Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Then why are profit margins bigger? Supply and demand as the reason for profit percentage increasing margin makes no sense. I’d be interested in how you’d debate that.
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McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
321–330 of 611 posts
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
Insert classic Michael Pollan “if you see it being advertised, it’s likely something you shouldn’t be eating”. No one’s advertising spinach or beans.
Popeye the Sailor has entered the chat. /s Weirdly, I do get ads for veggies, but it could be driven by my recent research spree on vegetarian recipes to have great food across the holidays for my mostly vegetarian family. I may have skewed “the algorithm “
I recall advertisements for veggies from the Green Giant. And fresh veg always has a slot on the grocery flyers.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it bemusing that so people are simultaneously extremely agitated by high prices but also completely disinterested in doing anything except paying them. With this mindset it's not particularly hard to guess which direction they'll trend in over time, even if the world wasn't going nutters. I mean these things are not difficult to make. They even freeze extremely well, and then you toss them in the microwave for…
I don't know where you get the assumption that people who eat McDonalds can't or don't also cook their own fresh food from scratch.
I did not say that. I was responding to a person who engaged in banal snark implying that making food for oneself is a herculean task, but it all depends on what you're making, and things can be extremely stream lined. In the case of what we're talking about (mcmuffin stuff), you can even cook and freeze them in arbitrarily large quantities and it's way cheaper, healthier, and even faster since it's in your freezer instead of having to go out.
I do think that the fast food (or even eating out in general) starts to lack any real selling point for households that are capable of cooking, and so this is probably going to weight the customers, especially regulars, of these sort of places away from households that do cook. I suppose you'd argue time is the selling point, but one can even remain competitive on there with things like pressure cooker meals. There are even one pot rice cooker meals which are also great.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You need to add salt and butter to rice when its cooking.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like if the single mum living of a minimum wage has time and energy while dressing the 2 kids to not forget such things. Sorry I know such people that I profoundly admire. I feel is just unfair such a comment. I have enough time and little stress in my life, I can plan what I’m going to cook the next week. But I could never criticize that people for not being able to.
All your comments are painting yourself as a victim and it’s really irking me. I also feels like you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill. This is not rocket science. It’s cooking stuff. It’s cheap and easy and you should be able to do it after 10 hour work shift.
You really need to stop being such a shortsighted techbro and assuming you know anything about other people's lives.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#326> “Happy Meals at McDonald’s are prohibitively expensive for some people, because there’s been so much inflation,” Josephson said. I find the phrasing odd. It is because corporations have raised prices that inflation has increased. Rising prices aren't a result of inflation.
The inflation boom was caused by the free money handed out to everyone. Inflation is inevitable when the dollar is devalued.
Why are you ignoring the more-than-doubling of McDs profit margins here?
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where is the next cheap lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables fast food restaurant? I think it's a weird concept of a society where all the parts of it with money are directing people to do one thing - but at the same time, the people are expected to do the exact opposite and it's their own fault if they follow the coercion...
There are such restaurants around here in Europe but they are super expensive, so you are better off doing it on your own at home. Cooking a stew of lentils or any other legumes is very easy and does not consume that much time either, and you can cook for 3 days easily. Why are people not doing this?
Because they lack the skill?
You seem to take the ability of people to cook for granted. I don't think it is automatic anymore. Generational transmission of some skills has ceased.
Jamie Oliver famously asked British school kids to name objects such as an apple, a potato or a cucumber, and plenty of them did not know. They just stared at the raw vegetables/fruits, baffled.
And as of now, you cannot simply vibe-cook using AI. You actually need to know some stuff, like what is what, how to use utensils, how to treat hot objects, what is too much gas and what not enough etc.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand why people still blame the lockdowns. When the lockdowns started, it was unknown how dangerous Covid actually was. It could have killed 20%, or reduced lifespan by 30%, or something. Nobody knew. It takes 20/20 hindsight to blame lockdowns for what was a generational catastrophe. It's like blaming shelter in place requirements instead of the bombing of the reich.
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> .001% higher than the flu
That isn't true. Just from this paper https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9115089 ... COVID-19 killed roughly five to seven times more hospitalized older adults than influenza.
Anecdotal, my uncle, several friends' relatives died from COVID during those lockdowns. I don't know / heard anyone died because of flu (in my extended circle of people I know)
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
"They're poor, they don't care a about basic human dignity." - McDonald's CEO probably. It truly is the most "Shove this in your slop hole you wretch" experience in all of fast food.
It's pretty hilarious because your comment is exactly their goal. McDonald's is laser focused on low income customers. They do not want to compete in the middle income space, as they don't visit as often and there's ton more(and better) competition. Their CEO has been blunt about this recently, and trying to find ways to get low-income customers back. Dire straits ahead for them, they've priced themselves into a plac…
I don’t like how the CEO is portraying this as something solely caused by outside market forces. In the last 10 years, their profit margin has gone from ~17% to ~32%. The pricing is an intentional decision that they could choose to change at any time.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are such restaurants around here in Europe but they are super expensive, so you are better off doing it on your own at home. Cooking a stew of lentils or any other legumes is very easy and does not consume that much time either, and you can cook for 3 days easily. Why are people not doing this?
Because they lack the skill? You seem to take the ability of people to cook for granted. I don't think it is automatic anymore. Generational transmission of some skills has ceased. Jamie Oliver famously asked British school kids to name objects such as an apple, a potato or a cucumber, and plenty of them did not know. They just stared at the raw vegetables/fruits, baffled. And as of now, you cannot simply vibe-cook u…
It is very easy to learn. If I could learn it, so can anyone else. :P I have not cooked my entire life, for the most part, but when my situation requires me to cook, then I can. I find a relatively easy recipe and I just follow the instructions. It has worked out fine for me.
> Jamie Oliver famously asked British school kids to name objects such as an apple, a potato or a cucumber, and plenty of them did not know
Okay, the situation really is horrible then, wow.