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The Year of McDonald's

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Re: The Year of McDonald's

#81

Post by johnnyb9 »

tokinonagare wrote: post #45
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 a…

The meals are pricey, no doubt, but the app is where the real value is.

In NYC, I’ve scored insanely cheap deals—last week I got 10 chicken nuggets for $1. Right now, I’ve got a 50¢ double cheeseburger offer staring me down. I’d redeem it daily if it weren’t for health reasons (it says once a week, but for me, it’s somehow available every day).

And don’t sleep on the $6 meal deal: a McDouble, 4-piece chicken nuggets, small fries, and a small drink. For six bucks, that’s tough to beat!

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#83

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

margalabargala wrote: post #53
kube-system wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds is financially quite healthy. They've never been the cheapest nor the best quality. McDonalds excels in having food at the right place at the right time and a minimal effort to transact. If you are traveling at any random place in the US, and you are in a hurry and want something you are familiar with, McDonalds is the most likely thing you will come across first. There is a huge cognitive anchoring this ha…

They're rapidly burning part of their core value proposition for finances. They are increasing transaction friction, via much higher store prices and requirement to use their app, forcing use of touchscreen ordering, etc. Boeing appeared quite financially healthy in summer 2018 as well.

At all the McDonald's I've been to recently, you can still walk in with cash, give your order to a human, and walk out with a bag of food. You don't have to use the app. You don't have to use the touchscreens.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#84

Post by ethbr1 »

ghaff wrote: post #68
ethbr1 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subway is also an optimization in franchise virality and typically doesn't own its own real estate. I.e. they will let you open a Subway franchise today and me another one across the street tomorrow.

Also something of an exercise in my experience of how bad sandwich franchises can be.

It's interesting watching the cycle of startup -> optimization for customer value -> brand buyout -> optimization for profit.

F.ex. Blimpie (MTY 2016), Jimmy Johns (Roark 2016), Firehouse Sub (RBI 2021), Subway (Roark 2023), Jersey Mike's (Blackstone 2024)

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#85

Post by ghaff »

ethbr1 wrote: post #84
ghaff wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also something of an exercise in my experience of how bad sandwich franchises can be.

It's interesting watching the cycle of startup -> optimization for customer value -> brand buyout -> optimization for profit. F.ex. Blimpie (MTY 2016), Jimmy Johns (Roark 2016), Firehouse Sub (RBI 2021), Subway (Roark 2023), Jersey Mike's (Blackstone 2024)

Subway's really the only one of those I have any personal experience with. But from my perspective it's pretty much long been awful.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#87

Post by scruple »

ghaff wrote: post #36
kube-system wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds is financially quite healthy. They've never been the cheapest nor the best quality. McDonalds excels in having food at the right place at the right time and a minimal effort to transact. If you are traveling at any random place in the US, and you are in a hurry and want something you are familiar with, McDonalds is the most likely thing you will come across first. There is a huge cognitive anchoring this ha…

I basically never eat at McDonald's personally but I expect a lot of people just default to it as the predictable option that isn't too bad for their tastes and doesn't cost too much.

We end up there maybe 6 times a year now that we have kids. It's the correct option when we're on a road trip. Like another commenter said, it's consistency is a huge selling point and kids will never say no to a Happy Meal.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#88

Post by 1123581321 »

shreddit wrote: post #6

I once worked for two hours out of a mc donalds, even had a 30 minute teams meeting (it was completely empty at 10 in the morning) and the wifi was quite fast

The Internet is good, and it’s quieter than a Starbucks. Back when more McDonald’s had 24-hour lobbies and my work habits were worse, I’d head over there to get a black coffee and ice cream to program or write.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#89

Post by euroderf »

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…

> Also I once went to a McDonald’s with model trains running along the top of the walls. That was super cool.

I'll bet! I wonder where this was/is.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#90

Post by euroderf »

observationist wrote: post #25
kube-system wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds is financially quite healthy. They've never been the cheapest nor the best quality. McDonalds excels in having food at the right place at the right time and a minimal effort to transact. If you are traveling at any random place in the US, and you are in a hurry and want something you are familiar with, McDonalds is the most likely thing you will come across first. There is a huge cognitive anchoring this ha…

Don't forget consistency - you can get chicken nuggets and barbecue sauce and french fries that taste recognizably the same at any of their 42,000 restaurants. The food preparation and storage, shipping logistics, and other underpinnings of their consistency trick are admirable, even if the other issues with fast food detract from the overall picture.

Back before teh interwebz consistency was the key to other successful nationwide chains like Howard Johnson's and Holiday Inn.
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