li…

My favorite unique McDonald’s is in Freeport, Maine. > When the town wouldn't allow the fast-food behemoth to build a new restaurant, they put one inside an 1850 home. > The year was 1984. McDonald's was looking to build a location in the town of Freeport, Maine. There was only one problem: The Freeport building design restrictions were strict, and the town wanted the fast-food giant to maintain the area's aesthetic.…

What a classy McDonalds, makes me feel like I'd need a tie.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#42

Post by ethbr1 »

kube-system wrote: post #32
ethbr1 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taco Bell: Te parezco un chiste?

Taco bell has significantly fewer locations, it's less likely that your next exit has one.

Out of curiosity, apparently US totals are Subway 20k, Starbucks 15k, McD's 13k, Dunkin 9k, Taco Bell / Burger King 7k, Dominos / Pizza Hut / Wendy's 6k, then others.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#43

Post by santoshalper »

rdtsc wrote: post #31
anonu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump was an actual campaign stop photo op... Harris didn't do a McD photo op. So not clear on your point. Also Trump rode in a garbage truck around the same time. Was he one upping Harris? Or just trying to appeal to the working class? Probably the latter...

> So not clear on your point. I just meant that an article, claiming to go for a deep dive on how McDonald's is part of the new American zeitgeist, mentions one presidential candidate, and the CEO murderer, but doesn't mention the other presidential candidate. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/01/kamala-harris-on-working-at-... is just from a few months ago. > “It was not a small job,” Harris told Ruhle. “There are people…

Not really. Free Press is only pretending to be journalism. In an article defending JK Rowling, they describe people who are upset with her views on transgender rights as "maniacs, who are then flattered by cowards". It's a partisan rag.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#44

Post by markus_zhang »

paulpauper wrote: post #20
markus_zhang wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco is my new restaurant. Food is more fresh and costs way less.

but not as convenient as McDonald's . fewer locations, need membership afik for food

Yeah that's true. Fortunately we have one 15 mins of drive away.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#45

Post by tokinonagare »

munk-a wrote: post #5

What a bizarre statement about a place of business that's tried to irrelevance themselves into non-existence this year. Fast food pricing is now equal or beyond the prices of quality food with non-chain fast food (i.e. doner/local pizza joints) becoming the new affordable option.

It's indeed crazy how expensive McDo meals had become. When I was a student I used to eat 2/3 hamburgers 1€ each, and something the 2€ local thing too. Now those doubled or tripled. A maxi best of is at least 12€. Sorry but at this price I'll eat anywhere else. The only thing I'm eating these days is the 5€ menu with 4 items in it, the happy meal at 4€ when there's Pokémon cards as toy and the Mac First when it is at 6€ (spoiler: it's often closer to 7€ in most place now).

That being said even kebabs are a luxury now. What used to be 3€ or 5€ with fries and drink is now 7/8€ alone, or 12€ in combo with fries or drink. Well, one more think I'll eat way less than before.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#46

Post by markus_zhang »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #23
markus_zhang wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco is my new restaurant. Food is more fresh and costs way less.

I have thought that, if you're on a road trip, Costco could be pretty good. Stop there, get a rotisserie chicken, feeds 2-4 people, costs $5. (I mean, you still need a trash bag, paper plates, and a large number of napkins...) And you were going to stop for gas anyway, and they have that.

Yeah man, almost perfect, and they have desserts too! Sadly no coffee...well just packaged ones.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#47

Post by erulabs »

> These communities are the flowers growing between the cracks of the cement parking lot: a reminder that life survives, and often thrives, in the harshest environments, such as the modern world

Lovely writing here. I am fascinated by the idea that the porousness of any system is its lifeline or even possibly its great enabler.

There's a legend that during the Chinese revolution, extremely rural and difficult to travel to villages simply lied about their yearly rice yield, and thus were taxed less and avoided what would have sent them into the same starvation cycle as other areas, and this enabled the Maoist system to survive much longer than it would have otherwise. Similar stories from Stalist Russia, but the idea isn't limited to totalitarianism; as the story notes it applies to our paved-over modern American life as well.

Contrary to the article, I somewhat feel that our current world is far too porous: we lack virtually any structure; we feel adrift rather than locked up. A coffee meetup in a McDonalds is an attempt to build a community in a cultural ghost-town, not a rebellion against perfect order.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#48

Post by markus_zhang »

kube-system wrote: post #30
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have thought that, if you're on a road trip, Costco could be pretty good. Stop there, get a rotisserie chicken, feeds 2-4 people, costs $5. (I mean, you still need a trash bag, paper plates, and a large number of napkins...) And you were going to stop for gas anyway, and they have that.

Maybe at mid-day during the week. On Sunday, the Costco parking lot is the last place I'd want to be if I'm trying to get miles on the road.

Yeah that sucks. It really depends on the time.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#49

Post by kube-system »

ethbr1 wrote: post #42
kube-system wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taco bell has significantly fewer locations, it's less likely that your next exit has one.

Out of curiosity, apparently US totals are Subway 20k, Starbucks 15k, McD's 13k, Dunkin 9k, Taco Bell / Burger King 7k, Dominos / Pizza Hut / Wendy's 6k, then others.

Subway is a good reminder that location matters too. While they have a lot of locations, they are not nearly as selective in where they go.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#50

Post by gowld »

bhouston wrote: post #16

McDonald’s has also seen a major boycott because of its Israeli branch’s support for the Israeli actions in Gaza: https://fortune.com/2024/07/30/mcdonalds-gaza-boycott-israel... Apparently it was so bad that global McDonalds bought back all the Israeli franchises.

McDonald's stock is up 20% since Oct 7, 2023

Sales growth slowed a bit, but the boycott effort was a temporary scare to the business that didn't have significant impact on sales long term.

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