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McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

latimes.com

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Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#151

Post by willis936 »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #149
bitshiftfaced wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The app really does enhance the experience, order exactly what you want without human error, roll up to the drive-thru, give them the code, and they begin making the order at that point. They're particularly good at getting orders right compared to some other restaurants, so the additional value here to me is negligible. It's actually negative value to me, since if I can do a transaction without having to sign up,…

Try ordering a heated muffin. My current success rate at the drive through is 2/8. The other 6 times it's not heated.

It's really location dependent. The one near me missed opening time by more than 30 minutes one day last week. I don't have more data because I only would splurge for a fast food breakfast when I need it.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#152

Post by lisbbb »

f1shy wrote: post #72
FerretFred wrote: post #21

I can only speak for the UK but for quite a while now, McD's has become an uninviting experience, with miserable staff, menu screens that visibly tell you to hurry the f*k up and choose the product. Not to mention customers vying with delivery drivers for orders. I think the problem applies to all-income customers.

My experience is that quality in McD is rapidly declining. We may agree was never a Michelin star restaurant. But I remember being more or leas enjoying the food. Now I just can’t. Maybe I’m getting older. But I would swear the quality is much worse now than say 5 or 10 years ago.

My family and I ate at one this evening. My son wanted to try to the McRib. I'm not sure he loved it, but it looked fine. My wife and I both had the $5 McValue meal, and we got a free medium fry because it was Friday. We shared one of the drinks because I'm not supposed to be eating lots of sugar. Some McD's don't have a drink station in the public seating area anymore, but the one we go to does. All in all, it was not a bad meal for like $15. I don't see any degradation in their quality at all. I think that quality is highly dependent on which one you visit and how well it is managed.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#153

Post by knowitnone3 »

nutjob2 wrote: post #143
plorkyeran wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price for each of those at my local supermarket when buying the low quality option in bulk: English Muffin: 70¢ Slice of cheese: 40¢ Egg: 40¢ Slice of Ham: 50¢ Hash browns: 40¢ Coffee: $1? In total $3.40. £5.09 for that in hot, prepared form ready to eat sounds cheap to me, not expensive.

I calculated how much I spend on food, shopping at Lidl in the EU in a mid range expensive country, and I pay about 3 euros per day. That's about the same as $3.40, but for 4 full meals (one of those is smaller than the others) Admittedly I've optimized my menu.

but you don't say what you buy because eating only potatoes really is cheap

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#154

Post by lisbbb »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #92
jswelker wrote: post #11

My lower middle class family of 4 kids was raised on $1 McChicken sandwiches through my teen years. I don't know if there is an equivalent today.

Value menus still exist: https://www.eatthis.com/restaurant-chains-with-most-affordab... But meat is more expensive than beans and rice.

The problem for me is that I can't eat a lot of rice due to digestive issues with it--it just backs me up like glue even when I drink tons of water. I don't think rice is a very good type of food, honestly. Beans are fine, good fiber and protein. Rice, nah.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#155

Post by lurking_swe »

somenameforme wrote: post #107
f1shy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think this is exactly true. People may stop eating junk outside. But having a healthy balanced diet is more expensive than buying junk and eating at home; and not only in money, but more importantly (maybe) in time. Cooking takes time and effort, which families with both working parents may struggle with. Please do not forget often those people have more exhausting and abusive jobs. I know from first hand, h…

The problem is that people don't know how to cook. Something like pressure cookers (or crock pots where appropriate) are amazing for this sort of scenario. There are endless recipes you can find online that are toss a few ingredients in, wait, eat. Easy clean up, and delicious. I increasingly think cooking should be a part of basic education for everybody. Stuff like rice, beans, and chicken breast are extremely chea…

i’m interested in using my pressure cooker more. Do you have a favorite recipe?

