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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

#401

Post by listenallyall »

whiplash451 wrote: post #208
GOD_Over_Djinn wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I feel bad for young people growing up in this broken world. They will never even know what was taken from them. I realize that I’m probably going to get dogpiled for saying it, but I think that the response to COVID (ie lockdowns) did far more damage than the disease itself.

Genuine question: do you think that the lockdowns had such long-lasting effect on people as to explain the problems described above? Why would a few months of a “bad idea” induce decade-long changes?

That's like asking "why would one car crash that lasted a few seconds change your driving habits for years?" - or perhaps your entire outlook on life, the consequences of not appreciating the things around you in the moment, the realization that life is fleeting, that maybe "getting to work on time" shouldn't be as high a priority as it once was, etc, etc. All it takes is one major shake-up for people to be changed, often for life.

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

#402

Post by jltsiren »

johnisgood wrote: post #311
xg15 wrote: post #291

Earlier 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?

Cooking takes time and effort, which many people lack. You need to make an initial investment in utensils and appliances, which poor people can't always afford. And if you don't already know how to cook, learning it on your own can be risky. If you make a mistake, you may end up losing the food, which poor people again may not be able to afford. And learning it takes time and effort anyway.

In many cultures, men traditionally didn't know how to cook. It was not their job. That wasn't a problem, as long as men lived with their parents or in an institutional setting, until they got married. But in a modern, more individualist culture, such attitudes are holding men back.

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

#403

Post by stavros »

tzs wrote: post #400
stavros wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you go through the drive through twice instead of just pretending to be the next car as well?

I don't think the app will let you start a second order before you've picked up your first order, although I've never specifically tried it. I once had the app fail to realize I had picked up my order and I was unable to do new orders. I ended up deleting the app and reinstalling it and then I could order again. That was a few years ago, though, and they've changed the app several time since, so maybe I shouldn't ass…

Ahh it used an app? I thought you could just pretend to be the next customer, but that makes sense, thanks.

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

#404

Post by shmeeed »

diogenescynic wrote: post #379
shmeeed wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many people either never saw or forgot about the morgue trucks. Or the footage that showed flocks of vultures circling over south american cities from afar. Desperate people coughing and dying in their own cars in hospitals' driveways. Body bags littering the floors of hospitals in third world countries. All of that happened, but it went right over a lot of people's heads, and nobody talks about it anymore becaus…

So then why isn't it happening now? Why did Israel not fare better despite their much higher vaccination rates than Gaza without any vaccinations? It was never a pandemic and never anything more than a severe flu.

You got it all figured out, buddy. Good for you!

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

#405

Post by listenallyall »

silisili wrote: post #171
fellowniusmonk wrote: post #167

Earlier 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…

Terrible take. Of course they want middle-income customers, that's a big part of why they raised prices, because they thought middle-income would absorb them. And they arent entirely wrong - those drive-thru lines are still miles long at peak times, mostly parents getting an entire family's dinner. However middle-income is still price sensitive and notice when $30 becomes $50+. Executives talk about appealing to "value-oriented" consumers (i.e. almost everybody).

"traffic among higher-income customers continues to grow across the fast-food sector, increasing “nearly double digits” in the quarter, he (Kempczinski) said" -https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/05/mcdonalds...

It's actually Wendy's right now suffering, vs rivals McD and BK: "Wendy's (WEN) same-restaurant sales, or sales of restaurants open at least 15 months, declined from a year ago for a third straight quarter, while those of rivals McDonald's Corp. (MCD) and Restaurant Brands International Inc.'s (QSR) Burger King increased over the past two quarters."

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20251107156/wen...

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

#406

Post by listenallyall »

phil21 wrote: post #189
badc0ffee wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Costco has been 2.99/lb for chicken breast about as long as I can remember now here in Chicago. It’s only sometimes better priced than the local supermarket, but the quality is consistent and price stable. If I have spare time on a weekend it can be picked up far cheaper in bulk from a food services supply store. 2 weeks ago when I last walked through the cooler section it was sitting at $1.29/lb in 40lb cases. Costs…

Maybe people don't want 40 pounds of chicken at a time?

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

#407

Post by amypetrik8 »

bragh wrote: post #229
whiplash451 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question: do you think that the lockdowns had such long-lasting effect on people as to explain the problems described above? Why would a few months of a “bad idea” induce decade-long changes?

It wasn't a few months, it was a few years of back-and-forth political and corporate shenanigans with a new narrative every few months that the $CURRENT_THING crowd happily ran along with. January 2020: there is nothing to afraid of, the new disease is mostly harmless and affects only the elderly and immunocompromised. Closing down borders is xenophobic. March 2020: do not go outside unless critically necessary and i…

[flagged]

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

#408

Post by cma »

hyperpower wrote: post #295
bastawhiz wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to the grocery store and bought six meals worth of whole foods for two people two weeks ago. Rice, veggies, two fish meals, two meals based on eggs (I already had the eggs), one meal based on chicken. Thirty grams of protein for each meal. I had staples in my pantry already. I aimed for 2200 calories per person per day. I didn't buy organic because it's more expensive. This wasn't Whole Foods or some bougie st…

$35 for 6 meals for two people at McDonalds? What? Where I live, one meal at McDonalds is about $12. So 6 * 2 * 12 = $144. Not that much of a difference. Also, if you aimed for 2200 calories per person per day with that $170, then it isn't really fair comparing to a single McDonald's meal, is it? It sounds like buying whole foods is cheaper.

"For only $11.99, the 40 piece Chicken McNuggets® from @mcdonalds will get you right for tournament time."

That will get you 5000 calories for $36 if you are willing to only eat mcnuggets. Plus the sauce.

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

#409

Post by fragmede »

GOD_Over_Djinn wrote: post #394
fragmede wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty anti-social viewpoint. Why do you think you shouldn't have been?

It’s not anti-social, it is pro-social. To stand for the right of people to live freely, for children to get an education and to socialize with their peers, for businesses to serve their communities and provide jobs for people to feed their families. You are the anti-social one, who would condemn entire populations to house arrest based upon dubious-at-best ideas. In my city, even outdoor gatherings of more than five…

Basic logic here: the things you’re defending only work when the people who make them possible aren’t getting knocked out by uncontrolled spread.

Kids don’t get an education if teachers and staff are sick. Businesses don’t serve communities if workers are out in waves. Families don’t stay afloat if workplaces shut down because too many people are ill.

You can absolutely critique the execution and the results. Plenty of it was messy. But pretending that doing nothing was somehow pro social ignores the obvious: collective safety is what keeps all those freedoms functioning in the first place.

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

#410

Post by iteria »

epolanski wrote: post #358

I never understood how can eating at McDonald's be cheaper than cooking your own meals. I'm not from US, but checking US grocery shops, you can eat meals made of chicken breast, bread and vegetables well below 5$ per person, well below 20$ in total for a family of 4. Yet every time I see those discussions, fast food is always presented as a cheaper option?

When you are a single person, the math changes. It can be cheaper or even break even to eat out every day. Especially if you lack the ability to eat and/or store the minimum package amount before it goes bad. This was a massive issue in my youth before I could save up buy stuff to make things last longer in the freezer while still tasting good. It was literally break even to cook vs eat out. Thus it was actually more expensive to eat out because we have to factor the time I spent cooking and I ruined food a lot as I learned how to make and store well what I liked.

As someone with a family now, it could never work. Even without just being better at cooking and preserving food, I can buy bulkier items that have a lower cost per unit.

I guess if I were truly destitute as a young adult, I would have cooked, but I wasn't. I wanted to have s nice salad wrap and/or hot meals fancier than beans and rice.

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