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#156

Post by badc0ffee »

somenameforme wrote: post #107
f1shy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think this is exactly true. People may stop eating junk outside. But having a healthy balanced diet is more expensive than buying junk and eating at home; and not only in money, but more importantly (maybe) in time. Cooking takes time and effort, which families with both working parents may struggle with. Please do not forget often those people have more exhausting and abusive jobs. I know from first hand, h…

The problem is that people don't know how to cook. Something like pressure cookers (or crock pots where appropriate) are amazing for this sort of scenario. There are endless recipes you can find online that are toss a few ingredients in, wait, eat. Easy clean up, and delicious. I increasingly think cooking should be a part of basic education for everybody. Stuff like rice, beans, and chicken breast are extremely chea…

I agree with most of what you're saying, but here in Canada, chicken breast is so not cheap.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#157

Post by makeitdouble »

swatcoder wrote: post #98
jihadjihad wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The three beverages they ordered, two coffees and a soda, amounted to nearly $20 I don't live in CA, but this just seems insane? Even in "captive" locations like airports etc. where prices for stuff are higher than a typical brick-and-mortar location, I don't even understand how two coffees and a soda could approach $20. If they'd DoorDashed it, sure. But those numbers don't make sense.

You're probably imagining two black coffees, and all three drinks being of modest size like medium. But if you turn those into "specialty" coffees and upsize them, and then add ~10% sales tax, it's very plausible that the price was closer to $20 than $10. Between prices inflating and people's tastes being pretty unmoderated and indulgent for a long while now, the total cost of "everyday" expenses adds up quick. Even…

> black drip coffee drinks that have basically no material or labor cost

Raw coffee prices have been rising for a while now[0], and I assume even in the US people are more attuned to decent coffee.

And I kinda hope producing countries get enough power to get better deals (thus increasing coffee prices further...) as they're usually getting shafted pretty hard.

[0] https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/coffee

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#158

Post by FearNotDaniel »

Freedom2 wrote: post #133
esseph wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to be exactly the same quality at least here in the US, that it has always been.

In some ways the rest of the world's McDonald's are simply plummeting to the low quality of those in the US.

Austria resident checking in - since I moved here I noticed the quality of McD’s is way, way better than in the UK. And apart from the regular menu being a whole different experience, you’ve got great quality coffee and cakes. It’s a whole world of difference.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#159

Post by doubled112 »

badc0ffee wrote: post #156
somenameforme wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that people don't know how to cook. Something like pressure cookers (or crock pots where appropriate) are amazing for this sort of scenario. There are endless recipes you can find online that are toss a few ingredients in, wait, eat. Easy clean up, and delicious. I increasingly think cooking should be a part of basic education for everybody. Stuff like rice, beans, and chicken breast are extremely chea…

I agree with most of what you're saying, but here in Canada, chicken breast is so not cheap.

About $5 bucks per skinless boneless chicken breast where I'm at in Canada. That's $20 in just the chicken for a meal if you happen to have a family of four.

I swear my growing boys have hollow legs. How do you eat more than I do?

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#160

Post by FearNotDaniel »

plorkyeran wrote: post #139
somenameforme wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have quite a lot of difficulty eating out once you start cooking at home, because think of what you are buying: - one English muffin (is it called an English muffin in England?) - one slice of cheese - one egg - one slice of ham - one cup of coffee - one hashbrown £5.09 for that? Obviously when you buy from a restaurant you're paying for their labor, rent, electric, and much more so it makes sense - McDonald's fran…

The price for each of those at my local supermarket when buying the low quality option in bulk: English Muffin: 70¢ Slice of cheese: 40¢ Egg: 40¢ Slice of Ham: 50¢ Hash browns: 40¢ Coffee: $1? In total $3.40. £5.09 for that in hot, prepared form ready to eat sounds cheap to me, not expensive.

Dude you’re not even trying, why buy muffins and eggs when you could grow wheat, grind flour, raise chickens and get eggs for free, slaughter your own pigs and cure the bacon yourself… because labour costs nothing and convenience has no value amirite?
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